Financial Advice for an Unusual Situation - Pension, Investments, Travel Fund

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Naivit€

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Hi All,

I'm looking for direction - I would like to take my pension & investments more seriously now as my life circumstances have changed a lot in the last year. I don't want cash in my bank account being eaten away by inflation, and I also want to fund my pension and my love for travel. I see the 'usual' flowcharts are like the one on Reddit's r/IrishPersonalFinance, but between what I've done, and my new life circumstances, I have many boxes ticked out of sequence.

I would like to begin my financial planning journey, I’m in an unusual situation for a person my age (31):
  • Civil Servant €49,000/yr
    • Pension pot's total sum is €1,200
  • I Inherited many assets from a late relative:
    • a house with no mortgage, which I now live in
    • a commercial unit, which is rented at €2,500/month
    • €42,500 after tax now in my bank account from sale of an asset
  • From a previous life working for a US MNC:
    • I have a Zurich pension from a previous employer (can no longer put money in to it) - high growth aspire D, currently worth €32,000
    • Shares in the MNC worth €15,000
    • I have invested €55,000 in the stock market via DeGiro (5 years ago, now worth €69,000). At the time I knew nothing about deemed disposal, I was naively 'following the crowd' in the US MNC.
  • I have no intention of having children
  • I have no debt / loans.
Do I get in touch with Eoin McGee's Prosperous, Ask Paul, or other? Feeling like paralysis by analysis and any guidance is very much appreciated.

Edited to improve clarity of my post
 
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You are lucky, and in a great financial situation. You are blessed.

If you joined the public service since 2013, you are very likely a member of the Single PSPS.

Do you receive annual statements from the SPSPS?

When you say that you want to fund your pension, please note that you already are:

(1) you pay 4% PRSI
(2) you pay the normal pension contributions for civil servants, which are low, as civil servants have a non-contributory pension
(3) you pay the ASC



When you say pension €1,200, does this mean that you are in receipt of pension income?
 
Absolutely, I am thanking my lucky stars. I want to make sure I put this to best use.

Yes I've joined since 2013. Yes I receive annual statements, and the €1,200 I refer to above is my total retirement lump sum that's in my Civil Service pension. No I am not in receipt of pension income (apologies if what I stated in my original post was confusing).

Thanks for the extra info. I suppose what I mean by funding my pension is I'd like to make AVCs in addition to the Civil Service pension, as my pot is very small, and I don't want to rely on the State pension in my old age. I also realise that the €32,000 in my US MNC pension pot is not a lot either. I'm not sure how to move forward with increasing my pension pot - do I get another private pension like the Zurich one, and put money in to that every month? Or would another option be worth exploring?
 
You won't have to rely on just the State Pension.

You will get the State Pension plus your occupational PS pension.

Are you fully clear on the benefits that you will get from the SPSPS?

Please note that PS pensions are unfunded, so no worker has a pension fund.

If you won't have the 40 years service in the PS, then you may be able to do AVCs.
 
If you're thinking of starting a low charges PRSA for AVCs then check out the many existing threads on these and maybe consider low cost execution only providers like:
If I have overlooked any others that contribute or get mentioned/recommended here I'm sure that others will post details.
 
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You don't need to do anything major.

I don't know the rules of the Civil Service Pension - but as pensions are the best long term form of investment, you should be maxing your contribution to AVCs. PRSA.ie and LABrokers.com are execution only so won't give you any advice. ferga.com will advise you on how much you can contribute.


Your commercial unit is generating €24k a year rental profit so it's probably worth about €400k if you were to sell it.
In addition you have €110k in shares and cash.

That is reasonably diversified. And you can tolerate a lot of risk. So, for example, if the tenant stopped paying rent, you would be annoyed, but your lifestyle would not be impacted.

You should put the surplus cash into the stock market.
 
Naivit€ said:
I have invested €55,000 in the stock market via DeGiro (5 years ago, now worth €69,000). At the time I knew nothing about deemed disposal, I was naively 'following the crowd' in the US MNC.
Click to expand...

What sort of fund is it in where you are affected by deemed disposal?
Given that you own property directly, you are better off owning shares directly as well so that you can offset any losses on one asset against gains in the other for CGT purposes.

If you have a fund which is subject to deemed disposal, then any losses elsewhere won't be of much use to you.

I think you should cash out of that fund. Pay the tax. and invest the proceeds directly in shares.
 
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