# Any financial advice welcome



## ctlsleh (23 Feb 2011)

I am a high earner but im modest enough to relaise that  could really do with some good advice

Age: 42
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 43

Annual gross income from employment or profession: Private Sector - Sales - 135K Base ( Plus ~50K commission) Take home €5850 pm after pensions excl Commission
Annual gross income of spouse:Job Sharing Cicil servant - 22K - take home 350 per week - no pension, working on and off over the years

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Trying to save bonus, more or less spending everything else but not living lavishly

Rough estimate of value of home 500K
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 300K 
*What interest rate are you paying? EBS Tracker 1.9% €2650 pm*

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc 
None

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:120K in various deposit accounts
EBS, INBS, AIB
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, i contribute 10% (started late and left the country for a few years, returned about 3 years ago and what i have invested has been more or less depleted in the last 18 months)

Do you own any investment or other property? NO

Ages of children: 9, 7, 5

Life insurance: 
Yes, standard mortgage protection, Death in service (Company benefit)

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

While i cant deny that gross income is high and my overall financial position is good compared to many, i still seem to struggle to make ends meet month to month without regularly dipping into my commission. I dont have an extravagent lifestyle other than a nice holiday once per year, we run 2 cars, one is 14 years old, the other is 7.
 I feel im not getting much return on my deposits (~2-3%) and i would like to figure out how to make the money work better for me, while also thinking to the future and how i can plan now were something to go wrong with my job. I have 3 kids to put through college and a written off pension fund. Its unlikely i will be able to maintain this level income and this role after 50, so ill probably looking at a new reality at that stage and significnatly lower salary. 
Any advice on how to to manage my financial position more effectively, are there other financial instruments that i should consider that would provide a better return on my income and any tips on how to manage my monthly income more effectively?

Thanks for any advice in advance.


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## mercman (24 Feb 2011)

You are in a lucky position -- you seem to require some Man Management to place your finances under control. 

A Budget is required to work to. This way you will be able to control your finances. All is not lost concerning your pension -- Have you considered placing your funds into a self administered Pension Scheme. This way you can take control of the pension funds and not leave it to others to earn large lumps of commission without giving a damn.

As your kids get a bit older you might consider placing money into funds to provide for their college education.

Basically a little bit of discipline and you'll be smiling.


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## Bronte (24 Feb 2011)

ctlsleh said:


> Its unlikely i will be able to maintain this level income and this role after 50, so ill probably looking at a new reality at that stage and significnatly lower salary.


 
When will your mortgage term end? If you think you will have a much lower income in 8 years time you should be aiming to have the mortgage down to zero, that would cut out a monthly cost of 2650K.

Your savings can get better interest than 2 to 3%. Look up the best deposit rates here on AAM and check what's on offer in the banks at the moment. 

You have 5850 - 2650 = 3200 = 350 = 3550 a month to live on.

Do you know what you are spending the money on. Have you gone through the figures? Until you give us the figures we cannot advise you on where you can make savings. 

As your spouse only works 'sometimes' make sure she has credits for those non working times. You should also look into whatever can be done to make sure she has enough stamps/prsi contributions at retirement age to qualify in her own right. It's something a lot of people don't do. For sure when not working she can sign on to get a stamp up at no cost. Can she or does she want to earn more now that the kids are all of school going age. It's not something that has to be done but something to be discussed. Maybe going forward if her income increased as yours decreased kind of thing. 

Currently cannot recommend going into property due to many reasons, also it's not for everybody. In relation to financial instruments you need to get good independant advice on these. It is always worth paying for good advice. But your experience of your pension should tell you something. There is no magic wand to create wealth. Currently the only concrete ways you can make money is by cutting costs and increasing income.


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## Mpsox (24 Feb 2011)

It would be worth posting your spending as per the money makeover template so that people can suggest areas for improvements and savings

You should also review your tax position to ensure you are claiming for everything you should be claiming for and to see if there is any room for a rebate from past years


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## huskerdu (24 Feb 2011)

It seems that you spend 3500 a month and you are not sure where it goes. 
You are right to start thinking about a budget so you can save more. 

As was said before, you need to start a spending diary, so you can find out where your money goes. 

You might  find that there is loads of money being frittered away on stuff like
cafes, lunches, coffee, social life, that you could cut back on without any great impact on your standard of living.

How much goes on clothes every month ?????

Also, kids that age will drain you of a lot of money if they are let, but it isn't hard to put the brakes on. It does kids more good than harm to find out that Mammys wallet is not bottomless. 

Good luck, it'll be worth it.


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## ctlsleh (24 Feb 2011)

Thanks all for your input and i know i need to get a daily budget going, started yesterday on that. Heres a basic breakdown of expenditure more or less, im sure theres more that i cant think of. there are always once offs like tyres for the car, something to fix in the house etc etc that are difficult to build into the picture but this is more or less how it works.....

thanks again for your advice
Home Ins -600pa
Car ins - 900 pa
Car tax - 2100 pa (i know this is substantial, but the cars are old and have no market value, still cheaper than the depreciation on a new vechicle, intend to run into the ground rather than take a loan or use deposits)
Waste mgmt 400 pa
Golf Mem - 900 pa
Electricity - 90 pm
Petrol - 50 pm (company pays for mine)
Oil - 120 pm (about 3 fills per year, 600-800 each)
Clothes(kids and adults) - 250 pm
Meals out, coffees, snacks  - 100pm
Going out/entertainment - 400 pm (2 nights out per month, taxis, babysitting dinner and drinks)
Home Drinks - 120 pm (10 per bottle of wine - 10 per month maybe more, home guests)
Food - 600 pm (shop in aldi regularly, but theres always the regular trip to the local shop for milk/bread etc) i think i need to monitor this more closely
Kids activities (Music/sports) - 250 pm
Hobbies, golf, GAA games, rugby games etc  - 50pm
Holidays - 5000 pa (one big holiday per year and maybe a weekend away during the year, i know this is a lot of money but its worth it)
Sky - 50 pm
phones - 110 pm
Medicine - 150 pm (spouse on daily medicine plus other regular vits and childrens medicine)- already on the medicine scheme, think it kicks in around 100E now)
miscellaneous ~200-300 pm

Regarding my wifes stamps, can you advise me how i check into that? i think her pension might be more valuable than mine when the time comes and i was thinking as it would be a state pension that maybe thats where i should be investing rather than into my private one. Dont knoiw how to go about that either.

I also have a fund with Generali - 12K invested, worth 9K now, so while i believe in a long term investment and would naturally bbe a risk taker, i seem to be getting burned everywhere (pension, funds, Stocks) and hence ive put everything on deposit recenetly, but i do think there will be an improvement in the global market in the over the next 5 years and i do think its a good time to consier reinvesting....but into what?

So overall, i very much appreciate any advice and recommendations you can offer. as i stated ive started the daily spending and sold the idea to my wife... im sure that wioll be an eye opener in itself, but i still need to figure out the bigger picture in terms of my overall financial position and again i appreciate your invauable advice.

Thank you.


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## niceoneted (24 Feb 2011)

Your biggest problem that I see is one of money management. 

Your take home pay after paying your very large mortgage amount is €4,600 and your outgoings as you have listed are €3,465 a difference of 1,135 and this is before you get your commission. 

You need to set an annual budget - set up an account and work out all the known expenses in the year - car tax, ins, house ins, golf membership, tv licence etc. Include also the monthly and bi monthly bills ESB, GAS Oil, Petrol.

Start a spending diary - everything is written into it that is spent, from .50c to €5,000. 
Are you a sales rep on the road - I am thinking this - if so I am finding it hard to fathom how you have either the 7 or 14 yr old car. Most if not all sales reps I know have there cars replaced by the company. If they pay for your petrol do they not also pay for car tax and ins? 

Try maybe to allow yourselves a certain allowance each month as opposed to perhaps saving what is left as in save first. 

You should look to have mortgage considerable paid down by the time your 50 if you think you won't have the same earning power. 
I would start a fund for each of the kids now for college etc. 
Look at lump sums deposit accounts in the best buys.
Also consider an post savings certs as there is a very good return dirt free on these. 
Also might be worth a punt on some prize bonds. 

You have the capability of saving a lot more and are in a very good position in comparison to a lot of people. 

Now go start that spending diary.


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## ctlsleh (24 Feb 2011)

Thanks Niceoneted (great name)
to clarify, I have an international role, so i dont have a company car, i have a car allowance which i included in my gross salary and they also pay for my fuel. I work from home when im not travelling abroad which i do 50-80% of the time, ie almost every week im somewhere, hence one of the reason that this isnt a sustainable role in the long term, although ill try to keep at it for as long as possible.
I have about 10 years left on my mortgage.

I have used the lump sum best buys, i have 40K in INBS @ 3.6% and 50K in EBS, just finished a term of 5 months at 3.6% and decided to put it on a 40day term at 2.6% while i wait and see what happens to interest rates, dont want to tie it into a 12month term if ECB increase interest rates in the near term which appears likely.
I have abpout 30K in AIB, that i need to do something with 10K on the 7-day notice and 20K which i need to do womething with.

Diary started......!

thanks again.


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## niceoneted (2 Mar 2011)

How is the spending diary going? Don't forget to come back if you need further advice/clarity.


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## ctlsleh (4 Mar 2011)

going ok, will do it for a few weeks to get a handle on where were spending......thanks again


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## ShaneS (24 Apr 2011)

When I retired i needed to do an exercise that has been mentioned above regarding monitoring my spending. Obviously I had a reduced income when I was sixty. I engaged the services of a money management company in Clonmel, co Tipperary, Eolas Money Mgt. Practical advice that has helped me improve and manage my money... I'd recommend....


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