Finance Health Check

ge:
49
Spouse’s/Partner's age:
45

Annual gross income from employment or profession:
€100,000
Annual gross income spouse:
€20,000

Type of employment:
Both private sector employees

Expenditure pattern:
We are both generally 'savers'

Rough estimate of value of home
€400,000
Mortgage on home
€150,000 - we've about 15 years left on the mortgage.

Mortgage provider:
Ulster Bank

Type of mortgage: Tracker, interest only, fixed rate
Tracker
Interest rate
Discount tracker of .85% on top of ECB rate

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
€4,000 on car loan

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

Savings and investments:
€60,000 saving
€8,000 in BoI, Glanbia and Datalex shares (current value)

Do you have a pension scheme?
Yes, I’ve been employed by same company for past 21 years and pay around €600 per month in to a defined benefit pension
My wife pays company pay €50 per month into a pension.

I also have about €15k in AVCs through our pension service providers and have started to add around €5k per year in to this fund.

Do you own any investment or other property?
Yes and we receive €700 per month rent (Current mortgage is €520 per month)
Rough estimate of value of rental property home
€220,000
Mortgage on home
€60,000 - we've about 15 years left on the mortgage
Mortgage provider:
Ulster Bank
Type of mortgage: Tracker, interest only, fixed rate
Tracker
Interest rate
Tracker of 1.85% on top of ECB rate
Ages of children:
15 & 11.

Life insurance:
Yes.

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

1. Our 15 year old daughter will finish secondary school in 3 years time and I have no specific saving fund in place to cover the costs of 3rd level. Should I invest a portion of our savings in to a fund to help cover her 3rd level costs.
2. What type of plan should I be making for our 11 year old’s 3rd level education costs.
3. Is there anything else I should be doing with our savings?
4. Should I be making any other plans for the longer term bearing in mind that we will inherit a property and amounts of money in the coming years?
5. Are there any personal Finance Advisers in the south east of Ireland that you’d recommend?

Thanks in advance.

It’s crazy to have €60k on deposit and a €4k car loan. You’d clear that immediately.

The rental yield on the investment property is poor. I’d sell it and use the proceeds to clear my home mortgage, notwithstanding the two trackers.

I’d sell the shares…they sound like a waste of time.

Just make sure to be mindful of CGT and losses on the property and the shares.

What does the defined benefit scheme entitle you and your spouse to?

And how are the AVCs invested?

Also ... I don't think that you should be thinking about separate college fund investments but rather maximising and growing your overall net worth by building a suitably diversified investment portfolio. You're already quite (possible too) concentrated in one asset class - Irish property. Have a look at the many existing threads dealing with how to build such a portfolio.