We can't make ends meet!

[Mrs Cornflakes]

Age: 50
Husband age: 52
Husband is a Garda Sergeant : €65k this year. (€50k basic + €15k in overtime and allowances) (€75k last year) He gets €77.06 weekly
rent allowance for living away from home, but he lives with me.

Total net pay per month
Salary €3,600
unsocial hours allowance: €500 (not taxed)
4 children x child benefit: €588 per month (I get nothing for the eldest, and he eats the most)
Total net pay: €4,688 per month

I don't have any earned income

Mortgage: We are paying €1,400 a month - 18 years left
In 2005 we traded up to a modest 4 bedroomed semi-d to get an extra bedroom and to be near better schools.

No other borrowings We pay €528 a week into the Credit Union Bill pay scheme which pays all our bills.

Savings and investments: None

Do you have a pension scheme? - Yes Garda pension scheme

Do you own any investment or other property? - No

Ages of children: 18, 16,14,12,10

Life insurance: Just mortgage protection

Here are my monthly numbers

Net Pay: €4,700

Expenditure monthly
Mortgage: €1,400
Mortgage protection: 60
House insurance: €30
Phone: €170
Education: €300 ( registration fees, uniforms etc)
Garda health insurance: €300
Pensions avc : €350
Total before food etc: €2,600

Left for food, transport, clothing, footwear( my husband's a garda don't forget) other: €2,100

How can we be expected to survive on that with 5 children?

What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?

I am scared for our children’s future and ours. There are weeks when I can’t put food on the table . . . To the outsider, we look like we have it all . . . Inside we are having a nightmare.

Whilst we pay our mortgage every month we have absolutely no extra cash at all after all the bills are paid. We live in constant terror of the dishwasher breaking down or the car

If it wasn’t for my mother bailing us out all the time, we would be right under

We have “cornflakes days”, when we eat nothing else. There is the pain of seeing our eldest child make it to a prestigious third-level course, but unable to register because we can’t assemble the fees: Imagine how upsetting that is?

The younger children are resigned to the fact that they can’t attend birthday parties because the standard €20 gift is way beyond us.

Piano or swimming lessons, are unthinkable. We pay the TV licence in dribs and drabs to keep out of the courts. As I write this, the dishwasher has groudn to a halt. A repair man arrives and gives an estimate of €100 to fix the dishwasher. Hopefully, my parents, a couple on “ordinary pensions”, will probably pay for the dishwasher and the college fees.


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[serotoninsid]

Phone: €170

That seems excessive. I would be surprised if this could not be paired back some?

Mortgage: We are paying €1,400 a month - 18 years left
In 2005 we traded up to a modest 4 bedroomed semi-d to get an extra bedroom and to be near better schools.

Whats the capital amount outstanding on the mortgage and a rough valuation on the property as it stands right now? What deal do you have in place on the mortgage? i.e. what interest rate applies currently on the interest only arrangement?

 

[elcato]

A repair man arrives and gives an estimate of €100 to fix the dishwasher.

Have you shopped around for quotes ? I'd say Jimmy down the road would do it for cash for half that amount.

 

[truthseeker]

As I write this, the dishwasher has groudn to a halt. A repair man arrives and gives an estimate of €100 to fix the dishwasher.

Have you tried fixing it yourself? I recently fixed my own dishwasher after googling the problem and finding a very helpful set of videos explaining the inner workings of dishwashers. I ended up ordering a part online for 5 pound sterling plus 2.99 sterling postage and fixing it myself.

 

[burmo]

Can you please break down the remaining 2,100 as that is a lot of money.

 

[Firefly]

Pensions avc : €350

Given your current predicament of having "Cornflakes Days" I would immediately freeze these AVC contributions, especially considering the guaranteed pension your husband will receive upon retirement. At that stage, your mortgage will probably be paid off and your children should be self-financing.

Also, as your children are all at school, could you work a few mornings a week to bring in more money?

Finally, any jobs going in the Guards?

 

[annfield]

Health Insurance could go, €3,600 a year, unless a dependant is getting benefit from it

 

[rameire]

€528 a week for bills.

what bills cost €528 a week?

or should that be a month?
or is part of that going into a savings pool for future bills?

 

[Purple]

Get rid of the pension AVC. Then you have €565 a week after mortgage, utilities etc are paid.
If you can’t make ends meet with that it’s your own fault as you’ve a massive disposable income.

Where do you shop? As you are at home you can keep those costs down; you shouldn't be spending anything over €200 a week for 7 people.

 

[Purple]

€528 a week for bills.

what bills cost €528 a week?

or should that be a month?
or is part of that going into a savings pool for future bills?

I took that as a typo; there's no way anyone is paying that sort of money per week on bills, not unless they have to keep a small ship at sea or something.

 

[cobalt]

I see you've already read (posted in) this thread. However, I think it's worth highlighting posts 56 and 57 from it, which contain specific recommendations.

Post 56:

I think this Garda's spouse is suffering from an inability to budget.

It would appear that with the deductions from her husband's salary at source of €528 she is looking at her budget as being what is left over plus children's allowance. "Her" income has been severely cut to €109.22 plus the children's allowance and she now cannot budget.

She has rightly gone to MABS but perhaps she has not sat down fully and looked at every element of her expenditure and looked at the expenditure for savings. She just sees that the government has cut "her" portion of the wages and she is suffering badly.

I would recommend that she and her husband look at this jointly.

1 Stop the deductions at source so they can feel more in-control of their expenditure. Her husband should look at his pay-slip and stop every "optional" deduction. Social club, charity, AVC, Gym, etc. if they are there and stop them straight away. If the Garda’s wife sees €800 on wages slip she may feel a lot better.

2. Then look at net income and decide how to spend it. Many of the fixed expenditures are listed above, mortgage, Mortgage, Food, Transport, Education, Clothing/footwear, Telephone, Television, Waste, Broadband, Heat, Electricity, Insurance, Car Tax, Household Charge, Car Insurance, House Insurance, Life Insurance (Mortgage).

3. Each of these fixed expenditures should be evaluated and re-costed and reduced where possible. Mortgage has gone interest only so they are making a start. And for each of these they need to be really realistic, do they need a second car, where is cheaper to shop for clothes, shoes, household goods, telephone. Do they need smart phones, mobiles, etc. Can the health insurance be reduced to the minimum; they need to eat healthily to keep healthy. Eating should take priority over future potential health issues.

4 Now they should look at discretionary spending and determine where it is important for them as a family to spend and where they can make savings; this is Credit Union, Repairs, Maintenance, and Other as listed above. Are these GP visits, medicine, dentists (orthodontic work) charity contributions, school payments, sport, gifts, parties? I think with kids especially as they become teens it is a constant list of hand-outs, needs, requirements etc.

5 From the savings in 3 & 4 above they should start their rainy day funds, emergency pot of money, exceptional spends, car replacement, etc.

6 Then the future, reduction of income plans, more tax plans, water charge, house tax etc etc. They now have another adult in the house and he/she will need to be able to help by either reduction in expenditure or by earning to add to the available pool of money.

If this lady considers it her job and responsibility to save money for her family, make lunches, grow vegetables, walk rather than drive, look for bargains, barter, etc etc then she will feel more in charge of her families future and current costs and will know instantly what can be cut and saved and how to have fun and live a life on less.

With 18 years+ left on the mortgage and her husband over 50 and perhaps approaching retirement they both need to start planning for the future and living for the present. If they can make savings can they go back to paying their mortgage and eventually be debt free. The two negatives they have at the moment is that they have a large mortgage and large outputs with the size of their family of 6. So it is not going to be easy and it is going to cause them pain as they move from a middle class status to frugal living but it is possible.

There is a lot she can do and with her husbands and children’s help she is in a position to make great savings and still live well and put lots of healthy nutritious meals on the table and have an enjoyable family life. The solution will lie with her not the government. She needs to consider it her full time job to manage the money they have and manage it well.

Post 57:

Here are my suggestions for the family to cut out not only the €300pw shortfall to get back in the black, but over €400pw!:
1) Move to a basic health insurance plan and save €35pw
2) Cut out the €80pw AVC to save €50pw net of tax
3) Get rid of one of the cars, save €60pw
4) Everyone makes do with a prepay mobile, save €25pw
5) If the kids want to buy expensive clothing/shoe brands let them do it out of a part time job, save €30pw
6) Switch to porridge instead of cornflakes, switch to Aldi/Lidl for groceries, save €30pw
7) Be ruthless about the €80pw "other" expenditure - save €40pw
8) If the credit union payment is savings stop it, if loan repayments it should be paid off within a couple of years anyway - save €50pw

Also, as others have noted above, and in the other thread, the broad figures given so far don't seem to give the full picture. It would probably help people to provide useful advice if you could provide supplementary details in the areas discussed in that thread and this one.

 

[ajapale]

Garda health insurance: €300

The Garda health insurance from St Pauls appears to be a great scheme. Are you claiming your full "day to day" medical expences from the scheme?

Are you claiming your MED1 expences every year?

Do you or any of your family suffer from any medical conditions or predispositions which would make dropping the medical insurance problematic?

 

[Bronte]

Age: 50
Husband age: 52
Husband €65k this year.
(€50k basic + €15k in overtime and allowances) (€75k last year)
He gets €77.06 weekly rent allowance
Total net pay per month
Salary €3,600
unsocial hours allowance: €500 (not taxed)
4 children x child benefit: €588 per month (I get nothing for the eldest, and he eats the most)
Total net pay: €4,688 per month

It would be more helpful if we treated this as a real case, which in essence it is. Can we start with the income.

A 50K income. What is that net?

B 77 * 52 = 4007K annually, is that tax free ?
C child benefit is 588 (can someone else confirm that that is a correct amount for 4 children?) X 12 = 7056K
D 500 (is that monthly?) X 12 = 6000K, is that tax free
E where is the overtime?

4007 + 7056 = 6000 = 17063 plus the salary. Who can confirm how much 50K is for a married man, spouse not working with 5 kids. Or confirm that the figure of 3600K monthly is correct.

3600 X 12 = 43,200 plus 17063 = 60263 / 12 = 5021.91 not the 4,688 monthly amount posted.

 

[ajapale]

It looks like your husband is on point 7 of the salary scale for Garda Sergeants Class B pre 95.

from:

Class A post 95
0 46,229
1 47,337
2 48,493
3 49,755
4 49,755
5 49,755
6 51,034
7 51,034
8 51,034
9 51,034
10 51,034
11 51,034
12 53,119


Class B Pre 95
On appointment 1 € 44,725.43
After 1 year 2 € 45,794.73
After 2 years 3 € 46,918.60
After 3 years 4 € 48,131.28
After 6 years 7 € 49,368.00
After 12 years 13 € 51,385.43

 

[ajapale]

Is your husbands enhanced pension option type (i) or type (ii) below?

(i) Purchase of notional service at full actuarial cost; (ii) union-sponsored AVC scheme

Does your husband intend availing of the early retirement options availiable to members of AGS / Defence Forces (but not in the broader C/P service)?

2.11.5 Gardaí may retire at age 50 if they have 30 years actual service in the force.
2.11.6 The compulsory retiring age is age 57 for a member of Garda, Sergeant and Inspector rank.

 

[serotoninsid]

Can you also itemise your average monthly electricity spend.

 

[shigllgetcha]

Is it possible for the husband to have full service by retirement age? An AVC might not be worth while if he has full service at retirement, a trap many people get sold into. Youll end up using the whole allowable amount you can draw down tax free on his garda lump sum and end up taking the money back out taxable on top of his pension if he has full service

Id consider atleast a break on his AVC if you are in that much trouble right now

clothing, footwear( my husband's a garda don't forget)

An allowance of €2.87 a week for the “maintenance of official footwear” also continues.

[broken link removed]

 

[orka]

It looks like your husband is on point 5 of the salary scale (Pre 95) for Garda Sergeants.

from:

0 46,229
1 47,337
2 48,493
3 49,755
4 49,755
5 49,755
6 51,034
7 51,034
8 51,034
9 51,034
10 51,034
11 51,034
12 53,119

I think that scale is the post-1995 (full class A prsi) scale - which means (a) there isn't very long service and (b) the pension contribution (assumed by most posters to be an AVC) being discussed may the compulsory contribution that gardai have had to pay even before the pension levy was brought in - so stopping the pension contribution may not be an option.

 

[shigllgetcha]

I think that scale is the post-1995 (full class A prsi) scale - which means (a) there isn't very long service and (b) the pension contribution (assumed by most posters to be an AVC) being discussed may the compulsory contribution that gardai have had to pay even before the pension levy was brought in - so stopping the pension contribution may not be an option.

If it is its being counted twice as the net pay is given as €3600 per month and then the AVC is listed as a deduction again after the net pay figure.

 

[Bronte]

To all those making a suggestion that the garda stop contributing to the extra pension (AVC or whatever) he is going to need extra income to pay the mortgage when he retires. My understanding was that he is paying interest only on the mortgage. Looks like mortgage is going to last into his late 60's and he must retire by 57.