Financial Advice for the Future

[under_over]

Age: Early 40s
Spouse’s/Partner's age: Also early 40s

Annual gross income from employment or profession: €82,500

Annual gross income of spouse: €45,000

Monthly take-home pay approximately €5,500

Type of employment: both full time private sector

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? We are saving approximately 1000 a month for last year since loans cleared

Rough estimate of value of home: €250,000

Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €62,000

What interest rate are you paying? BOI tracker 0.9%

Mortgage repayments are €1020.00 per month. About 5 years left.

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None. Car loan cleared last year. Was thinking of changing car though as we both do not the same commutes now I may not for the moment.

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

Savings and investments: €15,000 savings as rainy day fund

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, both have DC.
I contribute 500 a month which is matched by my employer. Fund value €150,000
My wife contributes 180 which is matched by her employer plus 180 AVC p\m. Fund value €75,000

Do you own any investment or other property? I invest 200 a month in company shares which my company matches. I typically sell some a few times a year for holidays and Xmas. Current holding is about €12,000

Ages of children: 11, 8

Life insurance: Just mortgage protection plus work have a death in service cover of 4 times salary.

What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? I have no major concerns regarding our finances though my wife would like to go part time and I am also thinking we should be increasing our pension contributions to get more tax benefits. I am also wondering about the kids college costs as that is getting closer. Any advice on these other points welcome.

 

[Peanuts20]

1: Make sure you have a will in place

2: Have you done a tax return or used a company that will do this for you?. It's amazing what people forget to claim for, especially on health costs

3: Given your salary and relatively low mortgage payments, your savings are somewhat low. Was that because you were clearing other debt or is it time you take a long hard look at your outgoings and see what you can reduce/switch?

 

[adox]

The mortgage repayment doesn’t seem right based on the above figures? Surely too high?

 

[under_over]

1: Make sure you have a will in place

2: Have you done a tax return or used a company that will do this for you?. It's amazing what people forget to claim for, especially on health costs

3: Given your salary and relatively low mortgage payments, your savings are somewhat low. Was that because you were clearing other debt or is it time you take a long hard look at your outgoings and see what you can reduce/switch?

Thanks Peanuts20-

On your points.

1. We do not have a will but a good point that we should look into one.

2. No

3. On savings it is not something we have focused on. We tried to pay off the car loans over the last few years and also did some work around the house which used most disposable income.

 

[under_over]

The mortgage repayment doesn’t seem right based on the above figures? Surely too high?

Hi adox,

The mortgage was for 20 years and has 62,500 left so about 5 years left ok. I wish it was shorter and lower.

Thanks