What to do with 5M in cash?

Not too sound rude but the returns seem small in comparison to an SP500 Index; Since mid-2014, the S&P 500 has produced a total return of 233.6%.
Investing in a trust like JAM/ATT/PCT would have made better returns and probably cost less in fees.
Could the returns that @Gordon Gekko mentioned be net of dividend income over the 10 years perhaps?
 
The thing about past performace comparisons is that, unless someone posts a link to the source of the figures quoted no one else can make head nor tail of them. They're just illusory. In this case, the number and geographical location of the shares is definitely not on a like-for-like basis, one may be net of all charges, and possibly net of taxation.
 
I guess I've just recently finished 'A Random Walk on Wall Street' and I'm biased towards Indexes and thinking about when in 2008, Warren Buffet made an open bet that no fund could out-perform the S&P 500. I think only one person took him up on the bet, and did not win. So investing in funds, or self directed equity portfolios carries a statistical likelihood you will lose money compared to the market index.
 
€1m for a house and car (Personally I would go more on the house,. You can buy a very mediocre house in nice Dublin for €1m)
€3m invested in an etf (Diversified equities). You should be safe to draw an income of 4% €120k, fully fund wife's pension
€1m to actively invest.

In 5 years time if your active investments outperform your etf maybe readjust the allocation.
 

Thank you for the sound advice. It fits my personality a lot more.

Yes, the house prices are extortionate, we will try to get one for under 1M in S. Dublin however, just to save on tax/property fees afterwards and also not to alienate us from our friends and family who do not have the same capital. Wife is worried to spend over 1M too.

Which ETF do you reccomended? I've been holding IWDA (Developed World) and bought JAM earlier more of an experiment see which one comes out better.

Do you think actively investing the 1M is liable to brand me a 'trader' by Revenue and then incur Income Tax rather than CGT (since I wouldn't be working)?
 
Not too sound rude but the returns seem small in comparison to an SP500 Index; Since mid-2014, the S&P 500 has produced a total return of 233.6%.
Investing in a trust like JAM/ATT/PCT would have made better returns and probably cost less in fees.
It’s a global mandate for a person living in Ireland with Euro expenses, so the return generated by a specific market in a single geography in a different currency isn’t a like for like comparison.
 
I agree with > 1M on house budget. Althoough it might involve buying at <1M and spending 0.5M on renovations.

I think 1M for active is way too large a risk. I don't have the stats, but a surprising amount of folks who have windfalls, end up losing it all again. And 1M is a very large amount after house/cars/renovation etc.,
 
For financial advice on 5M, I would probably go to @Marc (Marc Westlake) for advice. He puts out some of the best content I have seen (check out everlake/his feed on linkedin). And from his content, and some past posts on this site, he seems to think very holistically, about how to maximise investments, including minimising total tax burden on you and your family over your and their lifetime.

I can's say if I would actually 100% follow's Marc advice, as I haven't used his services, or seen what an exact plan would look like from him. Based on some very old post on the site, IIRC, He seems to have some very specific investment packages that he has setup/brokered/deisgned. They may well reflect the best solutions available, but without them being fully discussed in open forums I would remain a bit nervous.

E.g. I have seen him raise things like US estate tax, tax efficient investing for your kids, using pension for tax benefits, even when the contributions are not tax relieved, based on tax free compounding and/or inheritance tax planning. And he also seems to be very aware of hidden costs in funds etc.,
 
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It's a great read. I truley enjoyed reading it. Not a quick read but a good read!
 
It's a small optimisation, but if your wife is working, she should max her pension contributions.
She is...
 
Thanks everyone for the replies so far, some really sound advice. Unfortunately, I don't have the option to 'Like' your comments or reply frequently on this forum (maybe cos I'm a new account) but it's appreciated to talk to serious people and gain varying viewpoints.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies so far, some really sound advice. Unfortunately, I don't have the option to 'Like' your comments or reply frequently on this forum (maybe cos I'm a new account)
The reply delay may be explained here?
Maybe the "Like" option only appears after you have some level of established membership/posting/longevity?
 
If you do return to employment or set up your own business, then you can look at pensions.
I'm wondering if that is a bit short sighted, I understand why you say don't start one as there is no taxable benefit on the way in
but I feel that is only one element of the pension wrapper, what about compounding and the tax free growth for the next 30 years??
The OP could quite comfortable tie up half a million in a PRSA now which could be worth €1.5 to €2 million by the time his state pension kicks in
presuming of course he keeps up his PRSI payments to avail of the OAP

The other side is the OP is very young and probably has a good 50 years ahead of himself and his family and although €5M is a lot of money
It can be easily spent and it might be prudent to lock away some of it now to safe guard the later years
 
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The OP could quite comfortable tie up half a million in a PRSA now which could be worth €1.5 to €2 million by the time his state pension kicks in
presuming of course he keeps up his PRSI payments to avail of the OAP
Is there any inheritance tax advantage to funds in a PRSA?
 
I wouldn’t do that.

I’d much rather an S Barrett type adviser.
 
Since mid-2014, the S&P 500 has produced a total return of 233.6%.

Just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons - a certain Americas 100% equity actively managed fund, with circa 50 holdings has produced a total return (after charges) of 310.07% from 30/06/2014 to 01/07/2024.

We keep telling ourselves that past performance has no bearing on what might happen in the future but we can't resist looking at it or posting it for comparisons.

Warren Buffet made an open bet that no fund could out-perform the S&P 500. I think only one person took him up on the bet, and did not win.

You see, that's the kind of fund manager you'd need to avoid.
 

Ideally I would have had a pension. But in my current situation would not be able to comfortably tie any sums up in it as I walked away from a job and not sure if I can get one back so readily, nor do I see myself launching a business that brings in income with which I can add to my pension.
 
Maybe you should have a re-read of my post as I made no reference to having a job or starting a business for the purpose of adding to a pension!!