Age: 40
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 41
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 42k (public sector)
Annual gross income of spouse: 25k (private sector)
Monthly take-home pay €4,200 between both of us
Type of employment: Public Sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? <-Saving at the moment thankfully
Rough estimate of value of home: €180k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €68k, 12 years left, took a 20 year mortgage.
What interest rate are you paying? 2.6% fixed with UB
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: Car loan €198 per month. Our other major monthly outlay is health insurance of €170.
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Ages of children: 5 and 6
Savings and investments:
Nothing much to speak of. €6k in a UB account but that's it.
I suppose financially after we got married we put all of our savings into buying the house hence we now have a very low monthly mortgage. We were lucky in buying when the market was low in 2012. However I am now conscious of needing to build up funds for down the road.
Do you have a pension scheme?
Yes - Default public sector scheme
Spouse - No, been hard to afford paying into it thus far with part-time working but this is possibly foolish?
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Life insurance: Mortgage protection with Zurich. Death in benefit in the public sector, life insurance for €100k each also with Zurich Life. Costs €50 per month
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
I realise compared to lots of the posts in this part of the forum we are financially under-powered when I see queries around what to do with a spare 100k but overall with modest incomes I think we have done ok, I took a career change and pay cut a few years ago and only recently have climbed back up towards an average full-time salary my spouse is lucky to be able to work part-time around minding the kids, she could certainly be earning more if able to work F/T but we'd certainly much rather her being at home with the kids. You can't have it all.
However I do feel some exposure with regard to any big expenditures needed especially for college. I suppose we took a decision 8 years back to pretty much put all of our savings into buying our home and avail of the more favourable loan to value rates. On one hand this gives me comfort that even on one wage we would manage. However I'd like to get some capital built up now.
Goals:
1) Pay off mortgage by age of 50, this should be no problem all being equal and us staying healthy.
2) College fees, 12 years won't be long rolling around, I know its a hard one to answer but assuming both want to go to college away from home down the road what kind of savings should we be aiming at annually? My initial financial plan relied upon being mortgage free by the time college rolled around but I realise this is a risk (ill health being one) and that having a lump sum on hand to cover much of it would be wiser. That said I am in the life is for living camp and still intend on an annual holiday with the kids and the odd treat to keep morale up! Need to find the happy medium and balance.
3) Spouse pension, she isn't too concerned but I am! I wouldn't like to be reliant on the State pension only. Her company has a scheme where they will match up to 5%, is this a no brainer? As my salary has recovered in the past 12 months I think its affordable now.
Thanks folks
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 41
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 42k (public sector)
Annual gross income of spouse: 25k (private sector)
Monthly take-home pay €4,200 between both of us
Type of employment: Public Sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? <-Saving at the moment thankfully
Rough estimate of value of home: €180k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €68k, 12 years left, took a 20 year mortgage.
What interest rate are you paying? 2.6% fixed with UB
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: Car loan €198 per month. Our other major monthly outlay is health insurance of €170.
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Ages of children: 5 and 6
Savings and investments:
Nothing much to speak of. €6k in a UB account but that's it.
I suppose financially after we got married we put all of our savings into buying the house hence we now have a very low monthly mortgage. We were lucky in buying when the market was low in 2012. However I am now conscious of needing to build up funds for down the road.
Do you have a pension scheme?
Yes - Default public sector scheme
Spouse - No, been hard to afford paying into it thus far with part-time working but this is possibly foolish?
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Life insurance: Mortgage protection with Zurich. Death in benefit in the public sector, life insurance for €100k each also with Zurich Life. Costs €50 per month
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
I realise compared to lots of the posts in this part of the forum we are financially under-powered when I see queries around what to do with a spare 100k but overall with modest incomes I think we have done ok, I took a career change and pay cut a few years ago and only recently have climbed back up towards an average full-time salary my spouse is lucky to be able to work part-time around minding the kids, she could certainly be earning more if able to work F/T but we'd certainly much rather her being at home with the kids. You can't have it all.
However I do feel some exposure with regard to any big expenditures needed especially for college. I suppose we took a decision 8 years back to pretty much put all of our savings into buying our home and avail of the more favourable loan to value rates. On one hand this gives me comfort that even on one wage we would manage. However I'd like to get some capital built up now.
Goals:
1) Pay off mortgage by age of 50, this should be no problem all being equal and us staying healthy.
2) College fees, 12 years won't be long rolling around, I know its a hard one to answer but assuming both want to go to college away from home down the road what kind of savings should we be aiming at annually? My initial financial plan relied upon being mortgage free by the time college rolled around but I realise this is a risk (ill health being one) and that having a lump sum on hand to cover much of it would be wiser. That said I am in the life is for living camp and still intend on an annual holiday with the kids and the odd treat to keep morale up! Need to find the happy medium and balance.
3) Spouse pension, she isn't too concerned but I am! I wouldn't like to be reliant on the State pension only. Her company has a scheme where they will match up to 5%, is this a no brainer? As my salary has recovered in the past 12 months I think its affordable now.
Thanks folks