Age:
42, no spouse
Annual gross income from employment or profession:
E60k
Type of employment:
Private sector employee
Expenditure pattern:
Previously a fritterer, and it took a long time for me to take life seriously but saving now. I rarely take holidays, certainly not expensive ones abroad, and I wouldn’t think of myself as having extravagant tastes, though I’m a sucker for luxury food. I haven’t been in debt really for many years but I have tended to spend my full paycheck each month without much thought to the future but as I said, this has changed now.
I have no phone (I use a company phone), I have basic NTL and no other subscriptions really. Food and ‘Fun’ take up the top two expenses (see figures below).
My second biggest annual expense is clothes (€3600 last for 2009). I have a bit of a weight issue (too much luxury food maybe!) and my size fluctuates hugely so I seem to end up buy a new wardrobe of clothes every year. I don’t buy designer, just regular, modestly priced stuff on the internet mainly.
So here’s a summary, some are totals for 2009, some are projections for 2010:
All food costs €4300 (am reducing supermarket costs this year)
Entertainment €5400 (all ‘fun’ related stuff: all alcohol, cinema, lunches and dinners out, taxis)
Clothes €3600 (trying to reduce this year)
My apartment management fee per annum is €1250.
Home insurance is €19 pm
Life assurance is €30pm
Bord Gais/ESB in 2009: €755
NTL in 2009 €487 but this will reduce this year as am back to basic package
Last year I had high costs in health (€1486) and home décor/kitchen (€6400) but these will be next to nothing this year.
Travel €500
The rest goes on books €270 (yes I have a library card and use it too but some books you just have to buy)
Gifts €1300
Petrol €573 and car service €1600 in 2009 as I had major problems.
Bank fees €58 (overdraft facility fee which I never use and govt stamp duty. The OD fee expires next year)
And approx €500 on silly stuff like family history research, fitness aids etc.
€250 into emergency savings fund.
€1250 mortgage
Rough estimate of value of home
Approx €170-180k
Mortgage on home
Initially €195,000. Balance is now €190k.
Term 30 years (from 2006) but I want to pay this off before I retire.
TRS approx €37.50 pm
Monthly payment due is approx €900 but I overpay by €350 so total €1250 pm
Mortgage provider:
KBC
Type of mortgage:
Interest only for initial three years, variable since July 2009.
Interest rate
3.24%
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
Yes
Savings and investments:
€3k in savings account (@3.5%) (I had planned to have more in this by now but I dipped into it for a new kitchen last year when I realised I couldn’t move this decade!). I save €250 into this monthly.
I also have €2k in a second current account for annual charges such as car insurance and tax, tv license and Christmas costs.
Do you have a pension scheme?
Yes, I pay €156pm into personal pension
My company pays e200.
Current value of fund is €37,100
Do you own any investment or other property?
No.
Ages of children:
None.
Life insurance:
Yes.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My life plans are simply to move to a more comfortable place and to retire early.
I currently live in a tiny apartment and would eventually want to move into a larger apartment or a small house. I can’t at the moment as my loan to value percentage is so low and I’ve no big nest egg to supplement it so I want to either reduce the mortgage rapidly and/or build up a lump sum.
The only other life dream I have is to get out of the rat race early if at all possible so will need to finance that somehow.
SO – am I doing the right thing with spare cash at this point?
NOTE: the overpayment option with my bank is that I can withdraw the overpayments at any time. I chose this since I don’t have any real savings and so might need these funds at some point if made redundant or get seriously ill. The alternative is that the overpayments cannot be withdrawn ever. I believe this actually reduces the capital and so the term but I haven’t quite got my head around this so I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for me.
I would really appreciate any advice here as I am trying to do the right thing.
42, no spouse
Annual gross income from employment or profession:
E60k
Type of employment:
Private sector employee
Expenditure pattern:
Previously a fritterer, and it took a long time for me to take life seriously but saving now. I rarely take holidays, certainly not expensive ones abroad, and I wouldn’t think of myself as having extravagant tastes, though I’m a sucker for luxury food. I haven’t been in debt really for many years but I have tended to spend my full paycheck each month without much thought to the future but as I said, this has changed now.
I have no phone (I use a company phone), I have basic NTL and no other subscriptions really. Food and ‘Fun’ take up the top two expenses (see figures below).
My second biggest annual expense is clothes (€3600 last for 2009). I have a bit of a weight issue (too much luxury food maybe!) and my size fluctuates hugely so I seem to end up buy a new wardrobe of clothes every year. I don’t buy designer, just regular, modestly priced stuff on the internet mainly.
So here’s a summary, some are totals for 2009, some are projections for 2010:
All food costs €4300 (am reducing supermarket costs this year)
Entertainment €5400 (all ‘fun’ related stuff: all alcohol, cinema, lunches and dinners out, taxis)
Clothes €3600 (trying to reduce this year)
My apartment management fee per annum is €1250.
Home insurance is €19 pm
Life assurance is €30pm
Bord Gais/ESB in 2009: €755
NTL in 2009 €487 but this will reduce this year as am back to basic package
Last year I had high costs in health (€1486) and home décor/kitchen (€6400) but these will be next to nothing this year.
Travel €500
The rest goes on books €270 (yes I have a library card and use it too but some books you just have to buy)
Gifts €1300
Petrol €573 and car service €1600 in 2009 as I had major problems.
Bank fees €58 (overdraft facility fee which I never use and govt stamp duty. The OD fee expires next year)
And approx €500 on silly stuff like family history research, fitness aids etc.
€250 into emergency savings fund.
€1250 mortgage
Rough estimate of value of home
Approx €170-180k
Mortgage on home
Initially €195,000. Balance is now €190k.
Term 30 years (from 2006) but I want to pay this off before I retire.
TRS approx €37.50 pm
Monthly payment due is approx €900 but I overpay by €350 so total €1250 pm
Mortgage provider:
KBC
Type of mortgage:
Interest only for initial three years, variable since July 2009.
Interest rate
3.24%
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
Yes
Savings and investments:
€3k in savings account (@3.5%) (I had planned to have more in this by now but I dipped into it for a new kitchen last year when I realised I couldn’t move this decade!). I save €250 into this monthly.
I also have €2k in a second current account for annual charges such as car insurance and tax, tv license and Christmas costs.
Do you have a pension scheme?
Yes, I pay €156pm into personal pension
My company pays e200.
Current value of fund is €37,100
Do you own any investment or other property?
No.
Ages of children:
None.
Life insurance:
Yes.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My life plans are simply to move to a more comfortable place and to retire early.
I currently live in a tiny apartment and would eventually want to move into a larger apartment or a small house. I can’t at the moment as my loan to value percentage is so low and I’ve no big nest egg to supplement it so I want to either reduce the mortgage rapidly and/or build up a lump sum.
The only other life dream I have is to get out of the rat race early if at all possible so will need to finance that somehow.
SO – am I doing the right thing with spare cash at this point?
NOTE: the overpayment option with my bank is that I can withdraw the overpayments at any time. I chose this since I don’t have any real savings and so might need these funds at some point if made redundant or get seriously ill. The alternative is that the overpayments cannot be withdrawn ever. I believe this actually reduces the capital and so the term but I haven’t quite got my head around this so I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for me.
I would really appreciate any advice here as I am trying to do the right thing.