Age: 39
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 42
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 57k + 10% Annual bonus
Annual gross income of spouse: 44k
Monthly take-home pay Spouse currently on maternity leave - Pre 6071 Current incl Maternity Benefit 5328
Type of employment: Both private sector PAYE
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Main focus has been paying down debts very heavily while keeping with in our means
Rough estimate of value of home 260k just completed multi mortgage switch used to clear down personal debts
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 194k
What interest rate are you paying? 2.3% 2 years fixed 20 years remaining
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc 430 pm Credit Union Home Improvement 10 year loan balance 22.5k 6.5 years remaining
500 pm Credit Union Car Loan 6.7k 3.5 years remaining overpaying monthly different amounts 8k ahead
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 450, limit 500, reduced from 6k
Savings and investments: Credit union 4k & 2.3k presume cant be used to reduce loan balance
Post Office 500 save 50 per month
Buy 20 euro of company shares each month employer gives 10% extra shares value 600
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes Monthly Employer pays 10% and i pay 5%, AVC of 2%
Spouse no but has 14k retirement bond and 1.5k to be transferred out of previous employer to new fund yet to be set up
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 7 and 6mths with special needs
Life insurance: Yes and income continuance policies for both
Childrens allowance 280pm used to clear down debt
Domicilary care allowance 310pm case still pending
Respite Grant 1700 annually case still pending
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
Had a really tough time in the recession like many others and have kind of embraced the motto "never a borrower nor a lender be"
Family circumstances have changed significantly with the arrival of our second child who has special needs and i need to refocus my attitude towards our finances which has been very much focused on clearing and overpaying debts as quickly as possible without building up savings etc. Have applied for all the relevant assistance for him Medical card, Domiciliary care which he will need etc. think i have a 4-6 mth window to continue overpaying heavily before i need to take the foot off the levels of repayments
I am very good at tracking spending and have an excel workbook with all finances tracked for last 6 years so know my costs very well. I know i should build up a rainy day fund and did a budget up for this our monthly bills including annual bills such as house, 2 car insurances, TV licence, property tax etc over the 12 mths this figure would be 3.5k p.m.
Adding in back to school costs putting money aside for car maintenance, doctors/prescriptions and a holiday, we are looking at a figure of 4.1k p.m.
I also need to look into setting up a special needs trust, i know there are strict limits i need to stick with.
Rereading the above i can see some glaringly obvious things i am doing wrong like not taking advantage of the 10% on shares from employer, saving 50 a month or putting a few % more into AVC. Most obvious is the no rainy day fund
Idea in overpaying the smaller credit union loan was to clear it then switch the monthly 500pm repayment to overpaying larger loan
I would just love if a few of the well informed members of this forum could give some of their opinions on the above and where i could be doing better.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 42
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 57k + 10% Annual bonus
Annual gross income of spouse: 44k
Monthly take-home pay Spouse currently on maternity leave - Pre 6071 Current incl Maternity Benefit 5328
Type of employment: Both private sector PAYE
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Main focus has been paying down debts very heavily while keeping with in our means
Rough estimate of value of home 260k just completed multi mortgage switch used to clear down personal debts
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 194k
What interest rate are you paying? 2.3% 2 years fixed 20 years remaining
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc 430 pm Credit Union Home Improvement 10 year loan balance 22.5k 6.5 years remaining
500 pm Credit Union Car Loan 6.7k 3.5 years remaining overpaying monthly different amounts 8k ahead
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 450, limit 500, reduced from 6k
Savings and investments: Credit union 4k & 2.3k presume cant be used to reduce loan balance
Post Office 500 save 50 per month
Buy 20 euro of company shares each month employer gives 10% extra shares value 600
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes Monthly Employer pays 10% and i pay 5%, AVC of 2%
Spouse no but has 14k retirement bond and 1.5k to be transferred out of previous employer to new fund yet to be set up
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 7 and 6mths with special needs
Life insurance: Yes and income continuance policies for both
Childrens allowance 280pm used to clear down debt
Domicilary care allowance 310pm case still pending
Respite Grant 1700 annually case still pending
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
Had a really tough time in the recession like many others and have kind of embraced the motto "never a borrower nor a lender be"
Family circumstances have changed significantly with the arrival of our second child who has special needs and i need to refocus my attitude towards our finances which has been very much focused on clearing and overpaying debts as quickly as possible without building up savings etc. Have applied for all the relevant assistance for him Medical card, Domiciliary care which he will need etc. think i have a 4-6 mth window to continue overpaying heavily before i need to take the foot off the levels of repayments
I am very good at tracking spending and have an excel workbook with all finances tracked for last 6 years so know my costs very well. I know i should build up a rainy day fund and did a budget up for this our monthly bills including annual bills such as house, 2 car insurances, TV licence, property tax etc over the 12 mths this figure would be 3.5k p.m.
Adding in back to school costs putting money aside for car maintenance, doctors/prescriptions and a holiday, we are looking at a figure of 4.1k p.m.
I also need to look into setting up a special needs trust, i know there are strict limits i need to stick with.
Rereading the above i can see some glaringly obvious things i am doing wrong like not taking advantage of the 10% on shares from employer, saving 50 a month or putting a few % more into AVC. Most obvious is the no rainy day fund
Idea in overpaying the smaller credit union loan was to clear it then switch the monthly 500pm repayment to overpaying larger loan
I would just love if a few of the well informed members of this forum could give some of their opinions on the above and where i could be doing better.