Investment fund for disabled daughter

S

silver4444

New Member
Messages
6
Hello everybody ( first post ),

We would like to start a long term investment fund for our 25 year old disabled daughter.
I know the fund management charges would be higher but is there anything out there where she would not have to fill out tax returns herself (when we are gone) ?

Any suggestions / advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Silver4444
 
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Are you looking after her yourselves at the moment?

If so, then you should not have a separate investment fund.

You should maximise your own wealth so that you leave it to her when you both die.

Alternatively you could put money in her name. Assuming she does not have much taxable income, it might be best to invest it directly in high dividend paying shares. She will pay minimal tax and minimal charges.

But if she has assets or income in her own name, would it reduce whatever disability benefit she gets from social welfare?

Brendan
 
Hi Silver - I know many will disagree due to the charges but if you are looking for absolute simplicity and hands off maintenance I would recommend the Zurich funds - you can get 1% AMC (on top of the in-built expenses of teh fund itself) and Zurich do everything taxwise. I find the very efficient as well to be fair. Good range of funds including the likes of Blackrock Global / Eur index funds etc
 
Hi Brendan,

Thanks for your quick reply,

Yes we are looking after her.

We are trying to educate her on saving and managing the little money that she has for the long term.

Yes you are right if her assets or income increased significantly, it would reduce her disability benefit.

Thanks,
Silver4444
 
Hi Silver

Just a couple of points:

Your daughter is probably in receipt of Disability Allowance (DA), which is a means tested payment. The rules allow her to have up to €50K in savings before it effects her payment.

If she was working part time or had a weekly income, she can earn up to €140 per week without it affecting her DA. If her earnings are between €140 - €375, The first €140 is ignored, but her DA is reduced 50cent for every €1 earned between €141 - €375..


I think you need specialist advice on this from the likes of financialwellbeing.ie

Maximising your own wealth and then transferring it into a Trust Fund after you and your wife are gone is worth giving serious consideration .

Best of luck

D
 
Hi Pinoy adventure and Derry2020,

Thank you both for your informative replies. We will definitely be looking into the website / company that you mentioned above.

My daughter is on the autistic spectrum and is in receipt of Disability Allowance.

My wife and I have always tried to help her be as independent as possible, but we are also very aware of her struggles with other people, anxiety and everyday life. We were told at one stage when she was a "toddler" and was being assessed by a medical specialist for delayed speech that
"Mr and Mrs "S*****", She may never speak, but she may have a hobby !"

After that "bombshell" we were determined to try and help her have as normal and fulfilling a life as possible. She had delayed speech but she has since managed (due to mainly her mother's determination ) to attend mainstream school, achieved a very respectable leaving cert and can now talk / argue the "hind legs off of a donkey (parent) !"
The arguments are not always logical in our minds, but they are in hers !
I only wish I knew where that that specialist ended up. I would love to introduce them to each other.

However when we think about her future it is sobering and worrying !

You always hope that one day she will be able to cope. But we know that life is not always like that.

As a good friend of mine ( who has a severely Autistic son ) told me

"He is just about able to count his change, but he is very happy to also give it away to make people happy".

The sad thing is many people are happy to take it from him !

There is very little information out there on this subject , so hopefully this thread will help others too.

A " Big thanks" also to Brendan Burgess for his advice and his

"Key Post A financial advisor who specialises in advising families with children with special needs"

and to Gravitygirl for her advice.

Kind regards,

Silver4444



​

 
Hi Gravitygirl,

Thank you for your kind reply, but we have both made many mistakes along the way !

But we hope we are learning from them.

Silver4444
 
Unless the sums involved are very small (less than €50k) you should be looking at funds being held by a trustee in a discretionary trust, for which it should be possible to obtain an exemption from DTT. Any probate solicitor should be able to guide you, as would some accountants. Money held in a discretionary trust should not be an obstacle to maintaining access to means-tested benefits.
 
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silver4444 said:
Hi Gravitygirl,

Thank you for your kind reply, but we have both made many mistakes along the way !

But we hope we are learning from them.

Silver4444
Click to expand...
You have done more for your daughter than you realise.

The majority of people in Ireland are good genuine people. We don't have the reputation for being nice all over the world for no reason.

Your daughter will be okay. Realise the positives you have helped your daughter achieve and overcome.

A mistake is only a waste when you don't learn from it.
 
The big thing to look for is the exemption from Discretionary Trust Tax via your Will. In terms of investment performance, keep the fully loaded cost at around 1.5% and you’ll be doing okay.
 
Hi MOB, The Horseman, Gordon Gekko and MugsGame,
Thank you for your replies and your information.

I am working my way though it bit by bit and this is certainly a "learning curve" for us .
 
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