time to plan
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Hi there, hopefully this is the right place to start, and then I might need to follow up with some specific questions in the Retirement and Pension forum
Age: 49
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 46
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 185,000 (proprietary director)
Annual gross income of spouse: 25,000 (sole trader)
Monthly take-home pay: 10,300 (combined for the two of us)
Type of employment: I am a proprietary director (daily rate contractor); spouse is a sole trader (self-employed healthcare professional)
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving 3k per month, but have the opportunity to increase total saved to saving and pensions, as my income has increased (see question below)
Rough estimate of value of home - 550,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 240,000
What interest rate are you paying? 3.0% (fixed for another 18 months)
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc - none
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: 17,000 cash savings
Do you have a pension scheme? we both have small but not trivial pensions from previous employments and are tracking down details of expected benefits etc.
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 2 kids under age of 14
Life insurance: Mortgage cover only
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My income has increased recently. It's likely to be stable, but with self-employment there's always the chance it could go down, although it's a pretty Covid / recession proof sector. I want to make the most of the very fortunate position I'm in from an income point of view to make up for the lack of decent pension provision. I also want to increase my cash saving as I like to have 6 to 12 months accessible savings on hand as a rainy day fund.
Question 1: I intend to put the maximum that is tax deductible into a pension - at age 48, 25% of 115k. How do I best approach this from the perspective of
a) pension type (PRSA or should my Ltd Company set up an occupational pension), and
b) investment strategy - I'm not conservative in my attitude to risk, but I am skeptical as to anything exotic or towards paying annual fees to active fund managers (maybe this is a contradictory statement?
Question 2: Is it worth my spouse also contributing to a pension (PRSA?) given that she is under the 40% income tax threshold?
Question 3: How do I best manage saving outside of the pension, probably another 2000 per month? My goals are:
a) Increase my cash reserves from 17,000 to 60,000
b) Save money for kids' university education which need to be available in a timeframe of 6 to 14 years.
c) Save additional cash for the long term, as I've no plans to adjust my lifestyle.
Question 4: Should I see a Financial Adviser and if so how do I pick a good one and what should I avoid. My instinct is to pay a fee for advice rather than fund commission, but is that reasoanble?
Thanks in advance!
Age: 49
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 46
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 185,000 (proprietary director)
Annual gross income of spouse: 25,000 (sole trader)
Monthly take-home pay: 10,300 (combined for the two of us)
Type of employment: I am a proprietary director (daily rate contractor); spouse is a sole trader (self-employed healthcare professional)
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving 3k per month, but have the opportunity to increase total saved to saving and pensions, as my income has increased (see question below)
Rough estimate of value of home - 550,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 240,000
What interest rate are you paying? 3.0% (fixed for another 18 months)
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc - none
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: 17,000 cash savings
Do you have a pension scheme? we both have small but not trivial pensions from previous employments and are tracking down details of expected benefits etc.
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 2 kids under age of 14
Life insurance: Mortgage cover only
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My income has increased recently. It's likely to be stable, but with self-employment there's always the chance it could go down, although it's a pretty Covid / recession proof sector. I want to make the most of the very fortunate position I'm in from an income point of view to make up for the lack of decent pension provision. I also want to increase my cash saving as I like to have 6 to 12 months accessible savings on hand as a rainy day fund.
Question 1: I intend to put the maximum that is tax deductible into a pension - at age 48, 25% of 115k. How do I best approach this from the perspective of
a) pension type (PRSA or should my Ltd Company set up an occupational pension), and
b) investment strategy - I'm not conservative in my attitude to risk, but I am skeptical as to anything exotic or towards paying annual fees to active fund managers (maybe this is a contradictory statement?
Question 2: Is it worth my spouse also contributing to a pension (PRSA?) given that she is under the 40% income tax threshold?
Question 3: How do I best manage saving outside of the pension, probably another 2000 per month? My goals are:
a) Increase my cash reserves from 17,000 to 60,000
b) Save money for kids' university education which need to be available in a timeframe of 6 to 14 years.
c) Save additional cash for the long term, as I've no plans to adjust my lifestyle.
Question 4: Should I see a Financial Adviser and if so how do I pick a good one and what should I avoid. My instinct is to pay a fee for advice rather than fund commission, but is that reasoanble?
Thanks in advance!