# Potential redundancy in next 12 months, advice and suggestions please



## thedaddyman (24 Feb 2014)

I fully accept I am in a better position then a lot of others but I am still staring redundancy in the fact for the first time ever and frankly, it scares the bejesus out of me, any advice gratefully received

Age: 45
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 43

Annual gross income from employment or profession: €98000
Annual gross income of spouse: €21000

Monthly take-home pay €6k (combined between the 2 of us)

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed Public servant
Private Sector-Operations Manager
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?

Saving approx. €600pm between us + on occasions another €200-€400 if monthly finances allow
Rough estimate of value of home: €150k (1 hr outside of Dublin
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 155k Paying around €100 per month extra on top of what we are required to pay at the minute
What interest rate are you paying? Tracker ECB + 0.75% 20 years left


Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc None

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? €2k. 

Savings and investments:

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes-company scheme

Do you own any investment or other property? No 
Savings and Investments. Approx. €25k in a variety of shares, unit trusts and savings accounts

Ages of children: 2 children, 7 and 3

Life insurance: Mortgage protection insurance. Wife has her own personal life insurance policy, mine is via work related scheme


What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? 
The likelihood is that I will be made redundant over the next 12 months. I have 14 yrs service and will leave with a sum after tax of €90k-€100k. I am probably over paid for my current role and know I will be unlikely to get the same salary again. I am currently one of those sad individuals who spend 15 hrs a week commuting into Dublin from out in the sticks and would like to avoid having to do that again if possible. 
If I am laid off, Wife has the potential to go back to work full time which would increase her salary to approx. €27k and would mean that at least whilst I am off we could avoid child care costs of approx. €700pm
Questions are as follows
I have never been unemployed and have no interest in starting up my own business so will be job hunting once laid off. However I genuinely have no knowledge of what social welfare payments I would receive. Could someone please advise?
In terms of the lump sum and bearing SW in mind, would we be better off to pay off as much of the mortgage as we possibly could or would we be advised to keep some or all of it back for a rainy day
If, at some stage in the near future, I have to contribute to nursing home fees for an elderly parent, what impact does that have on any SW payments I receive and what impact does having a large lump sum ourselves have on any state support we would receive for making such payments
Lastly, what’s the job market like out there for guys like me in their mid 40’s who perhaps have been a bit stuck in a rut over recent years, any advice would be gratefully received


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## STEINER (24 Feb 2014)

Just in relation to the €6k net monthly combined income, you are spending a lot (90%) of this, can you break this down please?


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## kennyb3 (25 Feb 2014)

STEINER said:


> Just in relation to the €6k net monthly combined income, you are spending a lot (90%) of this, can you break this down please?



+1, €120k gross income (which actually gives €6522 net per deloitte tax calculator), a monthly mortgage of less than €1k it seems, childcare of €700pm.

This should leave €4.8k (over €4k anyway) which is a lot more than some couples even earn jointly. You've also 3* childrens allowance too.

Take out savings and being generous there should still be €3k to €3.5k pm for bills, groceries etc. This is a huge figure - where is it going?

You should be saving €1.5k pm minimum by my estimations, possibly €2k pm.


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## RainyDay (25 Feb 2014)

thedaddyman said:


> Lastly, what’s the job market like out there for guys like me in their mid 40’s who perhaps have been a bit stuck in a rut over recent years, any advice would be gratefully received[/FONT][/COLOR]



An awful lot will depend on your industry and your areas of expertise. Software is thriving, pharma is thriving, telecoms and international financial services are doing well. Other industries not so much.  No disrespect, but if you're in a €100k post, I'd expect you to have a fairly good read on your own industry. If you've been recruiting people over the past year or two, you should have an idea for what kind of people are getting jobs, and what they are getting paid.

I'd start the serious job hunting now. Ideally, you'll get something that will start shortly after your redundancy. But be ready to consider other options - if you got another €100k post in a good location, but with an immediate start, would you be prepared to walk away from the redundancy/lump sum?


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