Profile
Age: 46
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 46
Annual gross income from employment or profession: just commencing self employment following redundancy. Yr one aiming for 40k.
Annual gross income of spouse: 10k
Monthly take-home pay
Spouse 800pm
Self (via STEA):- 1200pm for next 6 months
Hoped for additional income 3k
Type of employment: sole trader (but will move to ltd company next yr probably)
Spouse employment:- Part time PAYE
Home/Mortage
Rough estimate of value of home:- 320k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 28k
What interest rate are you paying? 0.9%
No other loans.
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
Savings and investments: 110k currently sitting in a demand deposit account
Pension
Spouse:- None (apart from contributary pension entitlements she will gain)
Self:- Approx 260k fund in DC scheme from previous employer (made redundant last may)
Also DB scheme from UK, currently told it is valued at 3k stg per year, with gauranteed growth of 5%. I beleive the DB scheme was bought out/closed down.
No other property or investments.
Ages of children: 18 and 13. Eldest is doing leaving cert and will be starting college next year
Life insurance: Life insured for 240k.
Additional Info/aspirations
Was paye employed for last 20 yrs until redundancy last may. Took some time off, and am now starting back into work, currently day rate contracting, so will build up over time. I have been approved for short term enterprise allowance which will give me a bit of a leg up to get started. Aim to see how it goes for 6-9 months and perhaps then look at other alternatives if its not looking like getting regular income.
Main priorities are
1) Sort out that lump sum and do something with it.
2) Keep a rainy day fund/float
3) Set aside for kids college.
4) Begin to plan for new pension scheme.
5) Review income tax status.
So, I know I am going to have to begin funding 1 childs university fees within the next 12 months. I also think that my tax situation needs some review. Previous to my redundancy, I was on approx 90k, so high tax bracket, and would have been excluded from even looking at college grants etc, so I am thinking this is no longer the case ?
Redundancy lump sum was 133k after tax (I did not waive my right to pension lump sum, so that cost 14k in tax I beleive).
Earnings up to redundancy would have been approx 30k. I have earned an additional 2,400 from social welfare. I expect to earn another 15k through my new self employment for the remainder of the year. I can I think defer this till early next year if it makes sense ?
I am thinking I may be due some tax back, and also I need to relook at the tax setup between myself and my wife, albeit she does not earn enough to pay any significant tax.
Again, I may look at moving to a limited company later next year, so might need to think about the requirements/implications here.
Hope the info above is ok, really appreciate some advice.
Thanks,
Wexfordman