Que_Sera_1982
Registered User
- Messages
- 4
Age: 34
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 33
Annual gross income from employment or profession: € 41,500
Annual gross income of spouse: € 16,000
Monthly take-home pay € 4,236 plus Child Benefit
Also travel expenses are regularly up to € 500
Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed
Me: Private Sector
Wife: Self employed
In general are you:
(b) saving?
Saving about € 400 p.m. in a regular BOI saver account and make additional top-up payments regularly depending on the month
Rough estimate of value of home € 160,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: € 120,000 just approved
What interest rate are you paying? 3.46% variable
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc N/A
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: Approximately € 50k in joint savings which will be used as mortgage deposit
Do you have a pension scheme? No
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 8, 6, 3
Chilcare expenses € 700 pm
Life insurance: Yes
After that we have all the usual bills, motor insurance and fuel, groceries, utilities etc. and try to get one modest family holiday per year. I work everything out on a monthly spreadsheet and try to keep a close eye on everything. We have an account for rent and all bills and transfer a set weekly amount to a household account for groceries and day to day expenses. We often struggle a bit to stick to the weekly amount. My wife in particular is very fond of casual spending and a bit of retail therapy but is starting to see the benefit in a proper household budget.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have just been approved for our first mortgage which will mean using our savings as a deposit. The repayments are very manageable over the 25 year term with current earnings. Thereafter we will have roughly € 500 per month available to save, invest in a pension or overpay the mortgage. There would be months that there would be more available if we have no unexpected bills or big expenses.
My work is fairly stable in the medium term but no real prospect of promotion or meaningful increase in salary any time soon unless I change employers. I have the option of doing some additional work on the side as a freelancer and estimate I could up my earnings by at least € 10k this way. That said, work / life balance would suffer and I would be pushed into the marginal taxation rate on any income above my salary.
I have the option of an occupational pension but have decided not to pay in as yet as the mortgage deposit was always the priority. It should be noted that I am using some of my wife's credits so relief on pension payments would be at the standard tax rate.
My wife's work is stable enough, but again no real prospect of major increase in income any time soon.
My main question is what should I be focused on. My gut is telling me to overpay the mortgage by € 200 pm to reduce the term and save € 300-€400 pm in a regular savings account and forget about the pension for now. Would this be the best course of action?
Thanks
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 33
Annual gross income from employment or profession: € 41,500
Annual gross income of spouse: € 16,000
Monthly take-home pay € 4,236 plus Child Benefit
Also travel expenses are regularly up to € 500
Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed
Me: Private Sector
Wife: Self employed
In general are you:
(b) saving?
Saving about € 400 p.m. in a regular BOI saver account and make additional top-up payments regularly depending on the month
Rough estimate of value of home € 160,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: € 120,000 just approved
What interest rate are you paying? 3.46% variable
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc N/A
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: Approximately € 50k in joint savings which will be used as mortgage deposit
Do you have a pension scheme? No
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 8, 6, 3
Chilcare expenses € 700 pm
Life insurance: Yes
After that we have all the usual bills, motor insurance and fuel, groceries, utilities etc. and try to get one modest family holiday per year. I work everything out on a monthly spreadsheet and try to keep a close eye on everything. We have an account for rent and all bills and transfer a set weekly amount to a household account for groceries and day to day expenses. We often struggle a bit to stick to the weekly amount. My wife in particular is very fond of casual spending and a bit of retail therapy but is starting to see the benefit in a proper household budget.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We have just been approved for our first mortgage which will mean using our savings as a deposit. The repayments are very manageable over the 25 year term with current earnings. Thereafter we will have roughly € 500 per month available to save, invest in a pension or overpay the mortgage. There would be months that there would be more available if we have no unexpected bills or big expenses.
My work is fairly stable in the medium term but no real prospect of promotion or meaningful increase in salary any time soon unless I change employers. I have the option of doing some additional work on the side as a freelancer and estimate I could up my earnings by at least € 10k this way. That said, work / life balance would suffer and I would be pushed into the marginal taxation rate on any income above my salary.
I have the option of an occupational pension but have decided not to pay in as yet as the mortgage deposit was always the priority. It should be noted that I am using some of my wife's credits so relief on pension payments would be at the standard tax rate.
My wife's work is stable enough, but again no real prospect of major increase in income any time soon.
My main question is what should I be focused on. My gut is telling me to overpay the mortgage by € 200 pm to reduce the term and save € 300-€400 pm in a regular savings account and forget about the pension for now. Would this be the best course of action?
Thanks
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