Personal details
Age: 47
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 49
Number and age of children: Four children: 12, 9, 8 and 4
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €106k
Annual gross income of spouse: €0
Monthly take-home pay: €6,000
Type of employment: Private sector - permanent full-time
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
- Barely breaking even every month, very difficult to save for pension or childrens' education
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Family home worth €900k with a €334k mortgage remaining
Cash/savings: 0
Defined Contribution pension fund: 0
Company shares: 0
Family home mortgage information
Lender: Avant - 20 Year fixed term
Interest rate: 2.50%
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? 20 years.
Monthly repayments: €1769
Other borrowings
Home Improvement Loan (40k)
Lender: Avant - 7.5 years remaining, €30k balance remaining
Interest rate: 5.9%
Monthly repayments: €500
Additional monthly payments: €300 (attempting to clear entire loan early - in ~3 years)
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
YES
Other savings and investments:
- No investments
- Saving €50 a month for each child, deposited directly into their BoI Child Saver accounts, 0.25% interest rate (for future education)
Do you have a pension scheme?
No
Do you own any investment or other property?
No
Other information which might be relevant
Life insurance:
Yes, cover for 400k+
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have roughly 20 years until retirement age, and neither of us have a private pension. My employer has just introduced a company scheme, due to start in a few months, where they match up to 3% of an employee contribution - so I will be availing of this, and would hope to contribute even more. My wife is currently unemployed, due to looking after the children, although it is likely she will need to return to work so that we can maximise pension contributions and savings for our children's future education. We have a lot of catching up to do, and it appears we'll need to start lumping thousands into savings aggressively as soon as possible.
Pension Question
With 20 years until retirement age, we need to put as much into private pensions as possible. I'm assuming that the best way to get the most 'mileage' for our money is to be with a company scheme where the employer also matches a certain percentage, thereby building up the fund much faster than if it were just a private pension? Would this (company scheme with company matched contribution) be considered the fastest and most optimal way to build up your pension fund?
Education Fund Question
We are not saving enough for our children's education at the moment. The Zurich Insurance "cost of college calculator" estimates we should be putting at least 1k monthly into an investment fund. We're currently only saving 200 euro into child saver accounts, and the money isn't growing. We need to increase payments and move the money somewhere where it will grow. Would a fund with Zurich/Irish Life/other be the best way to go to maximise the return on the college savings?
Thanks for reading.
Age: 47
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 49
Number and age of children: Four children: 12, 9, 8 and 4
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €106k
Annual gross income of spouse: €0
Monthly take-home pay: €6,000
Type of employment: Private sector - permanent full-time
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
- Barely breaking even every month, very difficult to save for pension or childrens' education
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Family home worth €900k with a €334k mortgage remaining
Cash/savings: 0
Defined Contribution pension fund: 0
Company shares: 0
Family home mortgage information
Lender: Avant - 20 Year fixed term
Interest rate: 2.50%
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? 20 years.
Monthly repayments: €1769
Other borrowings
Home Improvement Loan (40k)
Lender: Avant - 7.5 years remaining, €30k balance remaining
Interest rate: 5.9%
Monthly repayments: €500
Additional monthly payments: €300 (attempting to clear entire loan early - in ~3 years)
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
YES
Other savings and investments:
- No investments
- Saving €50 a month for each child, deposited directly into their BoI Child Saver accounts, 0.25% interest rate (for future education)
Do you have a pension scheme?
No
Do you own any investment or other property?
No
Other information which might be relevant
Life insurance:
Yes, cover for 400k+
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have roughly 20 years until retirement age, and neither of us have a private pension. My employer has just introduced a company scheme, due to start in a few months, where they match up to 3% of an employee contribution - so I will be availing of this, and would hope to contribute even more. My wife is currently unemployed, due to looking after the children, although it is likely she will need to return to work so that we can maximise pension contributions and savings for our children's future education. We have a lot of catching up to do, and it appears we'll need to start lumping thousands into savings aggressively as soon as possible.
Pension Question
With 20 years until retirement age, we need to put as much into private pensions as possible. I'm assuming that the best way to get the most 'mileage' for our money is to be with a company scheme where the employer also matches a certain percentage, thereby building up the fund much faster than if it were just a private pension? Would this (company scheme with company matched contribution) be considered the fastest and most optimal way to build up your pension fund?
Education Fund Question
We are not saving enough for our children's education at the moment. The Zurich Insurance "cost of college calculator" estimates we should be putting at least 1k monthly into an investment fund. We're currently only saving 200 euro into child saver accounts, and the money isn't growing. We need to increase payments and move the money somewhere where it will grow. Would a fund with Zurich/Irish Life/other be the best way to go to maximise the return on the college savings?
Thanks for reading.