# 32 year old - saving/investment advice



## MoneyMaker (23 Oct 2014)

Hi,
I'm an existing member here, but created a new profile for this, in case anyone was able to recognise me....

Age:
32
Spouse’s/Partner's age:
N/A

Annual gross income from employment or profession:
E65, 000

Type of employment:
Private sector

Expenditure pattern:
Saver

Rough estimate of value of home
N/A

Rent
750 per month

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None

Car
None, currently. Looking to buy one for about 5K soon.

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

Savings and investments:
E13, 000 in PTSB 12 month saver, wind up next March
E13, 000 in PTSB 6 month saver, also wind up next March
E10, 000 in instant access accout in BOI, need to move this.
E5,500 in emergency fund instant access account.
Saving 1K/month into 3.5% KBC regular saver.
Saving 500/month into emergency fund when possible, this isn't every month.

Do you have a pension scheme?
Yes, I pay E195 per month, employer puts in E390 per month. Currently contributions add up to E4,500. Currently no AVCs.
I have an existing pension from previous company with contributions of E35000.

Do you own any investment or other property?
No.

Ages of children:
None.

Life insurance:
I think I get it through work, no dependants so not too concerned about it.

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

*Savings*
I, like most other people with cash on deposit, am getting disillusioned with the poor return on my savings. I currently have 100% of my money held in cash, and am wondering if this is too safe for my age? Should I be looking at something like an 80/20 split between investments and cash? I realise the 10K in BOI needs to be moved, but apart from that I believe I'm on the ball with the deposit best buys (thanks to AAM!!). I have aligned the two PTSB account maturity times with the view to amalgamating this E26K and investing it over 5-10 years. I believe I'm saving enough per month (anywhere between E1100 and E1500, depending on the month), without making my day to day miserable by scrimping.

*Investments*
Based on my savings above, I have about 40K. I want to hang onto the 5K emergency fund, and plan on buying a 5K car, leaving about E30K of savings that I can move around. I don't plan on needing this for a number of years. As I said, I have aligned the maturity of the two PTSB accounts as I am thinking of investing the money in ETFs, possibly with an 80/20 split between ETF and cash. Is this a decent sounding split for someone of my age? I realise risk attitude comes into play here, and I would want to talk to an advisor before actually divining into the world of investment. Reading about it here is fine, but....!

*Long Term*
 The KBC 3.5% regular saver is just started this month and is basically a mortgage deposit account. I plan to save for four or five years before looking at buying anything, at which stage I hope to have 50 - 60K of a deposit, based of 1K per month, barring any breaks.

*Pension*
My pension is not bad at all as employer pays double what I pay. My main query on this is whether I should be making any AVCs? The pension manager in work showed me a graph of projected income per year from the existing pension and seemed to indicate that AVCs would be a good idea in order to make retirement more comfortable. However, with the government policies on pensions and AVCs, I'm reluctant to tie up extra money via AVCs. What would be the general thoughts on this aspect of pensions?

Any other views on my current situation also welcome.
Thanks


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