patontheback
New Member
- Messages
- 2
Personal details
Your age: 33
Your spouse's age: 36
Number and age of children: 0 - currently going through fertility treatment
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 100k + bonus (15%-30%)
Annual gross income of spouse/partner: 80k + bonus (10%)
Monthly take-home pay: ~€8k combined
Bonus is performance related.
I also receive RSUs amounting to about ~15-20k per year
Type of employment - e.g. Employee or self-employed: Both PAYE workers
Employer type: e.g. public servant, private company: Both Tech (non-engineering roles)
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving €2.5k-3k per month after tax (outside of company shares and pensions)
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Assets
Family home value: €500k
Car: €16k
Credit Union savings - €35k
Prize Bonds - €5k
Investments - €50k (standard life global index fund 80)
Irish Life pensions - me - €136k
Irish Life pensions - spouse - €75k
Liabilities
Mortgage on family home: €186k. A rated home.
RSUs have been used to fuel pension AVCs + Home improvements to date. Maxing pension for last three years. Home improvements include attic conversion.
Family home mortgage information
Lender: BOI
Interest rate: 1.9%
Type of interest rate: fixed
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? Fixed until July 2026
Remaining term: 23 years
Monthly repayment: ~€830
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? N/A
No other borrowings other than mortgage
Pension information
Value of pension fund: €211k combined, we both make maximum contributions.
Other information which might be relevant
Both work in Tech - quite volatile having both been saved from previous rounds of redundancy. My day could be up any day now hence like a bit of an increased cash on hand for such eventuality. While package may be generous, nothing is a given.
Fortunate to receive a lot of perks in work (strong compensation, bonus, life insurance (6x death in service), fertility treatment coverage (currently funding IVF), Income protection (⅔ salary)), which largely keep me where I am - however, also the fear of stress/burnout is real.
Note the IVF is paid and we’ve embryos frozen, so the bulk of the cost has been paid but building in a buffer in the emergency fund as who knows what future treatments may be needed.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My spouse and I both have demanding jobs with strong incomes, and I feel very fortunate to be in the financial position we’re in. A previous inheritance allowed us to pay off a significant portion of our mortgage, which was a decision we made during a period of potential layoffs to provide peace of mind. That choice has made a big difference in helping us sleep easy.
We’ve been trying to make smart financial decisions to prepare for the next chapter of our lives, including starting a family (hopefully soon). While I’ve sought professional advice in the past, I’m now curious to hear from others who’ve navigated similar situations.
Our financial goals:
Our current strategy:
Are there any other steps we should be taking to set ourselves up for long-term financial stability and flexibility, especially as we prepare for kids? It’d be great to hear any advice based on your own experiences or insights.
Thanks a lot
Your age: 33
Your spouse's age: 36
Number and age of children: 0 - currently going through fertility treatment
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 100k + bonus (15%-30%)
Annual gross income of spouse/partner: 80k + bonus (10%)
Monthly take-home pay: ~€8k combined
Bonus is performance related.
I also receive RSUs amounting to about ~15-20k per year
Type of employment - e.g. Employee or self-employed: Both PAYE workers
Employer type: e.g. public servant, private company: Both Tech (non-engineering roles)
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving €2.5k-3k per month after tax (outside of company shares and pensions)
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Assets
Family home value: €500k
Car: €16k
Credit Union savings - €35k
Prize Bonds - €5k
Investments - €50k (standard life global index fund 80)
Irish Life pensions - me - €136k
Irish Life pensions - spouse - €75k
Liabilities
Mortgage on family home: €186k. A rated home.
RSUs have been used to fuel pension AVCs + Home improvements to date. Maxing pension for last three years. Home improvements include attic conversion.
Family home mortgage information
Lender: BOI
Interest rate: 1.9%
Type of interest rate: fixed
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? Fixed until July 2026
Remaining term: 23 years
Monthly repayment: ~€830
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? N/A
No other borrowings other than mortgage
Pension information
Value of pension fund: €211k combined, we both make maximum contributions.
Other information which might be relevant
Both work in Tech - quite volatile having both been saved from previous rounds of redundancy. My day could be up any day now hence like a bit of an increased cash on hand for such eventuality. While package may be generous, nothing is a given.
Fortunate to receive a lot of perks in work (strong compensation, bonus, life insurance (6x death in service), fertility treatment coverage (currently funding IVF), Income protection (⅔ salary)), which largely keep me where I am - however, also the fear of stress/burnout is real.
Note the IVF is paid and we’ve embryos frozen, so the bulk of the cost has been paid but building in a buffer in the emergency fund as who knows what future treatments may be needed.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My spouse and I both have demanding jobs with strong incomes, and I feel very fortunate to be in the financial position we’re in. A previous inheritance allowed us to pay off a significant portion of our mortgage, which was a decision we made during a period of potential layoffs to provide peace of mind. That choice has made a big difference in helping us sleep easy.
We’ve been trying to make smart financial decisions to prepare for the next chapter of our lives, including starting a family (hopefully soon). While I’ve sought professional advice in the past, I’m now curious to hear from others who’ve navigated similar situations.
Our financial goals:
- Create flexibility so that we could consider roles with lower compensation but better work life balance once kids arrive
- Achieve financial independence by ensuring we’re debt-free, have a fully paid-off mortgage, and have sufficiently funded pensions to retire in our late 50s or early 60s.
Our current strategy:
- Stick with our jobs for as long as possible while maximizing pensions.
- Aggressively pay down the mortgage while interest rate is so low.
- We are currently enjoying the double income no kids while it lasts so have a few holidays and treats, but try to save a good portion of our salary to control too much lifestyle creep with salary increases /bonuses
- In theory it’d be nice to maybe upgrade the car but this is purely a want rather than a need…
Are there any other steps we should be taking to set ourselves up for long-term financial stability and flexibility, especially as we prepare for kids? It’d be great to hear any advice based on your own experiences or insights.
Thanks a lot