Limited knowledge of using money effectively would like support.

I am 40 yrs old and moved to Ireland in 2017. This forum has opened my eyes about money management and how limited my knowledge about it is.

I wanted advice around my situation to maximise output.

Marital status - single.
No children
No credit cards/loans/mortage.

Current cash- 30,000
Pension- HSE (default) 40% tax bracket
Income- 80,000/pa
Saving: 2000/mo
Expenses: 1500-1700 (including rent)/mo
Other expenses- holidays x 2 per year

Currently I am fixed on buying a property in Ireland as primary residence and after some hiccups with mortgage approval resorted to consider cash buying.

However learning from some other threads I am now reconsidering investing all the money in property.

I would appreciate your thoughts about how to make the most of my situation.

Well you have enough current cash and would save going forward on monthly rent so why not be a cash buyer for a property ? Makes sense to me. Maybe hold a small cash reserve of €10K as a rainy day fund but you could certainly afford a property worth €320K which would give you security of tenure and a place to live without having to rent. With recent reports saying Ireland needs to build 90K housing units per year until the end of the decade and we are currently building just north of 30K there is a very minimal chance of your property value falling so it's a good punt. Presumably you have some kind of civil service pension from the HSE so if that is sufficient then what else are you saving for ?

How did you amass the €330,000 you have accumulated?

If you are a public servant on 80k, with a large amount of cash on deposit, how did you not get mortgage approval?

I think you're misunderstanding the advice. Sometimes people have a home, then have some cash and want to invest in property - as in, buy another one to rent. In that instance many would recommend investing in something else. But I think everyone would agree buying a home for yourself is a good idea.

You need somewhere to live; buy a home first.

Be aware under Money Laundering legislation your solicitor will request provenance of your cash payment.

Not suggesting there's anything untoward, but if you need letters / documentation from overseas, start getting that in order.

Thank you for the recommendations. I was awed by the assets some other members have amassed with much lower salary and went on to buy 1st and 2nd home plus have adequate pensions to retire. I was hoping for thoughts around that.

Mortgage issue is because of working in the UK (for now). The funds are legal. I'm very frugal and excellent at saving (done over 16 yrs).

I want to buy a property in Ireland (FTB) as primary residence.

Danny- the post was about getting ideas of money makeover not asking for inquiries.
I moved to the UK last year for training. I intend to return after summer.

Thank you everyone for the recommendations.

BlackE

Well done on putting together that amount of money. If you were having some difficulties with getting mortgage approval I would suggest using a Mortgage Broker. A quick google would show you a number of different options.

I suggest that because you have excellent saving habits and you would be very capable of managing it. You could use 200k of your savings towards the house purchase (as an example) and split the rest between an emergency fund, maxing out your pension, furnishing the new home etc.

You are no doubt very aware of age related pension investment relief in Ireland. So at 40 years of age (did you turn 40 last year ?) you could put 25% of your 80k salary into a pension wrapper. You would need to expand on when you will return to Ireland and when you left as you could only put in 25% of the money you earned in Ireland last year.

In terms of rethinking property purchase I agree with Khublei in their post @ 7 above. Property investment (outside of your main home) comes with many risks in Ireland. However you need a place to live and if Ireland is your long term choice then definitely purchase one.

People are asking for more information around your work because they can the then factor in your pension entitlements etc. into the mix and give you better advice.

Edited to add (E.T.A.)

It would seem that you had a typo in the amount of money you had saved up ? It has now changed from €330,000 to €30,000 ?