Personal details
Your age: 49
Your spouse's age: 47
Number and age of children: 2, age 12 and 13
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 75,690
Annual gross income of spouse/partner: 110,000
Monthly take-home pay: 7,968
Type of employment
Me: Employee Public Sector
Spouse: Employee Private Sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving - Approx 3,000 - 3,500 per month
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Family home value: Approx 450,000
Mortgage on family home: 0
Net equity: 450,000
Cash: 10,000
Defined Contribution pension fund: 230,000 (spouse)
Company shares : None
Buy to Let Property value: 270,000
Buy to let Mortgage: 50,000
Zurich Savings Account Invested in Prisma 4: 50,000 (Contribution 561 per month)
Zurich Children’s Savings Accounts Invested in Prisma 4: 13,000 (Contribution 400 per month)
Total net assets: Approx 973,000
Family home mortgage information
N/A
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
No borrowings. No Credit Card.
Pension information
Value of pension fund:
Spouse: DC Pension Value Approx 230,000. Late starter, currently contributing 25% of wages and employer contributing 5%. Invested with Irish Life but thinking of moving to Zurich Prisma 5 Fund.
Me: Public Sector Pension, post 2004 and pre 2011. NRA 65, am currently buying back 7 years to give me the full 40 years service at 65. This is being deducted at source from wages.
I have a Pension Bond from previous employment invested in Zurich and worth 32,000.
Buy to let properties
Value: 270,000
Rental income per year: 0. Currently a family member is living there, they will vacate within 10 months.
Rough annual expenses other than mortgage interest : 0
Lender AIB
Interest rate: Unsure, repaying 700 per month and 50,000 outstanding balance
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? N/A
Other savings and investments:
Zurich Savings Account Invested in Prisma 4: Value 50,000 (Contribution 561 per month)
Children’s Savings Assounts Invested in Prisma 4: 13,000 (Contribution 400 per month)
Other information which might be relevant
Life insurance: Me: Public Sector Insurance 1 years salary
Spouse: Through Work 3 times salary on death in service. Also through work income protection of 75% of salary.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have recently paid off the mortgage on our family home and are now thinking about next steps. We were running a very tight ship, just getting by until about 2021 when a promotion for my spouse and Covid allowed us to finally start to be able to put some money away for the future. We need to renovate the house, no structural work, just all cosmetic. 2 cars are running well and these should be fine for a minimum of 5 years. We have solar panels.
Currently on a monthly basis about 1,000 is being paid into Zurich to investment accounts, 2,000 is going to cash savings to build up a buffer again and 500 goes into a savings account for holidays. Also I should note that the children are involved in many sports but one particularly costly sport, it is absolutely worth it and brings much enjoyment and benefits but is a financial drain.
Our priorities are:
1. Ensure the children get through the college of their choice debt free. We live in a major city and it’s highly likely that at least 1, if not both of them will attend the local university, but not necessarily.
2. Redecorate the entire house (4 bed semi-detached) including 3 new bathrooms and kitchen. We don't have expensive taste but appreciate this is going to cost a lot regardless!
3. Be able to gift the children money towards a house deposit. It might be unrealistic but we would like to gift them approximately 100,000 each when they are ready to buy. We both had zero financial help and will not be receiving any meaningful inheritance and would love to give the kids a head start. Note: Both sets of parents were wonderful and doing their best, it was just Ireland in the 80s!!
4. Retire comfortably, not necessarily early but be able to enjoy a financially stress free retirement. TBH I would dearly love to job share from 60 as I am finding the job is taking more out of me over time. My spouse is happy to work to NRA but works in tech so we are conscious that job security can be shaky and being rehired in the tech industry in your 50s could be problematic.
Questions:
Thank you to everyone who got through this lengthy post, it is much appreciated. I am a long time reader of AAM but a first time poster. I have gained much knowledge and insight from all your posts and thank you for the generosity with which you have shared your time and information.
Your age: 49
Your spouse's age: 47
Number and age of children: 2, age 12 and 13
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 75,690
Annual gross income of spouse/partner: 110,000
Monthly take-home pay: 7,968
Type of employment
Me: Employee Public Sector
Spouse: Employee Private Sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving - Approx 3,000 - 3,500 per month
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Family home value: Approx 450,000
Mortgage on family home: 0
Net equity: 450,000
Cash: 10,000
Defined Contribution pension fund: 230,000 (spouse)
Company shares : None
Buy to Let Property value: 270,000
Buy to let Mortgage: 50,000
Zurich Savings Account Invested in Prisma 4: 50,000 (Contribution 561 per month)
Zurich Children’s Savings Accounts Invested in Prisma 4: 13,000 (Contribution 400 per month)
Total net assets: Approx 973,000
Family home mortgage information
N/A
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
No borrowings. No Credit Card.
Pension information
Value of pension fund:
Spouse: DC Pension Value Approx 230,000. Late starter, currently contributing 25% of wages and employer contributing 5%. Invested with Irish Life but thinking of moving to Zurich Prisma 5 Fund.
Me: Public Sector Pension, post 2004 and pre 2011. NRA 65, am currently buying back 7 years to give me the full 40 years service at 65. This is being deducted at source from wages.
I have a Pension Bond from previous employment invested in Zurich and worth 32,000.
Buy to let properties
Value: 270,000
Rental income per year: 0. Currently a family member is living there, they will vacate within 10 months.
Rough annual expenses other than mortgage interest : 0
Lender AIB
Interest rate: Unsure, repaying 700 per month and 50,000 outstanding balance
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? N/A
Other savings and investments:
Zurich Savings Account Invested in Prisma 4: Value 50,000 (Contribution 561 per month)
Children’s Savings Assounts Invested in Prisma 4: 13,000 (Contribution 400 per month)
Other information which might be relevant
Life insurance: Me: Public Sector Insurance 1 years salary
Spouse: Through Work 3 times salary on death in service. Also through work income protection of 75% of salary.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have recently paid off the mortgage on our family home and are now thinking about next steps. We were running a very tight ship, just getting by until about 2021 when a promotion for my spouse and Covid allowed us to finally start to be able to put some money away for the future. We need to renovate the house, no structural work, just all cosmetic. 2 cars are running well and these should be fine for a minimum of 5 years. We have solar panels.
Currently on a monthly basis about 1,000 is being paid into Zurich to investment accounts, 2,000 is going to cash savings to build up a buffer again and 500 goes into a savings account for holidays. Also I should note that the children are involved in many sports but one particularly costly sport, it is absolutely worth it and brings much enjoyment and benefits but is a financial drain.
Our priorities are:
1. Ensure the children get through the college of their choice debt free. We live in a major city and it’s highly likely that at least 1, if not both of them will attend the local university, but not necessarily.
2. Redecorate the entire house (4 bed semi-detached) including 3 new bathrooms and kitchen. We don't have expensive taste but appreciate this is going to cost a lot regardless!
3. Be able to gift the children money towards a house deposit. It might be unrealistic but we would like to gift them approximately 100,000 each when they are ready to buy. We both had zero financial help and will not be receiving any meaningful inheritance and would love to give the kids a head start. Note: Both sets of parents were wonderful and doing their best, it was just Ireland in the 80s!!
4. Retire comfortably, not necessarily early but be able to enjoy a financially stress free retirement. TBH I would dearly love to job share from 60 as I am finding the job is taking more out of me over time. My spouse is happy to work to NRA but works in tech so we are conscious that job security can be shaky and being rehired in the tech industry in your 50s could be problematic.
Questions:
- Are we on the right track? Any glaring mistakes? Should we change anything?
- We have given notice to a family member and plan on selling the second house next summer. It is worth approximately 270,000. Is this the right thing to do? After repaying the outstanding mortgage, CGT and costs we think we should net about 150,000. We plan to use this to redecorate our own home and invest the remainder for the kids' deposits. How best should we do this?
- My spouse is maxing out his pension contributions but I am not. Is this something I should be doing through AVCs? I have looked into it and I believe I have scope to invest 11,000 a year tax free. It appears that investing through an Execution Only fund through Gerard Sheehy would be the option with the lowest charges. I was looking at the RL Global Equity Diversified Fund with an AMC from what I can see of 0.7%. Is this the best course of action?
Thank you to everyone who got through this lengthy post, it is much appreciated. I am a long time reader of AAM but a first time poster. I have gained much knowledge and insight from all your posts and thank you for the generosity with which you have shared your time and information.