Trying to scramble a retirement together

ArthurMcB said:
The stable bubble is stable the volatile bubble is volatile. Both will have times of expansion and contraction. I’ll stay in the stable bubble for now anyway and wish you well over there in the volatile one.
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Likewise Arthur. It looks like I’ll be leaving the volatile bubble anyway…might be a compromise bubble that fits me.
 
misemoi said:
The whole thread has been about bitcoin and nothing about the fact that retirement income will probably need to support 3 adults. A full money makeover is always the best place to work from and we still don't have that.
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There is a residential plan in place for when we’re unable to take care of her anymore. I don’t really want to go into much more detail here as I find it upsetting tbh.
 
Personal details

Your age: 49
Your spouse's age: 46


Number and age of children: 3 (12, 10, 8)


Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €20-32k self-employed, varies year to year
Annual gross income of spouse/partner: €60k

Monthly take-home pay: varies
I receive Carer's Allowance of €271 per week (taxable), my wife receives Domicilary Care Allowance of €360 per month. I can work 18.5 hours per week, I work this on weekends. She also receives Children's allowance which goes into general savings.

Type of employment - I'm self-employed
Wife is employed in Healthcare

In general are you:
Formerly spender (in 20's) , saver since house/kids (mid-late 30's).
Wife always a good saver but like me, pretty clueless about interest/finance in general.


Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Family home value: €335000
Mortgage on family home: ~€118000 (can't get accurate figure but was €124000 in Feb 2024)
Net equity: €217000

Cash:
€ 30000 (€25k in HYSA, 5k in current accounts)


Family home mortgage information
Lender - PTSB
Interest rate - 4.1%
Type of interest rate: variable
If fixed, what is the term remaining of the fixed rate? N/A
From what I can glean from the last mortgage statement, we will pay another €52k interest (approx) over the term of the mortgage if it's left alone.

Remaining term: (Original term is not relevant) 16 years
Monthly repayment: €852

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? n/a

Pension information

Value of pension fund:
0 but starting in January

Wife has HSE pension that she was told will give her approx 11k per year at retirement. Started in HSE 16 years ago.

She has started making AVCs to a PRSA (New Ireland "Iris" strategy ) of €883 per month (before tax credit)
Projected retirement date 2038 - projected value of PRSA then is €181000 or €159000 ("if account is taken of applicable charges to date" - not sure what that means?) - pension is worth approx €5600 per year to her i think
We both will qualify for contributory pensions at 66


Other savings and investments:
ETFs and stocks - €5k
Bitcoin - 0.76 (worth €71.7k on 25/12/24 at 15:21...)
State Savings - €80k - 3x 10year 'solidarity' bonds maturing in 2030, 2031, 2032...will be worth €89440 in total if left to mature


Other information which might be relevant

Life insurance: Insured for €500k each
Income protection on wife's salary - €53 per month


What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?

I want to do what's best for us in retirement. We will also need to care for our daughter (8) in adulthood. She will most likely have Disability Allowance and will hopefully transition gradually to semi-independence and another residence that can care for her as we age and become unable)

When I liquidate my Bitcoin holdings (I have decided - with the help of the forum - I'm holding too much risk and will keep approx €10k worth) is it a good idea for us to pay down our mortgage (will also use State Savings for this) ? Should we focus on pension contributions instead? Should I kickstart my pension with a sizeable lump sum instead of paying the mortgage? Any other suggestions appreciated!

(I've mentioned a lot of this stuff along the way but wanted to put it all in one place and add more detail if anyone wanted to quickly cast an eye on it. Thanks folks.)
 
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speedtomyside said:
When I liquidate my Bitcoin holdings (will keep approx €10k worth) is it a good idea for us to pay down our mortgage (will also use State Savings for this) ?
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I think this is a very good idea and I commend you for seeing the advice others were giving. I think you'll retain some upside risk with this approach and at same time safeguard your wealth.
 
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