Age: 45
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 40
Annual gross income from employment or profession:
€70k
Annual gross income of spouse:
Approx €50k, but she has taken the last couple of years off as a career break, and likely to go back to work Aug 2023.
Combined monthly take-home pay
At present, about €3,600, plus €280 in child benefit.
Type of employment:
I work for a private company.
My wife is a primary teacher.
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Since she started her career break, it's probably breakeven, although this includes putting 600 into a savings account each month.
Rough estimate of value of home
€420k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage:
€230k
What interest rate are you paying?
2.8% fixed rate. We took out one of the cashback mortgages, and the final 1% of this is due this coming summer, so I will look to move mortgage provider after that, looking at the Avant rate of 2.05% for 7 year fixed.
We pay €1,411 each month, including a 10% overpayment each month.
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
I rarely use a credit card, have never paid any credit card interest.
Savings and investments:
25k in the account I started when the first kid was born (600 a month into this). The intended use of this is for education and other needs the kids will have when they are older.
About 12k in other current accounts
Do you have a pension scheme?
I have 3 pensions.
1 - Old defined benefit one due to pay out at 63. Lump sum of €15k, annual payment of ~€7,500.
2 - Pension plan from my days as a contractor when I had a ltd company - €70k in this at present.
3 - Current work plan. Company contributes 5% (will move to 7% once I hit 5 years service) and I put in 15% - €23k in this at present.
My wife has a DB pension as a teacher (entered service in 2007/8 I believe) but not likely to reach the full 40 years before retirement. She pays a very small AVC every month when she is working, something silly like €50.
Do you own any investment or other property?
I joint own an apartment with a friend. All figures below are the full figures, divide in two for my liability/earnings.
Current value: ~€350k.
Rental Value: €1,900 per month - Letting Agent - €185 per month.
Mortgage: Tracker rate @ 1.15% above ECB. Balance €140k, Monthly payments €1,000, Monthly interest ~€130.
Ages of children: 4 & 2 - No childcare costs while my wife is off work.
Life insurance: I have a 4x salary death in service benefit with my employer.
I also had a policy when I was self employed that I still pay into, €72 per month with a €400k payout if I die.
Obviously mortgage protection on both properties.
My wife has whatever the standard benefit is for teachers, she is paying a little every month to preserve those while out of work.
Questions
Is there anything I could obviously be doing better as things stand? Once both kids are in school and my wife is back working, it's likely that I will up my AVCs. At present my only flexibility is in the €600 per month I put into savings and the total currently saved.
Should I consider maxing out my AVCs every month instead of saving that 600 into a practically zero interest account? I don't envision us using the money before I'm 60, but I can't rule it out either, so at a minimum I'd like easy access to what is currently saved.
If it is in my pension is it locked away until I retire or can it be accessed at 60 even without me retiring?
Current intention around the rental apartment is to probably sell it once I retire (my friend is a similar age and of a similar view to me) at which point the mortgage will be well paid off. It was bought for €370k in 2005 and was my principle residence for 11 years. It could also be used as college accommodation for kids if/when needed, but we'll see how things are.
We could sell the apartment now and bank around €100k each after the mortgage is paid off, but I don't really want to do that. Maybe in 5 years or so if the amount we got back would pay off my main mortgage then maybe it'd make more sense in the short term at least. The person I co-own the property with is still a close friend and is in very good shape financially so I think he's generally happy to go with the flow, although it's obviously a bit of a wildcard.
Thanks for any advice.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 40
Annual gross income from employment or profession:
€70k
Annual gross income of spouse:
Approx €50k, but she has taken the last couple of years off as a career break, and likely to go back to work Aug 2023.
Combined monthly take-home pay
At present, about €3,600, plus €280 in child benefit.
Type of employment:
I work for a private company.
My wife is a primary teacher.
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Since she started her career break, it's probably breakeven, although this includes putting 600 into a savings account each month.
Rough estimate of value of home
€420k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage:
€230k
What interest rate are you paying?
2.8% fixed rate. We took out one of the cashback mortgages, and the final 1% of this is due this coming summer, so I will look to move mortgage provider after that, looking at the Avant rate of 2.05% for 7 year fixed.
We pay €1,411 each month, including a 10% overpayment each month.
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
I rarely use a credit card, have never paid any credit card interest.
Savings and investments:
25k in the account I started when the first kid was born (600 a month into this). The intended use of this is for education and other needs the kids will have when they are older.
About 12k in other current accounts
Do you have a pension scheme?
I have 3 pensions.
1 - Old defined benefit one due to pay out at 63. Lump sum of €15k, annual payment of ~€7,500.
2 - Pension plan from my days as a contractor when I had a ltd company - €70k in this at present.
3 - Current work plan. Company contributes 5% (will move to 7% once I hit 5 years service) and I put in 15% - €23k in this at present.
My wife has a DB pension as a teacher (entered service in 2007/8 I believe) but not likely to reach the full 40 years before retirement. She pays a very small AVC every month when she is working, something silly like €50.
Do you own any investment or other property?
I joint own an apartment with a friend. All figures below are the full figures, divide in two for my liability/earnings.
Current value: ~€350k.
Rental Value: €1,900 per month - Letting Agent - €185 per month.
Mortgage: Tracker rate @ 1.15% above ECB. Balance €140k, Monthly payments €1,000, Monthly interest ~€130.
Ages of children: 4 & 2 - No childcare costs while my wife is off work.
Life insurance: I have a 4x salary death in service benefit with my employer.
I also had a policy when I was self employed that I still pay into, €72 per month with a €400k payout if I die.
Obviously mortgage protection on both properties.
My wife has whatever the standard benefit is for teachers, she is paying a little every month to preserve those while out of work.
Questions
Is there anything I could obviously be doing better as things stand? Once both kids are in school and my wife is back working, it's likely that I will up my AVCs. At present my only flexibility is in the €600 per month I put into savings and the total currently saved.
Should I consider maxing out my AVCs every month instead of saving that 600 into a practically zero interest account? I don't envision us using the money before I'm 60, but I can't rule it out either, so at a minimum I'd like easy access to what is currently saved.
If it is in my pension is it locked away until I retire or can it be accessed at 60 even without me retiring?
Current intention around the rental apartment is to probably sell it once I retire (my friend is a similar age and of a similar view to me) at which point the mortgage will be well paid off. It was bought for €370k in 2005 and was my principle residence for 11 years. It could also be used as college accommodation for kids if/when needed, but we'll see how things are.
We could sell the apartment now and bank around €100k each after the mortgage is paid off, but I don't really want to do that. Maybe in 5 years or so if the amount we got back would pay off my main mortgage then maybe it'd make more sense in the short term at least. The person I co-own the property with is still a close friend and is in very good shape financially so I think he's generally happy to go with the flow, although it's obviously a bit of a wildcard.
Thanks for any advice.