# Struggling , juggling kids and work.



## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

Age: 40
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 41

Annual gross income from employment or profession:
Annual gross income of spouse:

Monthly take-home pay -450 a week me ,460 a week wife.

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed - both civil servants since 1999. 

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
We are just getting by week to week , anything major ,holidays , house or car repairs comes from credit union savings.

Rough estimate of value of home 325k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 160k
*What interest rate are you paying? 1.1% *

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None 
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No credit cards .
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?

Savings and investments:
210k state savings accessible from Nov 2022
50k in shares , 10 blue chips split equally.
5k in credit union emergency fund.

Do you have a pension scheme? 
Im not sure about this I assume we get a civil service pension ? But we both reduced our hours to work 3 days a week , we are both working 3 days a week since 2013. 

Do you own any investment or other property?
No

Ages of children: 2,4,9,12

Life insurance: No , other than with mortgage.


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

We are a bit lost lately overwhelmed by how much money we are eating into our savings by.
Some history, we met in civil service and both myself and wife where good savers. Our first child was very difficult and is autistic and as such never settled with child minders . Along came the second child and we made the decision to reduce our hours and be at home as the stress of organising childcare and missing work was too great.

We where very lucky to be left money from an aunt of my wife around this time. After some home improvements we put the remainder in 6 year state savings mainly because it was been used on day to day expenses. This is accessible in 2022.

At the moment we are just getting by , life feels expensive and we have been passed over for promotions in work because we can't commit to 5 days a week. 

I can't see a way that we can go back to work full time until the youngest is at least maybe 13 so that leaves us another 10 years on reduced working hours. 

Our second youngest now is also been assessed for autism and is very difficult. 

I've no clue what to do with the money from state savings next year , should we pay off mortgage ? Start a private pension ? ( We are both low rate tax payers )Invest  privately ? 
Or put in bank and use it as needed. 

Thanks


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## time to plan (10 Oct 2021)

One immediate consideration: how much are you eating into your savings per month? How much capital repayment are you making towards paying off your mortgage each month? 

Accepting that you have a good low interest rate, if you use your savings to pay off your mortgage, and you then didn’t have to pay a monthly mortgage payment, would you then break even or even save a little each month?


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## NoRegretsCoyote (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> Im not sure about this I assume we get a civil service pension ? But we both reduced our hours to work 3 days a week , we are both working 3 days a week since 2013.


Just bear in mind you are only building up pension rights pro rata. So 8 years on a three day week means you've lost about 3 years of contributions.

In your cases not a huge issue as you joined so young so you should still get full pensions 62 or 63 with 40 years service. But the longer you stay on 3-day weeks the further it gets pushed out 


Otherwise it makes no sense to be paying a mortgage while getting nothing on return on state savings. I would liquidate now and pay off half mortgage.

And it's not a major deal to be drawing down savings. That's what they are there for! You have four kids and this is going to be the most expensive phase of your life. Just set yourself a budget and drip feed it in from the savings every month.


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

Thanks for replies . Yearly probably average spending 5k out of savings. Some years less , some more. We take one holiday a year and then maybe a weekend staycation. I save 70 a week into credit union but it never builds up before a withdrawal for something.
I don't mind spending savings we want to bring kids away each year, neither of us drink or smoke and we have saorview , gomo mobiles etc we have cut back . Our only vices are eating out .
Been at home is more expensive with heating bills and electricity as someone is always there.
All the kids do lots of sports some are expensive like horse riding but really help with his autism and then other kids want to do same so that's another issue.

The mortgage we took out in 2004 , borrowed 270k ish for 35years so we are half way through it. We pay 835 a month . I don't know what is capital and what is interest.
State savings are up in 12months I'll get 10k interest tax free on 200k investment.


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## time to plan (10 Oct 2021)

So if you paid off the mortgage, instead of spending 5k savings each year, you could save 5k per year.


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

time to plan said:


> So if you paid off the mortgage, instead of spending 5k savings each year, you could save 5k per year.


Yes if we paid off the mortgage we would have 50k left and 50k in investment accounts and be able to save 5k a year ( in theory ) .


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## time to plan (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> Yes if we paid off the mortgage we would have 50k left and 50k in investment accounts and be able to save 5k a year ( in theory ) .


It seems to me that it would simplify things, and also be less stressful if you can be debt free and see your savings grow every month. You just need to find the right way to get the best return on them seeing as you probably have kids 3rd level education coming down the track. 

On top of the 5k per year, you can still save the 70 per week and just expect that that will be spent each year on holidays etc.


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

Thanks that's good advice , I'm worried about access to money going forward that has me reluctant to pay off mortgage. The two youngest will start doing more activities as they get older , and as you mention 3rd level fees.
I worry about potential to earn money now, the realisation that realistically we won't be able to return to work full time until we are both 50 that leaves very little time to build a pension, leaves little time for work promotions.

I do feel like down the line at a certain point we are going to run out of money trying to pay for things or probably end up underfunded when we retire unless we really knuckle down after 50 and return to work full time .

Stuff to think about for sure , thanks for input .


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## NoRegretsCoyote (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> or probably end up *underfunded* when we retire


Highly unlikely! By 65 you will have a household gross €4.5-€5k a month DB, index-linked pension and lump sum of around €100k each. You will have a mortgage paid off too.

You are financially very well set up for retirement as it stands and you have €200k to spare. Your challenge is mainly about how fast you spend your savings


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

NoRegretsCoyote said:


> Highly unlikely! By 65 you will have a household gross €4.5-€5k a month DB, index-linked pension and lump sum of around €100k each. You will have a mortgage paid off too.
> 
> You are financially very well set up for retirement as it stands and you have €200k to spare. Your challenge is mainly about how fast you spend your savings


Them figures seem very high. I haven't looked at it in detail I just know of people retiring that are same grade as myself not getting 100k lump sum. 
4.5-5k seems way high too . I should probably ring HR and find out what actual figures are it seems complicated to work out . 

I agree the challenge is not to spend savings too quickly.


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## Clamball (10 Oct 2021)

If you are both working 3 days per week is there one day per week where you have no cover at home?  How is that working for childcare costs.   Would there be a possibility that you could increase your hours while still working 3 days, say do 3x10 hr days?  This would increase your take home pay & perhaps reduce your worries.   But taking the kids to activities would suffer.   Even if you spent €5K extra per year from your savings it would still take 40 years to use them up.

I would pay off the mortgage, this freed up €10K earnings per year, which you can spend €5K and save €5K.  I would also be very clear with the kids what your budget is and how you need to carefully spend each month.  The 2x non autistic kids should be brought up to understand that they need to get a part time job, and help fund themselves through college if that is what they want to do.   You have no idea about the future costs of you two autistic kids, one turns 18 in 7 short years and what happens then is probably all up in the air.  

Do you have the Domiciliary Care Allowance?  You don’t mention that and you should apply for it, then when your child turns 16 you can transition to a disability allowance?  This will bring in an income to fund therapies and activities for the autistic children.  

And ask at work about your pension?  And check out your bank statements for the mortgage and you will see how much you pay in interest and capital.   The citizens advice bureau has a whole lot of helpful information.


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## NoRegretsCoyote (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> 4.5-5k seems way high too .


What grade are you on and increment?

I'm making an educated guess based on your net income on a three-day week.

You both started super young which is not so common today.


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## Brendan Burgess (10 Oct 2021)

First of all...  You are doing absolutely the right thing prioritising the care of your children over your finances and your career prospects.   Having made this decision, then see how the finances work out.

Focus on the next 10 years and don't overly worry about what happens when you retire.  You are civil servants and you will be mortgage-free, so you will not be in a bad position.



Ford25 said:


> Yearly probably average spending 5k out of savings.



That is nothing to worry about.  

"We pay 835 a month . I don't know what is capital and what is interest."

€160k @1.1% = €1,700 a year interest = €150 a month interest.  

So you are reducing your mortgage capital by €700 a month or €8,000 a year.

So you are reducing your savings by €5k a year but reducing your debts by €8k a year. In other words, you are saving €3k a year.


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## Brendan Burgess (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> 210k state savings accessible from Nov 2022



This requires a bit of arithmetic. 
1) If you take out €160k now to repay your mortgage, how much interest will you lose? 
2) You will save about €2k in mortgage interest. 
3) So it might be best to leave it there as the interest you lose will probably be more than the mortgage interest you save. 



Ford25 said:


> 50k in shares , 10 blue chips split equally.



I thought initially it might be worth selling these to clear your mortgage, but you will left with a lump of money to invest in November 2022 and you will spend more in stamp duty and stock broker costs selling and buying again, so I would just leave these.


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## Brendan Burgess (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> I'm worried about access to money going forward that has me reluctant to pay off mortgage.



You should not be reluctant to do this after November next.  You will still have plenty of savings.  And by clearing your mortgage early, you will not be making  mortgage capital repayments or paying interest. 

It is clear that you should clear your mortgage. The only decision is whether to do it now or next year. I assume that next year is best.

Brendan


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## Brendan Burgess (10 Oct 2021)

> I'm worried about access to money going forward that has me reluctant to pay off mortgage.



Clearing off your mortgage, reduces your short term and medium term access which you don't need. 

But contributing to a pension, would bar access to the cash until you are 65. 

So given that worry, and the fact that you will be getting only 20% tax relief and the fact that you have public service pensions, I don't think you should be making any additional contributions to a pension.

Brendan


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## time to plan (10 Oct 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> You should not be reluctant to do this after November next.  You will still have plenty of savings.  And by clearing your mortgage early, you will not be making  mortgage capital repayments or paying interest.
> 
> It is clear that you should clear your mortgage. The only decision is whether to do it now or next year. I assume that next year is best.
> 
> Brendan


As well as having access to savings, he is in a position to increase them by 5k per year against the day when the expenditure on kids increases.


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

Clamball said:


> If you are both working 3 days per week is there one day per week where you have no cover at home?  How is that working for childcare costs.   Would there be a possibility that you could increase your hours while still working 3 days, say do 3x10 hr days?  This would increase your take home pay & perhaps reduce your worries.   But taking the kids to activities would suffer.   Even if you spent €5K extra per year from your savings it would still take 40 years to use them up.
> 
> I would pay off the mortgage, this freed up €10K earnings per year, which you can spend €5K and save €5K.  I would also be very clear with the kids what your budget is and how you need to carefully spend each month.  The 2x non autistic kids should be brought up to understand that they need to get a part time job, and help fund themselves through college if that is what they want to do.   You have no idea about the future costs of you two autistic kids, one turns 18 in 7 short years and what happens then is probably all up in the air.
> 
> ...



Thanks yes one day a week my wife works from home and I'm in the office, her mam comes to our house and helps out. 
It's the only day we don't have activities in the evenings for the kids. My wife gets up at 5am to start to get a free run at her work while kids are asleep even though she can't clock on till 7am and she will stay working well after signing out for the day because her mam just can't manage fully during the day.

We are paying privately for the eldest lad for additional psychology and speech and language and the psychologist mentioned DCA to us recently. We are in the process of applying for this which would be a godsend but others have said it's very very difficult to get so I'm not too hopeful.

10 hour days aren't really possible for me anyway my job is more a 9-5 I'm no use to them outside them hours. The wife aswell it wouldn't be practical with evening sports etc .

Thanks to all who replied I'll reply to them later. Certainly lots of great advice and feeling more positive about the future. It's seems clear to pay mortgage off.


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

So next November situation.
210k matures state savings.
-160k mortgage (clear mortgage)
Leaves 
50k shares 
50k cash 
An extra 800 or so a month. I'd like to automate it that 400 of that went somewhere useful so we don't just spend it.

So we have 100k excess and adding 5k a year. This will be mainly set aside to help the kids a little bit whatever way we can third level , assistance with house deposit. But may not need to dip into it for 6 years minimum .
Would it be best to invest this whole 100k ?


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## Brendan Burgess (10 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> Would it be best to invest this whole 100k ?



You have a lot to think about.

But no need to think about this until November next when the the State Savings mature.

Brendan


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## Ford25 (10 Oct 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> You have a lot to think about.
> 
> But no need to think about this until November next when the the State Savings mature.
> 
> Brendan



Yes indeed, thanks for your input it was really helpful.


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## sonandheir (11 Oct 2021)

Hi Ford25, 

I would not pay down your mortgage based on a 1.1% return on your money.

You've just had the 200k tied up in a saving account for 6 years which you could not touch to earn around 1% return per annum. 

If you pay the mortgage you will never be able to access that money ever. I know the consensus here on AAM is that you can save the mortgage payments over the next few years but with a 6 person household the money day to day/month to month just goes. I have 4 kids too and have stopped prioritising overpaying the mortgage so that I have cash in hand for the inevitabilities of life that arise. 

Think of your mortgage as an insurance policy. You can hang on to the 160k and only have to pay 1% interest(that's assuming you don't do anything with it, and I would say supporting your family and raising your kids through their most influential years while working only 3 days is a super investment in your family's future)


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## Brendan Burgess (11 Oct 2021)

sonandheir said:


> Think of your mortgage as an insurance policy. You can hang on to the 160k and only have to pay 1% interest



That is a reasonable way of looking at. However, it's a repayment mortgage, so he is obliged to repay chunks of capital every month.   With 17 years, to go, he will be just saving his money to repay the capital a few years later and paying interest in the meantime.

He will still have plenty of cash after he clears his mortgage, so clearing his mortgage is correct in this case.


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## Brendan Burgess (11 Oct 2021)

sonandheir said:


> Think of your mortgage as an insurance policy. You can hang on to the 160k



If he had a mortgage of €160k and €30k cash, then it would be worth considering paying the 1% interest as an insurance premium to keep access to the cash. 

Brendan


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## Ford25 (11 Oct 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> That is a reasonable way of looking at. However, it's a repayment mortgage, so he is obliged to repay chunks of capital every month.   With 17 years, to go, he will be just saving his money to repay the capital a few years later and paying interest in the meantime.
> 
> He will still have plenty of cash after he clears his mortgage, so clearing his mortgage is correct in this case.
> 
> View attachment 5825



That's a great calculator, I was just looking 10 year state savings pays 10% after 10 years. 
If I put 160k in I'd make 16k 
If I pay 160k off mortgage adding 10 years interest it's 12.7k. 
I'm trying to work out what I'm missing that's obvious as interest on mortgage is higher than savings 1.1% v 0.96%.?


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## Brendan Burgess (11 Oct 2021)

Don't worry about those calculations. Just pay off your mortgage. 

If the interest on your loan is higher than the interest on your deposit, you are going to pay more.

And the interest rate on your mortgage will increase, while the rate on the state savings is fixed, I assume. 

Brendan


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## NoRegretsCoyote (11 Oct 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> If he had a mortgage of €160k and €30k cash, then it would be worth considering paying the 1% interest as an insurance premium to keep access to the cash.


I keep about as that much in cash. There is an opportunity cost of course.

But if, like the OP, I had enough to clear my mortgage in full AND have €50k left over I would clear it all tomorrow!

The OP and wife are in bulletproof employment and don't need huge amounts of precautionary savings.


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## Sarenco (11 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> An extra 800 or so a month. I'd like to automate it that 400 of that went somewhere useful so we don't just spend it.


Maybe set up a direct debit to a regular savings account.  Rates are obviously very low at the moment but at least the process will be automated.





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## time to plan (11 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> That's a great calculator, I was just looking 10 year state savings pays 10% after 10 years.
> If I put 160k in I'd make 16k
> If I pay 160k off mortgage adding 10 years interest it's 12.7k.
> I'm trying to work out what I'm missing that's obvious as interest on mortgage is higher than savings 1.1% v 0.96%.?


Things your missing:
1. Your mortgage balance goes down each month as you pay the capital off, so you are paying interest on 160k at the start but on a reducing amount as time passes.
2. As well as saving the 12.7k interest on the mortgage, you will also have the monthly interest payment that you are no longer paying, to invest and make a return on.


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## Ford25 (11 Oct 2021)

Sarenco said:


> Maybe set up a direct debit to a regular savings account.  Rates are obviously very low at the moment but at least the process will be automated.


Yes that's a good idea, thanks for that link very handy.


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## KOW (11 Oct 2021)

Paying off the house loan can be argued both ways.
Your childs disability would seem to require "above the care of a similar aged child" and would qualify for Domicilliary Allowance of 309 euro per month as mentioned in previous post and disability allowance of around 208euro automatically at age 16.
The fact that you have a child with a disability allows you to claim a tax credit not a tax allowance of 3300 per annum allowing you to pay 275 month extra off the house loan should you wish to do so. This tax credit is paid up to 18 and can be extended if your child is in some form of training/further education.


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## Ford25 (11 Oct 2021)

time to plan said:


> Things your missing:
> 1. Your mortgage balance goes down each month as you pay the capital off, so you are paying interest on 160k at the start but on a reducing amount as time passes.
> 2. As well as saving the 12.7k interest on the mortgage, you will also have the monthly interest payment that you are no longer paying, to invest and make a return on.


Ok thanks that clears things up.


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## Ford25 (11 Oct 2021)

KOW said:


> Paying off the house loan can be argued both ways.
> Your childs disability would seem to require "above the care of a similar aged child" and would qualify for Domicilliary Allowance of 309 euro per month as mentioned in previous post and disability allowance of around 208euro automatically at age 16.
> The fact that you have a child with a disability allows you to claim a tax credit not a tax allowance of 3300 per annum allowing you to pay 275 month extra off the house loan should you wish to do so. This tax credit is paid up to 18 and can be extended if your child is in some form of training/further education.


We have only recently become aware of DCA and also the tax credits. 
We have a diagnosis of a disability over 7 years now so it foolish on our part to not know about this. 
I do remember a few years back been asked if we are claiming carers allowance and I stupidly was thinking it would be means tested, and tbh as new parents you don't realise that extra care needed compared to another child until you have another child and even then you just kind of get used to it. 

I guess if we are lucky enough to get this it wouldn't change the advice to pay off mortgage. 
If we did get this though I think I'd funnel that money towards the second youngest who is currently been assessed but we have been told it's likely he's on the spectrum from some initial tests but there's a 3-4 year waiting list for services so I'd go private straight away.


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## presidenttttt (12 Oct 2021)

Is there a such thing as back pay for that allowance? I have no idea but won’t cost to find out!


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## Cavanbhoy (12 Oct 2021)

If your child qualifies for Dca one of you could claim Carers Benifit of 220 per week for a period of two years.
To claim this payment whoever claims could not work more than 18.5 hrs per week and not receive salary of greater than 335 per week. The spouse's salary is not counted. After the 2 year period you would be legally entitled to return to your previous hrs of work.


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## Ford25 (13 Oct 2021)

Cavanbhoy said:


> If your child qualifies for Dca one of you could claim Carers Benifit of 220 per week for a period of two years.
> To claim this payment whoever claims could not work more than 18.5 hrs per week and not receive salary of greater than 335 per week. The spouse's salary is not counted. After the 2 year period you would be legally entitled to return to your previous hrs of work.


Thank you for this information. I've sent over forms for DCA fingers crossed, from reading online it's very hard to get DCA even with a diagnosis of a disability it can be a battle.


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## Cavanbhoy (13 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> Thank you for this information. I've sent over forms for DCA fingers crossed, from reading online it's very hard to get DCA even with a diagnosis of a disability it can be a battle.


Best of luck with your application.
Re the 335 euro figure might have changed with the budget but if it has it will be a higher figure


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## Ford25 (14 Oct 2021)

KOW said:


> Paying off the house loan can be argued both ways.
> Your childs disability would seem to require "above the care of a similar aged child" and would qualify for Domicilliary Allowance of 309 euro per month as mentioned in previous post and disability allowance of around 208euro automatically at age 16.
> The fact that you have a child with a disability allows you to claim a tax credit not a tax allowance of 3300 per annum allowing you to pay 275 month extra off the house loan should you wish to do so. This tax credit is paid up to 18 and can be extended if your child is in some form of training/further education.


We got the doctor to sign off on them forms for the incapacitated tax credit and submitted them to revenue. So we should have an extra 275 a month going forward if revenue approve it. That's great thanks


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## Ford25 (14 Oct 2021)

Cavanbhoy said:


> Best of luck with your application.
> Re the 335 euro figure might have changed with the budget but if it has it will be a higher figure


Thanks, it was an ordeal to fill it out, not a very nice to thing to have to do listing all the behavioural problems and day to day routines.


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## Zizigirl (14 Oct 2021)

You can claim incapacitated child tax credit backdated 4 years depending but if you are 7 years post diagnosis you should have no issue claiming the backdate.


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## Paul O Mahoney (17 Oct 2021)

Zizigirl said:


> You can claim incapacitated child tax credit backdated 4 years depending but if you are 7 years post diagnosis you should have no issue claiming the backdate.


Was typing exactly that they might also  to go back to 7 years , I'd certainly ask for the full amount.


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## Ford25 (17 Oct 2021)

Yes and thanks to those that replied.My only concern is on the form you have to say the child won't be able to maintain themselves after 18. I'm hopeful with treatment they will be able to go on and get a job.Is there a chance if my son gets part time work at 18 or eventually full time work that revenue will look for the money returned?


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## Zizigirl (20 Oct 2021)

Ford25 said:


> Yes and thanks to those that replied.My only concern is on the form you have to say the child won't be able to maintain themselves after 18. I'm hopeful with treatment they will be able to go on and get a job.Is there a chance if my son gets part time work at 18 or eventually full time work that revenue will look for the money returned?


I suppose there is nobody that can tell you there is no chance that revenue won’t start deciding to do this, I’ve yet to hear it happen. I’m aware of at least three cases where the credit was claimed and said children have jobs. Maintaining themselves and working are two different things.


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## Ford25 (29 Mar 2022)

Update .
Thanks for all replies.
We applied and got approved for incapacitated tax credits. (Backdated 4 years)
We got around 13k .
Our weekly wage increased by around 30 euro each.
We also got the DCA approved which is backdated 6 months. DCA payment is 309 a month which will go directly to private therapies that we previously funded ourselves.

Plan is still to pay off mortgage in November.
I was thinking about paying into an AVC then as my pension won't be great on 3 day week.
Only thing is I'm essentially paying no tax now with the incapacitated tax credit so I will he getting no tax relieve on pension .
Is a pension worth it with no tax relief? 
Should I just add monthly to something like Berkshire Hathaway instead ? 

Thanks


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## ThatNewGuy (29 Mar 2022)

Lots of good views and academic ways to look at spending v saving here. 

I'd propose one other way, probably simplistically but sometimes if feel that approach works better month to month in the real world. I see a couple of issues in the OP's commentary;

- There appears to be a cashflow issue  
- Mentally there is anguish about "eating into savings" yearly, even if as Brendan mentioned it is technically "saving" other cost
- It is hard to plan beyond a very short term horizon because of the acute issues of cashflow problems
- You are trying to anticipate what life will be like too far into the future, with a view to influencing actions today

I would consider:

- Leaving savings to mature in Nov 22, don't touch until then
- Clear mortgage once they mature; this "frees up" 875 per month. It also reduces the risk of "losing" money due to inflation.
- SAVE the 875 per month; Now you are no longer eating into savings monthly/yearly by 5k, but increasing them by 10k.  
- Split the savings into 2 pots - long term and short term. Many people will argue money should be viewed as one pot and dont mentally separate them, however the reality is people compartmentalise and are good at it, so lean into that reality. Short term becomes your buffer to draw down on for kids activities / accidentally expensive dinner / holiday, with no mental anguish. Long term can be directed as best seen fit (future car replacement, future child supports etc.)
- I can't comment on the pension as not familiar with public sector set ups, however if you achieve the above you might be better able to see pension options with less "other" money worries. Maybe you could add an AVC, or maybe the new government pension changes will help (I've read nothing on them to date, maybe they dont apply to public sector)

It might not be the most efficient way of doing it, but in my view it could simplify things


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## Familyman77 (29 Mar 2022)

Bit off topic but do you have private health insurance. Our plan with vhi covers 75% of the cost for our sons speech therapy and OT.


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## Ford25 (29 Mar 2022)

Familyman77 said:


> Bit off topic but do you have private health insurance. Our plan with vhi covers 75% of the cost for our sons speech therapy and OT.


Thanks that's interesting I need to check my policy. I'm with VHI I'll get onto that tomorrow.


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## Ford25 (29 Mar 2022)

ThatNewGuy said:


> Lots of good views and academic ways to look at spending v saving here.
> 
> I'd propose one other way, probably simplistically but sometimes if feel that approach works better month to month in the real world. I see a couple of issues in the OP's commentary;
> 
> ...


Thanks for such a detailed reply. Yeah I was thinking along the same lines myself putting money away for short term and then the longer term money I was going to invest.

I'm not sure if the new pension auto enrolment is applicable to public sector if it was I'd get involved.


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## Cavanbhoy (31 Mar 2022)

Delighted you got Dca, have you considered either of you availing of carers benefit. The other parent would then be able to increase their hrs to either a 4 or five day week.


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## Ford25 (31 Mar 2022)

Cavanbhoy said:


> Delighted you got Dca, have you considered either of you availing of carers benefit. The other parent would then be able to increase their hrs to either a 4 or five day week.


Because it's mean tested I don't think we would be entitled to it.


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## Protocol (31 Mar 2022)

Ford25 said:


> Because it's mean tested I don't think we would be entitled to it.


Carers Benefit is not means tested.

Carers Allowance is means tested.


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## Cavanbhoy (31 Mar 2022)

Ford25 said:


> Because it's mean tested I don't think we would be entitled to it.


You would qualify carers benefit isnt means tested and lasts for 2 years. 
If it suited when 1 parents carers benifit ended the other parent could take it if needed.


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## Ford25 (31 Mar 2022)

Cavanbhoy said:


> You would qualify carers benefit isnt means tested and lasts for 2 years.
> If it suited when 1 parents carers benifit ended the other parent could take it if needed.


Thanks very much I'll look into it .


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## Cavanbhoy (1 Apr 2022)

Ford25 said:


> Thanks very much I'll look into it .


No prob, the person who gets the carers benefit can still work upto 18.5 hrs per week as long as their wages are 350e or less thats the figure for june onwards slightly less at moment. Best of luck with it


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## Ford25 (12 Nov 2022)

Hi guys , thanks for all the great advice I got here previously . State savings has matured and is sitting on deposit .
so
I've 210k earning 0% 
The mortgage that was 1.1% is now 3.1% ( how quickly things change ) 155k remaining .
The 10 blue chips shares that where 50k are now 35k . 

Myself and wife still both work part time to manage childcare , as I mentioned previously I have 2 children with additional needs and the youngest of them is certainly needing one of us at home at this moment anyway , so going back to work at the moment full time is not an option . 
We are not struggling as much thanks to DCA, incapacitated credits and a recent pay rise in civil service. But then again we are not exactly flush as cost of living for everyone has increased. 
All that aside , I'm about to pull the plug and clear the mortgage . 

Just want to check it's still the right move we will never have access to this much cash again . Is there anything we are missing . Neither myself or my wife are up that financially savvy . 

Thanks again


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## Clamball (12 Nov 2022)

When you clear the mortgage you have so much security.  You own your house for the rest of your life and you will be able to house your children into the future.  It is well worth paying it off

Now you have a few income streams
Your income
Your wife’s income
DCA
Childrens allowance
You have the incapacitated child tax credit

You also have your savings, currently €90K, which is a really good position to be in, you have a very good cushion there.

Now you can take your income pots and divide them up into what you want to spend the money on

Food
Heating & electricity 
Transport - cars 
Insurance
Holidays
Activities
Social activities

You probably have a very good idea where all your money goes but you will have over €1000 extra to play with then when you started the topic, the DCA and the mortgage payment.

So it is very much up to you and the family to decide what to prioritise in terms of spending/savings.

Do you want a car fund, or a holiday fund or house repair?
Do you want to start feeding a small amount into your pensions - maybe €100 each per month.  Again I would not fret too much about college, if you maintain your €90K savings maybe think of that as your college fund.

I think you are now in a position to decide where to direct your income rather than fretting that you don’t have sufficient income to meet your day to day needs so the control have shifted to you and you should have a large sense of having a weight lifted from your shoulders.


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## Ford25 (12 Nov 2022)

That's great thanks clamball .
Yes pretty much that we are going to still lodge money into the account the mortgage came out of and use that for a holiday fund and other big things. 
I want to maintain the blue chip shares especially now as they have lost value . 

The additional funds from state savings are going to be used to make long overdue car repairs and change the kids mattresses, make the eldest bedroom more compatible for him .

I'm fairly sure it's the right decision to pay the mortgage off , so unless I hear an argument against I'll contact the bank Monday and start process. I'm just nervous about making the best decision for the family as it's a very large sum for us.


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## 50andOut (12 Nov 2022)

It’s very clear you should pay off the mortgage - and now at 3.1% interest this has made the choice even simpler. You will still be left with a very good amount of savings afterwards of around €55k - I assume this will more than cover the expenditure mentioned so will maintain some emergency fund.

 Then you have the extra disposable income (from the month mortgage payments that are no longer needed) which you can use to build back up savings / spend as needed.

This is not even factoring in the shares, which since you have no need to access the money you can sit and hold and hope they recover.

Good luck


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## ThatNewGuy (13 Nov 2022)

Ford25 said:


> Hi guys , thanks for all the great advice I got here previously . State savings has matured and is sitting on deposit .
> so
> I've 210k earning 0%
> The mortgage that was 1.1% is now 3.1% ( how quickly things change ) 155k remaining .
> ...



I think the business case for clearing the mortgage has increased, even ignoring recent interest rate rises, we are going into an uncertain economic decade of unwinding an extraordinary period in money policy. Who knows what "value" your 210k cash will have in real terms in 5 years. Having a safe house is a hard asset and you can focus financial strategy energy on the important things like kids' needs, food + energy, "living" life etc. You are infinitely improving your position in my mind.


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## NoRegretsCoyote (13 Nov 2022)

Ford25 said:


> All that aside , I'm about to pull the plug and clear the mortgage .
> 
> Just want to check it's still the right move we will never have access to this much cash again .


Nothing better you can do. Push the button and good luck!


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## Ford25 (13 Nov 2022)

Thanks all .


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