How often do you go to the states, and how much do you spend? 50k must be about 5-10 holidays worth, in cash and therefore being inflated away at a horrendous rate... far moreso than the euro imo. I can't see any reason whatsoever for holding USD cash for holidays, just in case.
Moneymakeover My investment strategy is too messy
- Thread starter LLB123
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I hear you, but this is definitely the forever home which I already used a lot of savings to buy only recently, and why I'm happy to pay over the longhaul for the 30-odd% mortgage remaining, while seeing if I can make the money work better in other ways. If I *need* to pay it off, I can but while I don't what harm?
Three or four times a year, and neglected to say that I'm also paid partially in dollars, so the rate to eur has never really come into it.
I don't fundamentally disagree with this approach tbh, if (and it's a big IF!) you can make the money you're not paying off against your mortgage outperform the rate of interest you are being charged. At a risk-free 3.65% DIRT- and CGT-free return, you've a high enough bar to get over. So you need to really consider what you're invested in, what time-frame it'll be there for, and what purpose it'll serve. I don't see any clarity of these things in your investments - you gamble (BTC, Nvidia) and then worry about Trade Republic protection limits, you invest in inflation hedges (gold, stocks, maybe BTC... maybe!) and then hold 160k in cash. You worry about not being able to borrow again later in life, but you have an almost(?) guaranteed stream of passive income in your patent royalties. Some of your bets have worked out bigly (gold, the self-financed renovation property) and yet you hold others that slowly, slowly leak away your net worth.
If you'll pardon the term, you're a walking contradiction! I think the best advice I could give you is to figure out first what you want the money for and when. If you don't figure that out, then you're likely to continue to chase opportunities as they arise rather than follow a plan that can be adjusted as opportunities arise.... there's a big difference between the two imo.
Brendan Burgess
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Again, what is the time scale for these?
Your child is 15 so buying him a home is 10 years away.
You are 48, so you won't be retiring for at least 10 years ( Or at least not retiring and buying a holiday home)
You appear to have about 20 years left on your mortgage. So you won't be needing a retirement home for 20 years.
So it's absolutely clear that you should be clearing your mortgage as it will be half cleared anyway by the earliest possible time you might need the money.
€440k @3.65% is €16k a year. This is a tax-free, risk-free, charges free return.
This explains a lot. My daughter is too and she has some off the wall ideas that actually make great sense when you drill down. Perhaps your way of thinking is exactly why you’re sitting in a 1.75m house with plenty of moolah stashed here there and everywhere!
Does it? If the original poster hadn't mentioned it I would never have thought that there might be any issue with their posts or thinking process about their finances.
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I missed the point about you being neurodivergent @LLB123, I hope my post up the thread wasn’t insensitive. I think though it underlines my point, you need to bring a bit of structure to your desired outcomes rather than just to your “list” of investments, then let your obvious ability to build wealth (more than I’ve built, that’s for sure!) work in your favour.
Well conventional wisdom and overwhelming poster response so far is that he should pay off his mortgage, but OP appears handcuffed by this idea and sees greater opportunities elsewhere that seem to defy sense on the face of it. While being also as you say a walking contradiction! Yet he’s done alright considering.
It does, neurodivergence can take many forms. I believe it’s a very relevant factor to take into account when offering advice. Not everybody can follow the mundane buy-passive-funds approach, so their personal financial plan should be tailored to them.
I’m the person who called him a walking contradiction rather than @ClubMan, although in my defence I did also say I didn’t agree with the pay-off-mortgage advice in every circumstance! In hindsight, I can see the neurodiverse traits now.
Plenty of people post here and can be a bit resistant to consensus advice without neurodivergence being the reason.
True but in this case OP himself pointed out that it played a part in his reasoning!
2% deposit interest
Plus gold & shares that have doubled in price, 25% LTV mortgage and a self-financed property project worth 450k? And 50k in dollar pocket money for the craic. I’d like his problems to be fair!
Not in the slightest, and definitely not the first time I've been described that way. Yes I know there are issues and pitfalls with my strategy (or lack thereof) but I've never been interested in steady as she goes, and have had meetings with financial advisors over the years that made me want to lose the will to live.
Still, I'm keenly aware that my thinking can be too rigid and very scattergun all at once, and while that works in my favour sometimes, it can be a double-edged sword and exactly why I love this forum, since it allows for different perspectives and approaches that I hadn't considered. Your own assessment of my investments laid out like that is actually spot on and has given me even more food for thought!
But I remain adamant that I won't pay off the mortgage unless I absolutely need to.
Others have explained why doing this may be the best use of your resources in your circumstances. It's your prerogative to dismiss this advice but it seems odd when you came here for advice/feedback.
Yes, having paid off other mortgages early in the past and regretted it, I would absolutely remortgage down the line if I could. But pretty certain I wouldn't be allowed to!
My attachment to the mortgage stems from just how difficult it is for me to borrow due to Irish banks' tick-the-box lending restrictions. It's impossible to describe just how many hoops I (and my poor accountant!) have to jump through for a mortgage because of how my earnings are structured and so much of the business income originates from outside of Ireland.
And whatever personal savings I have to hand are also disregarded because they don't see small monthly amounts marked 'savings' coming out of my current account which to my mind is a bit infantilising. Plus as mentioned, a major part of my earnings is tax free but most banks refuse to include that in their calculations because it's 'not taxable income'.
So when I DO manage to secure borrowings, I'm inclined to want to hold onto them. I'm happy to pay the mortgage off monthly since I view it as a utility as opposed to a liability (everyone pays for somewhere to live) while still having access to money I can use it for other opportunities, like the recent renovation without having to resort back to the bank cap in hand.
But there's no doubt that I need more of an actual plan and solid direction for that money - hence my post.