Need independent advice on investments, pensions , Life Ass, income protection and inheritance.

Edev1981

Registered User
Messages
7
My husband and I are in the fortunate position of requiring financial advise on possible investments, pensions , Life assurance and income protection and inheritance.
Details :
Collectively we earn approx E80k.
We have a mortgage of E75K
House value approx 300K
3 kids. 2 Going to college next year
I have a fund of E28k saved for my son for college and my husband pays E95 weekly to mother of other child - this is set to remain the same. Neither will require accomodation as they will remain living at home.
We have 70K left over from a sale of a house. We paid off a portion of our existing mortgage and now are unsure what to do with the remaining money.
I have spoken to a "Financial broker" who details i sourced from Financial brokers.ie This individual was very unsatisfactory as we felt he was pushing us into an investment strategy that we were not happy with and he was not giving all the details about. When we did not go with his plan he became aggressive. This has coloured our view on whom to talk to next. We also badly need advice on Life assurance and income protection.
My aunt passed away last year and we are due to inherit some land and money and would like guidance with this matter also
We wish to talk to partys that are not tied to any financial insititutions.
Please advise
 
The €70k you have left over won't get you much by way of investment today and you need to let us know what value you're placing on the inheritance from which you'll probably have plenty of tax to pay, so the €70k might well be needed for that scenario depending on what the cash part of the inheritance is going to be.
 
Use the €70k and €5k of your €28k to clear your mortgage.

Then keep circa €20k in cash.

Then sign-up for something like a Zurich Life regular savings product where all of what you put away is going into their International Equity fund.

Then use the spare €3k to have a nice holiday this year.

Then enjoy your life on the basis that you’re in great financial shape.
 
Check out the thread “information required for money makeover questions “

You have given no information on your pensions arrangements or whether your mortgage is a tracker.

I suspect Gordon is right about paying off your mortgage and probably wrong about a savings product but further information is needed.

Brendan
 
Hi Brendan,

For clarity, I’m just suggesting something simple that doesn’t necessitate a tax return and that would give them exposure to equity markets.

I agree that pension provision needs to be considered.

It is surprising how many people come to AAM with enough cash to clear their mortgage but ask what to do.
 
It is surprising how many people come to AAM with enough cash to clear their mortgage but ask what to do.
Very very true, but you see everyone thinks they own the house they're paying a mortgage on, where in reality they're in a long term rental paying the rent to the bank while also having to do all the repairs, upkeep, etc, while doing so.
 
Hi guys, On your advise i have complete the money makeover details. I look forward to your help and advise.



Age: 38
Spouse’s/Partner's age : 41

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 45K with bonus approx. 2k
Annual gross income of spouse: 36K

Monthly take-home pay

Type of employment: – PAYE

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn – Think I may be spending more than earning at present but recent wage increase should cancel that out
(b) saving? Husband is saving €200 a month. I am not saving as unsure where to put it as my credit union account has reached max of €30k

Rough estimate of value of home €300,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 70K we recently paid off a lump sum of €65K also. However we did incur a penalty as we are in a fixed rate until 2023.
What interest rate are you paying? Fixed rate of 3% NOT A TRACKER

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc – None

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? – Don’t Have credit cards etc
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?

Savings and investments: 30K in Credit Union , 70 k in a current account,

Do you have a pension scheme? I started putting in €130 a month to a scheme in work since 2018.

Do you own any investment or other property? No. But we are due to inherit a quarter of a house worth approx. 350K and a quarter of 63 acres of land from an aunt. House will defo be sold .

Ages of children: 1 no. Son (18) 1 stepson (18) 1 daughter (1 year)

Life insurance: I have death in service with work and my husband has a scheme with work also. But we wish to get more comprehensive cover


What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?

I am very unsure what to do. As you see we have nice bit of savings but what next.
25K of that should be for my son’s education as he is off to college next year and I don’t want to be under pressure and this figure is something I have built over over the last 15 years. However this money is sitting in my credit union and not allowing me save. I do not wish it to be put in an account controlled solely by my son for obvious reasons.

I then have approx. 75k there.
I do want a rainy day fund and also I would like at a later stage to develop my career and may need investment money for this. And I am very concerned with having a nice sum there for retirement.

My husband is due to inherit his family farm when his father retires or has no more use for it. Unfortunately the timing of this is out of our control.

There is then the question of the inheritance. We had an idea of keeping the land to eventually add it to our family farm and pay off the tax bill with the sale of the house.

I am concerned about my spending but feel I have no control of it as I have that 70K sitting in my current account.
Please advise.
 
However we did incur a penalty as we are in a fixed rate until 2023.
I wouldn't worry about the break fee - the interest you've saved will be multiples of the break fee.

Is your husband also a PAYE worker or is he a farmer?
 
Husband is PAYE . Currently working 3 days with a builder and 2 days on his fathers farm. Also query on advantages of a farm partnership in the future and where we would go to discuss this.
 
It doesn't look like you need anything too complex.

I notice you've split your finances and his above. However, looking at what's best for the total family picture. There might be reasons you treat your finances separately.

Assuming husband remains PAYE:

You talk about savings for retirement, but you're using your current account! Use a pension, and get tax relief.
You're putting in 1560 a year which won't make much difference to you in retirement. I would calculate the maximum you can contribute (between you) at the higher tax rate, and put that much in. If you've an amount that will be matched by employer, make sure it's at least that much. Work out between you who's pension gets funded, and by how much. You can still make contributions for 2019 and claim tax relief.

Calculate how much money you need to keep for rainy day, and planned expenses (like the college fund). Put that aside into a separate current account so you're not tempted to spend it!

Pay everything else off your mortgage.

You say you want more comprehensive life cover. I don't think you need it. Relatively small mortgage. I assume you have 4 times salary cover at work? It's worth digging out the details. What might be worth considering is income protection in case one if you can't work, but the amount you can get is limited by your salary. They won't be expensive, and are tax deductible.

Re farm partnership - you need to be talking to a good tax planner familiar with farming, particular inheritance / retirement reliefs, so both your husband and his father's situation are taken into account. Ask around in the farming community - there's usually 1 or 2 go-to people for this type of thing.
 
Back
Top