# financial advice/restructuring



## abc1 (23 Jun 2010)

*Hi *
*I have been reading some of the threads and I am asking people's views on our own money makeover/restructuring.*

*Age:* 41
*Spouse’s/Partner's age:* 39

*Annual gross income from employment or profession*: 58k
*Annual gross income of spouse*: 70k

*Type of employment:* Both Civil Servants 

*In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?* We do not spend more than we earn and saving as much as we can. We are not big spenders and saved hard via the SSIA to build up a lump sum to invest for our family’s future. 

*Rough estimate of value of home*: Our home is valued at 350k approx 
*Amount outstanding on your mortgage:* 203k (20 yrs. Remaining)
*What interest rate are you paying?** Tracker ECB + .75%*

*Rough estimate of value of home:* Second Property value approx 160k 
*Amount outstanding on your mortgage: *200k paying interest only but up in 10 months.

*Other borrowings* – We have a 5k car loan (12mts remaining) 

*Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month*? Yes

*Savings and investments:* 
Savings of 20k and saving 400 pm into bank savings account

We made the following investments in 2007 with the advice from a financial advisor

*Hibernian Spectrum Saver Plus: Paying €250 pm with €10250 paid in but now valued at €9614.*

*We have the following investments with New Ireland *

*Euroland equity S9 –valued at  €3.5k down 27% since 2007*
*Geared High Yield S9 fund - valued at  €8k down 45% since 2007*
*Innovator Fund S9 - valued at  €7.5k down 24% since 2007*
 
*And an Irish Life Property Fund (Signature Bond)- valued at  €15k down 48% since 2007*

*Do you have a pension scheme? *Yes, both in Occupational Schemes

*Do you own any investment or other property? *As above - investment property, value approx 160k, but it has been vacant for the last three months but I am working to rent it out by room if need be.


*Ages of children: *8,6,4

*Life insurance:* None other than mortgage life cover and death in service benefits provided by our employers.


*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you**?* 
We realize we are lucky in the times we are in that we have permanent and pensionable jobs but we would like advice on how to reverse our investment fortunes. We are not big spenders even in the ‘good times’ we worked and saved hard for our family’s future. I have lost faith in our ‘financial Advisor’ as all he advises is to wait as you have plenty of time for your investment to come good. This maybe true and we accept that investments may go up as well as down but I do not think we are in the best position to make use of any improvement in the world’s economy and any reading I have done seems to have my mind in a daze so any advice would be welcome.

Many Thanks.


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## goingforgold (23 Jun 2010)

Clear the 5k car loan. Crazy having this and access to 55K savings. You could then look at knocking c. 50K off your mortgage as you both have guaranteed jobs for life and therefore don't rainy day funds like most.

You are in a pretty comfortable position.


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## Superman (24 Jun 2010)

goingforgold said:


> Clear the 5k car loan. Crazy having this and access to 55K savings. You could then look at knocking c. 50K off your mortgage as you both have guaranteed jobs for life and therefore don't rainy day funds like most.
> 
> You are in a pretty comfortable position.


Putting 50k towards the mortgage would be a bad idea considering it's a tracker. Try to put it in as high an interest account as you can - or put it into some form of low risk ETF. Alternatively put 75% into a high interest account and 25% into medium risk funds.  There are a couple of low cost funds (e.g. Gerard Sheehy on this forum who does 0% commission Zurich Life ones - investandsave.ie )

EDIT: saw that you also have an investment mortgage - what rate is that on?


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## liamo77 (24 Jun 2010)

Must be horrible for some body who cant put food on the table to read stuff like this.I feel so sorry for you because your financial adviser is no good.Life can be cruel.


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## abc1 (24 Jun 2010)

hi
Thanks for all your replys. The idea put forward by goingforgold of paying off mortgage as much as possible is a good idead and blessed with comon sense, However superman's idea cashing in the 'failing' funds and invest usung another strategy seems like the best option for us at the moment it is just trying to figure out what whish are the best ones. Interest on 'investment property' is the same as for our home.
Liamo77, the thread was not put up to make anyone feel horrible, that is the last thing I want. I am just trying to look out for myown the best way I can.
Thanks abc1


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## pinkyBear (24 Jun 2010)

> Must be horrible for some body who cant put food on the table to read stuff like this.I feel so sorry for you because your financial adviser is no good.Life can be cruel.


 I'm not impressed with the sarcasm, so what if the OP has been prudent and has funds.


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## goingforgold (24 Jun 2010)

Maybe now is not the time to knock the 50K off the mortgage but I would be slow to lock the money away in funds that are not that accessible as interest rates will rise and it may be better/more prudent to start clearing a lump sum off mortgage at that stage.

Anyway fair play to you for your sensible approach to your finances. We need some good news stories here too!


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## annR (25 Jun 2010)

liamo77 said:


> Must be horrible for some body who cant put food on the table to read stuff like this.I feel so sorry for you because your financial adviser is no good.Life can be cruel.


 
So are people who can't put food on the table the only people who are allowed to ask for financial advice?


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## Sunny (25 Jun 2010)

annR said:


> So are people who can't put food on the table the only people who are allowed to ask for financial advice?


 
While anyone is free to get financial advice, the OP probably would have been better off posting in the investments section rather than the money makeover as she was looking for advice on how to recover falling investments. Married civil servants earning €130k per annum and significant savings are not in need of a makeover. 

Fair play to the OP but if you read some of the other threads in this forum, you can understand why people might look at it funnily.


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## annR (25 Jun 2010)

I have read lots of the threads on this post and many of them are struggling but didn't think that that in itself excluded people with more money wanting advice.


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## Complainer (25 Jun 2010)

annR said:


> I have read lots of the threads on this post and many of them are struggling but didn't think that that in itself excluded people with more money wanting advice.


It's just the usual oul anti-civil service bias here on AAM. People have got so used it that they don't even know they are doing it.


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## txirimiri (25 Jun 2010)

Sunny and liamo77, if you look back at this forum, it is about evenly split between people who are in real financial difficulties and people who are reasonably comfortable but want to get input from others about how they might best manage the assets that they have. In fact, the moderators have moved posts about budgeting and dealing with debt to a different forum (Mortage Arrears and Debt) which suggests to me that it is perfectly valid for people who are not in specific financial difficulties to post on this forum. 

I posted a few months ago about how best to utilise savings that I have worked extremely hard over the last 5 years to build up and got extremely helpful replies which really served to chrystalise my thinking as how I should proceed. I also contributed to a thread from someone who seemed to be in a very cushy situation (and lots of posters were saying that they would love to be in his position) but I saw what I thought were some longer term issues that he might not have thought through which meant his situation was less solid than it looked. He later posted to thank me for my contribution and to say it had made him think through his position again and contributed to making some changes in his plans to secure his family's financial position in the long term. 

I think everyone in this economy knows how lucky they are if they are in secure employment, have savings and are not in negative equity. I am deeply deeply grateful that I am in that position myself. I'm sure ann is too. That does not mean that she can't look at ways of maximising the future financial security of her family or think about how to structure her savings and investments in a way that is better for her than what she is currently doing. I think it would be a real shame if this forum turned into a place where people were begrudged their relative financial security and could not get input and advice from others. 

Having said that annr, not sure I have much useful advice for you as I'm not a very savvy investor (my only attempts at investment were to buy BoI shares at a fiver a pop - not exactly the decision of a canny financial wizard!). I would however definitely use your 5 of your 20k savings to pay off the car loan as it makes no sense to be paying interest on it. I would also reassess the 250 pm payment into the Hibernian Fund - you already have 4 funds that you are not happy with the performance of, so why maintain a fifth one? I'd put the amount into a high interest regular saver account. There is lots of advice on good savings accounts on this forum. Maybe also think about government bonds - reasonable returns (although you are locking away the money for a set amount of time) and you are propping up the solvency of the state (who is also your employer) at the same time!


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## cancan (25 Jun 2010)

> I have read lots of the threads on this post and many of them are struggling but didn't think that that in itself excluded people with more money wanting advice.


It doesn't - perhaps if people read a few more makeovers of people who act responsibly with money, they might learn a thing or two.

There is probably a personal section of this site where people like Liamo77 can go to get over their envy issues.


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## Noor77 (25 Jun 2010)

Sunny said:


> Married civil servants earning €130k per annum and significant savings are not in need of a makeover.
> 
> Fair play to the OP but if you read some of the other threads in this forum, you can understand why people might look at it funnily.


 

So civil servants should go elsewhere?? Ridiculous.

I used to like Eddie Hobbs' financial magazine and was going to buy three annual subscriptions for relatives at Christmas ... but then I just got so fed up of his anti-civil service rants and realised I would be a fool to purchase the subscriptions as a civil servant myself.

There are so many stupid, stupid people out there who squandered money during the good times, living way beyond their means and yet people think it is more appropriate to verbally lash civil servants than to question exactly why THEY got THEMSELVES into financial messes.

Don't get me wrong. I have lots of sympathy for people in the private sector. My Dad is an engineer and my Mum an accountant. Both in the private sector and both have taken income hits over the last 18 months. They never lived beyond their means or indulged themselves via easy credit. And yet they now have two investment properties (in Ireland - they would never have been daft enough to buy a "must have" on some island in the middle of nowhere), minimal mortgages and plenty of savings. Prudence is everything.

I will always feel for people that find themselves in genuine financial difficulties and horrible situations not of their own making. I will not however shed any tears for people who lived the high life funded by credit cards etc... and now moan about their debts. Tough!


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## Sunny (26 Jun 2010)

Yawn at the attempts to turn this into some public v private sector discussion. I am a well paid private sector employee. I have a mortgage and savings like the op. I would love advice on how to maximise the return on my money. Would I ask for that advice in a money makeover forum where people are overwhelmed by debt problems? No I wouldn't. Would I post on here going how it's their own fault for getting carried away and living beyond their means? No I wouldn't. 
The op has done nothing wrong and is in a good position. They need investment advice not directions to the nearest mabs office.
Maybe the purpose of this forum has changed. If so, it should probably be called something different than money makeover.


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