Age: 52
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 54
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €100K (including annual bonus)
Annual gross income of spouse: €35K (part-time)
Monthly take-home pay: €6500 (between the 2 of us)
Type of employment: PAYE (both of us)
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving, good cash flow
Rough estimate of value of home: €230K
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €35K, 4 years left (€720 pm payment)
What interest rate are you paying? 0.95% (Tracker)
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc.
Nothing - car loans paid off
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? No balance
Savings and investments: PTSB bank savings €10000 (instant access, not earning any interest), another €25000 with EBS (30 day access, regular savings account, very low return), €300 pm going into this, credit union €5000 on deposit, €100 pm going into this. My wife received a €35000 inheritance 2 years ago which is in a cash savings account.
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes - member of work DC scheme, I’m paying in €300 pm, employer is paying €600, pension is currently valued at €150K. My wife also has a work pension.
Do you own any investment or other property? Yes, 3-bedroom holiday home in sea-side village (close to my workplace, possible retirement home), we rent it out during the summer months which covers about ⅓ of yearly mortgage - house value is €130000, buy-to-let-mortgage has €67000 outstanding, 12 years left to pay @ 4.95% (fixed for 1 more year), regular €570 pm mortgage payment.
Ages of children: 20 and 17. Our eldest is 2nd year in college, €3500 college fees, I’m paying her rent of €450 pm (she has a part time job so minimum upkeep), our son will be going to college in 2 more years so we’ll need some savings for that (about €10-15K).
Life insurance: Yes, we’re both covered due to our mortgages, I also have employer’s life insurance cover if something was to happen to me.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have excess income and savings earning a low rate of interest. My wife is risk-adverse and wants to keep her €35K inheritance in a cash savings account. I’m working from home for the foreseeable future which is saving me €200+ per month on fuel costs since March. I have €500+ left over at the end of each month - what should I do with this? More AVC’s into my pension? Should we pay a lump sum off the mortgage of our holiday/retirement home? One of our cars might need replacing in 1-2 years, probably buy another 2-3 year old car second-hand like I normally do (maybe put €10K from savings into that).