Struggling , juggling kids and work.

Zizigirl said:
You can claim incapacitated child tax credit backdated 4 years depending but if you are 7 years post diagnosis you should have no issue claiming the backdate.
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Was typing exactly that they might also to go back to 7 years , I'd certainly ask for the full amount.
 
Yes and thanks to those that replied.My only concern is on the form you have to say the child won't be able to maintain themselves after 18. I'm hopeful with treatment they will be able to go on and get a job.Is there a chance if my son gets part time work at 18 or eventually full time work that revenue will look for the money returned?
 
Ford25 said:
Yes and thanks to those that replied.My only concern is on the form you have to say the child won't be able to maintain themselves after 18. I'm hopeful with treatment they will be able to go on and get a job.Is there a chance if my son gets part time work at 18 or eventually full time work that revenue will look for the money returned?
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I suppose there is nobody that can tell you there is no chance that revenue won’t start deciding to do this, I’ve yet to hear it happen. I’m aware of at least three cases where the credit was claimed and said children have jobs. Maintaining themselves and working are two different things.
 
Update .
Thanks for all replies.
We applied and got approved for incapacitated tax credits. (Backdated 4 years)
We got around 13k .
Our weekly wage increased by around 30 euro each.
We also got the DCA approved which is backdated 6 months. DCA payment is 309 a month which will go directly to private therapies that we previously funded ourselves.

Plan is still to pay off mortgage in November.
I was thinking about paying into an AVC then as my pension won't be great on 3 day week.
Only thing is I'm essentially paying no tax now with the incapacitated tax credit so I will he getting no tax relieve on pension .
Is a pension worth it with no tax relief?
Should I just add monthly to something like Berkshire Hathaway instead ?

Thanks
 
Lots of good views and academic ways to look at spending v saving here.

I'd propose one other way, probably simplistically but sometimes if feel that approach works better month to month in the real world. I see a couple of issues in the OP's commentary;

- There appears to be a cashflow issue
- Mentally there is anguish about "eating into savings" yearly, even if as Brendan mentioned it is technically "saving" other cost
- It is hard to plan beyond a very short term horizon because of the acute issues of cashflow problems
- You are trying to anticipate what life will be like too far into the future, with a view to influencing actions today

I would consider:

- Leaving savings to mature in Nov 22, don't touch until then
- Clear mortgage once they mature; this "frees up" 875 per month. It also reduces the risk of "losing" money due to inflation.
- SAVE the 875 per month; Now you are no longer eating into savings monthly/yearly by 5k, but increasing them by 10k.
- Split the savings into 2 pots - long term and short term. Many people will argue money should be viewed as one pot and dont mentally separate them, however the reality is people compartmentalise and are good at it, so lean into that reality. Short term becomes your buffer to draw down on for kids activities / accidentally expensive dinner / holiday, with no mental anguish. Long term can be directed as best seen fit (future car replacement, future child supports etc.)
- I can't comment on the pension as not familiar with public sector set ups, however if you achieve the above you might be better able to see pension options with less "other" money worries. Maybe you could add an AVC, or maybe the new government pension changes will help (I've read nothing on them to date, maybe they dont apply to public sector)

It might not be the most efficient way of doing it, but in my view it could simplify things
 
Bit off topic but do you have private health insurance. Our plan with vhi covers 75% of the cost for our sons speech therapy and OT.
 
Familyman77 said:
Bit off topic but do you have private health insurance. Our plan with vhi covers 75% of the cost for our sons speech therapy and OT.
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Thanks that's interesting I need to check my policy. I'm with VHI I'll get onto that tomorrow.
 
ThatNewGuy said:
Lots of good views and academic ways to look at spending v saving here.

I'd propose one other way, probably simplistically but sometimes if feel that approach works better month to month in the real world. I see a couple of issues in the OP's commentary;

- There appears to be a cashflow issue
- Mentally there is anguish about "eating into savings" yearly, even if as Brendan mentioned it is technically "saving" other cost
- It is hard to plan beyond a very short term horizon because of the acute issues of cashflow problems
- You are trying to anticipate what life will be like too far into the future, with a view to influencing actions today

I would consider:

- Leaving savings to mature in Nov 22, don't touch until then
- Clear mortgage once they mature; this "frees up" 875 per month. It also reduces the risk of "losing" money due to inflation.
- SAVE the 875 per month; Now you are no longer eating into savings monthly/yearly by 5k, but increasing them by 10k.
- Split the savings into 2 pots - long term and short term. Many people will argue money should be viewed as one pot and dont mentally separate them, however the reality is people compartmentalise and are good at it, so lean into that reality. Short term becomes your buffer to draw down on for kids activities / accidentally expensive dinner / holiday, with no mental anguish. Long term can be directed as best seen fit (future car replacement, future child supports etc.)
- I can't comment on the pension as not familiar with public sector set ups, however if you achieve the above you might be better able to see pension options with less "other" money worries. Maybe you could add an AVC, or maybe the new government pension changes will help (I've read nothing on them to date, maybe they dont apply to public sector)

It might not be the most efficient way of doing it, but in my view it could simplify things
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Thanks for such a detailed reply. Yeah I was thinking along the same lines myself putting money away for short term and then the longer term money I was going to invest.

I'm not sure if the new pension auto enrolment is applicable to public sector if it was I'd get involved.
 
Delighted you got Dca, have you considered either of you availing of carers benefit. The other parent would then be able to increase their hrs to either a 4 or five day week.
 
Cavanbhoy said:
Delighted you got Dca, have you considered either of you availing of carers benefit. The other parent would then be able to increase their hrs to either a 4 or five day week.
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Because it's mean tested I don't think we would be entitled to it.
 
Ford25 said:
Because it's mean tested I don't think we would be entitled to it.
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You would qualify carers benefit isnt means tested and lasts for 2 years.
If it suited when 1 parents carers benifit ended the other parent could take it if needed.
 
Ford25 said:
Thanks very much I'll look into it .
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No prob, the person who gets the carers benefit can still work upto 18.5 hrs per week as long as their wages are 350e or less thats the figure for june onwards slightly less at moment. Best of luck with it
 
Hi guys , thanks for all the great advice I got here previously . State savings has matured and is sitting on deposit .
so
I've 210k earning 0%
The mortgage that was 1.1% is now 3.1% ( how quickly things change ) 155k remaining .
The 10 blue chips shares that where 50k are now 35k .

Myself and wife still both work part time to manage childcare , as I mentioned previously I have 2 children with additional needs and the youngest of them is certainly needing one of us at home at this moment anyway , so going back to work at the moment full time is not an option .
We are not struggling as much thanks to DCA, incapacitated credits and a recent pay rise in civil service. But then again we are not exactly flush as cost of living for everyone has increased.
All that aside , I'm about to pull the plug and clear the mortgage .

Just want to check it's still the right move we will never have access to this much cash again . Is there anything we are missing . Neither myself or my wife are up that financially savvy .

Thanks again
 
When you clear the mortgage you have so much security. You own your house for the rest of your life and you will be able to house your children into the future. It is well worth paying it off

Now you have a few income streams
Your income
Your wife’s income
DCA
Childrens allowance
You have the incapacitated child tax credit

You also have your savings, currently €90K, which is a really good position to be in, you have a very good cushion there.

Now you can take your income pots and divide them up into what you want to spend the money on

Food
Heating & electricity
Transport - cars
Insurance
Holidays
Activities
Social activities

You probably have a very good idea where all your money goes but you will have over €1000 extra to play with then when you started the topic, the DCA and the mortgage payment.

So it is very much up to you and the family to decide what to prioritise in terms of spending/savings.

Do you want a car fund, or a holiday fund or house repair?
Do you want to start feeding a small amount into your pensions - maybe €100 each per month. Again I would not fret too much about college, if you maintain your €90K savings maybe think of that as your college fund.

I think you are now in a position to decide where to direct your income rather than fretting that you don’t have sufficient income to meet your day to day needs so the control have shifted to you and you should have a large sense of having a weight lifted from your shoulders.
 
That's great thanks clamball .
Yes pretty much that we are going to still lodge money into the account the mortgage came out of and use that for a holiday fund and other big things.
I want to maintain the blue chip shares especially now as they have lost value .

The additional funds from state savings are going to be used to make long overdue car repairs and change the kids mattresses, make the eldest bedroom more compatible for him .

I'm fairly sure it's the right decision to pay the mortgage off , so unless I hear an argument against I'll contact the bank Monday and start process. I'm just nervous about making the best decision for the family as it's a very large sum for us.
 
It’s very clear you should pay off the mortgage - and now at 3.1% interest this has made the choice even simpler. You will still be left with a very good amount of savings afterwards of around €55k - I assume this will more than cover the expenditure mentioned so will maintain some emergency fund.

Then you have the extra disposable income (from the month mortgage payments that are no longer needed) which you can use to build back up savings / spend as needed.

This is not even factoring in the shares, which since you have no need to access the money you can sit and hold and hope they recover.

Good luck
 
Ford25 said:
Hi guys , thanks for all the great advice I got here previously . State savings has matured and is sitting on deposit .
so
I've 210k earning 0%
The mortgage that was 1.1% is now 3.1% ( how quickly things change ) 155k remaining .
The 10 blue chips shares that where 50k are now 35k .

Myself and wife still both work part time to manage childcare , as I mentioned previously I have 2 children with additional needs and the youngest of them is certainly needing one of us at home at this moment anyway , so going back to work at the moment full time is not an option .
We are not struggling as much thanks to DCA, incapacitated credits and a recent pay rise in civil service. But then again we are not exactly flush as cost of living for everyone has increased.
All that aside , I'm about to pull the plug and clear the mortgage .

Just want to check it's still the right move we will never have access to this much cash again . Is there anything we are missing . Neither myself or my wife are up that financially savvy .

Thanks again
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I think the business case for clearing the mortgage has increased, even ignoring recent interest rate rises, we are going into an uncertain economic decade of unwinding an extraordinary period in money policy. Who knows what "value" your 210k cash will have in real terms in 5 years. Having a safe house is a hard asset and you can focus financial strategy energy on the important things like kids' needs, food + energy, "living" life etc. You are infinitely improving your position in my mind.
 
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