Age: 30
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 30
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €72,000 with annual bonus approx 20% of salary (15k last year)
Annual gross income of spouse: €51,000
Monthly take-home pay: €6,000
Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed: Both PAYE
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving – approx €1600 P/M
Rough estimate of value of home: N/A
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: N/A - Renting at €1200 p/m
What interest rate are you paying? N/A
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: PCP on my car 308 p/m, finishing up next June 2020 with a final balloon payment of 10k
Wife has car loan of 300 p/m
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: Cash €35,000 on deposit no interest rate
Share scheme through work which are worth €2k (2% of my salary goes into these per month and employer matches 50% of my contributions, am wondering if I should move this 2% to my pension or monthly savings?)
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, Mine is at €30,000 after letting it lapse on a few occasions after changing jobs, currently pay 7% and employer matches with 7%
No idea of the value of my wife’s pension value but she has been paying 5% and employer has matched the 5% for the past 6 years
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: None but wife is due our first next January
Life insurance: 2.5x Salary
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We are both originally from Cork and the dream is to eventually move home to Cork and buy a house there but the job prospects for my wife’s industry are not great (or nonexistent) there at the moment compared to Dublin.
We have always spent a large chunk of our income on cars as we both drive between 45mins to an hour each way to work. When the PCP on my own car is up, we intend to pay off the remaining 10k and then plan to hold onto this car or exchange for a more family friendly vehicle! This will at least remove one of our monthly outgoings.
We have talked about it a lot and still think that we are better off waiting before buying property as we would ideally like to settle in Cork rather than Dublin. We are renting from family at the moment and are lucky that the house will be more than adequate when our first child comes along next year. I’m sure, however, that we will soon outgrow this property over the coming years.
Are we right to continue renting or should we just buy in Dublin now and figure out Cork if it happens in the next 5/10 years?
We got married at the end of 2019 and used an instant access savings a/c with 0% interest to pay for whatever expenses arose, we now have 30k in this account earning 0% interest, should we move some of this (keeping a rainy day fund) elsewhere?
I am also aware that our monthly saving capability will be significantly impacted once kids come along.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 30
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €72,000 with annual bonus approx 20% of salary (15k last year)
Annual gross income of spouse: €51,000
Monthly take-home pay: €6,000
Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed: Both PAYE
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving – approx €1600 P/M
Rough estimate of value of home: N/A
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: N/A - Renting at €1200 p/m
What interest rate are you paying? N/A
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: PCP on my car 308 p/m, finishing up next June 2020 with a final balloon payment of 10k
Wife has car loan of 300 p/m
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: Cash €35,000 on deposit no interest rate
Share scheme through work which are worth €2k (2% of my salary goes into these per month and employer matches 50% of my contributions, am wondering if I should move this 2% to my pension or monthly savings?)
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, Mine is at €30,000 after letting it lapse on a few occasions after changing jobs, currently pay 7% and employer matches with 7%
No idea of the value of my wife’s pension value but she has been paying 5% and employer has matched the 5% for the past 6 years
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: None but wife is due our first next January
Life insurance: 2.5x Salary
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We are both originally from Cork and the dream is to eventually move home to Cork and buy a house there but the job prospects for my wife’s industry are not great (or nonexistent) there at the moment compared to Dublin.
We have always spent a large chunk of our income on cars as we both drive between 45mins to an hour each way to work. When the PCP on my own car is up, we intend to pay off the remaining 10k and then plan to hold onto this car or exchange for a more family friendly vehicle! This will at least remove one of our monthly outgoings.
We have talked about it a lot and still think that we are better off waiting before buying property as we would ideally like to settle in Cork rather than Dublin. We are renting from family at the moment and are lucky that the house will be more than adequate when our first child comes along next year. I’m sure, however, that we will soon outgrow this property over the coming years.
Are we right to continue renting or should we just buy in Dublin now and figure out Cork if it happens in the next 5/10 years?
We got married at the end of 2019 and used an instant access savings a/c with 0% interest to pay for whatever expenses arose, we now have 30k in this account earning 0% interest, should we move some of this (keeping a rainy day fund) elsewhere?
I am also aware that our monthly saving capability will be significantly impacted once kids come along.
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