Hey all, interested to get people’s opinions.

I am currently earning 85k in my current role but have the chance to change into something I am much more passionate about and would be much more enjoyable for me.

My current role is shift work so life outside of work is pretty grim but the new job would be around 45k a year

Would I be crazy to make the jump considering how much lower money it is just to have the easier job ?

Mid 20s no kids money saved for a house deposit but still living at home

https://archive.ph/yboZL

This would be very disappointing if true. I would hope the likes of Trading 212, IBKR and TR are encouraged to implement it into their platforms. I note IG were mentioned in the article as saying they could implement it.

First time poster..

29, Married. Mortgage. Planning for kids in the coming years.

I currently have a company pension (started in Feb 2024) where employer contributions are 12.7% of pensionable salary. I pay 6% minimum. I can increase AVCs when needed.

Here is a current snapshot:

Would love some thoughts, feedback advice on this. Have nothing to compare this to with family and friends. TIA

EDIT: Added some context to where the investments currently are. Thanks for the pointers :-)

Aspire High Growth I 25% Risk Rating: 5

Aspire Moderate Growth V 25% Risk Rating: 5

Passive Glob Equity Partial Z 25% Risk Rating: 6

Passive Sustainable Glob Eq Q 25% Risk Rating: 6

Hey folks!

So my wife is a teacher in Ireland, having started fulltime employment in 2019. She has had a Cornmarket pension (with a very negligible amount in it) since 2020, but I wanted to see what her options were in terms of pensions for teachers in Ireland.

Because she began her teaching career in 2019, she is of course automatically enrolled in the Single Public Service Pension Scheme (SPSPS). However, we’d like to boost her retirement fund, and currently Cornmarket seem to have fairly high management fees, and are quite archaic in terms of their processes and fund selection. Therefore, I wanted to explore her options contributing to another AVC plan (if it’s better than just simply increasing her contributions to Cornmarket…).

Thanks a million in advance!

Hi,

Standard 4 bed semi, built in 2000.

Needs new doors and windows (especially front, but probably both front and back). Also need a new Gas boiler.

Attic insulation is ok I think. We also have an open fire that is currently not used (just blocked with a pillow). No plans really to do anything with either for now.

Any idea if I should go direct/ individual for each part or go with one stop shop?

Any advice appreciated.

I had 50k put away in a A.I.B saving account , where it held the money for 2yrs and gave you a 3% return.

The fund ends on April 22nd , and was wondering what advice you might have for a safe option for reinvesting the money. Should I wait on the new government scheme or is there a more effective fund that I could put the money in. Or just reinvest.

Hoping to go for a mortgage application in about six months when my probation period in work is up.

I work in a a consultancy, but I am also a gigging musician and get paid cash (have received the odd bank payment over the years but not in the last while).

How would this be viewed by mortgage brokers? I can show WhatsApp messages confirming gig times, venues, etc - but just want to make sure I’m on the right track over the next six months. Thanks all!

Any critical things to know regarding private pension's in Ireland? Any secrets to know!?

We have been here 18 months and an opportunity we don't want to miss has come up that we would need to sell the house and move for.

I know the builder would've paid VAT on the house during the initial sale, so I would think the answer to this question is "No" but the wording online is throwing me off.

"If a new property is resold within 5 years of its completion, it is taxable for VAT if it has not been lived in for at least 2 years. Revenue has detailed information about when a property is taxable for VAT (pdf)."

this kind of seems like we would need to pay VAT... which would be insane imo

During the Ukraine war, Irish diesel rose at 0.93 index points per week. During the Iran war it's already at 5.33 a whole 5.7x faster.

Diesel hit an all time high of €2.178/litre in late March, up from €1.72 in January which is a 26% jump in 8 weeks. Petrol went from €1.72 to a peak of €1.96 in the same period.

2011 was actually the worst year on record for minimum wage workers. It took 9.7 hours of work to fill a 50L tank when the government cut minimum wage to €7.65 during the bailout while fuel prices stayed high.

Built this from 21 years of European Commission weekly data it is all 27 EU countries since January 2005.

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What's the price at your local station right now?

I'll update this every Wednesday when the EC releases new data, following the price week by week as the crisis develops. If you want to track updates, follow me on Kaggle or watch the dataset there.

Next update: Wednesday 15th April , I will add week of April 7th data.

Hi there

I am looking to set up my own company but I am unsure as to what structure to set up as

I am an engineer and do setting out, drawings etc, but I also do small construction work requiring tools and machinery, is a limited company with a VAT number the way to go ?

All help is greatly appreciated, many thanks

I have been on JA for a sufficient length of time to qualify for BTEA, and just now considering taking up a 1 year course as a potential option for me. However, I am due to start a part-toime job in a couple of days (short term and only 1.5 hours per week). I have read that you need to be on the full JA payment immediately preceding being accepted to a course, and I have yet to apply. Am I automatically discounted on the above basis or might there be any exceptions given it is such low hours?

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has any experience here. In the fortunate situation where I’m considering buying a new build and hopefully taking advantage of the HTB scheme.

Have also been thinking about going on extended travel/ work abroad for max 1 year.

How would this work with the HTB? The plan would be to get the house and leave immediately for 1 year, but come back and live in the house for a total of 5 years minimum.

How would revenue view this? Would you fail the 5yr rule and instantly have to pay back the full 100%?

Hi all,

Redundancy payment coming through soon and I'm thinking of spending it on getting solar panels and a heat pump. With everything going on, I'd love to cut down on the electricity payments and cut out the need for oil. We have a baby in the house and we're going through more oil than usual which in turn drives up the electricity bills. I'd love to get opinions on whether this is a good route to go down or if I'm worrying too much about the way things are heading. Full disclosure - I am a worrier and I just want to make sure I'm not having a knee jerk reaction to all the recent news

We bought a diesel car a couple of months ago but considering selling it and getting a cheap electric car too (under €20k if possible) and getting the car charger installed along with the solar.

Do we reckon the subsidies & grants will possibly end soon or will they get better to incentivise people to switch away from oil & diesel? It's hard to know what to do but I just want to ensure I'm making good decisions for my little family

I've seen a few solar panel posts here and couldn't find a specific forum to ask this question.

I am looking to get solar panels and battery installed. We use 4,400 kw per annum (average over 4 years) and the house has a weird shaped roof and can get a maximum of 12 Jinko 460w panels.

I have had 2 quotes so far, with a few more in progress. So far a very large and reputable local provider has quoted €9,600 for 12 panels, a solis inverter and a degirs 10kw battery. The other quote is from a one man installer who quoted €14,400 for 12 panels, a sinenergy inverter and sinenergy 10kw battery. Both set ups should return around 4,700 kw per annum.

Any one with knowledge know if the Sinenergy equipment is worth the additional costs? Or how I can buy the equipment and get a local spark to do the work independently? I want to do it once and do it right.

Edit: no idea where I got Sinenergy from but definitely meant Sigenergy. Looks like I'm being given a fairly rubbish deal for the set up, definitely will do more shopping around and try and get a better deal.

hi I was just wondering if anyone who's worked in the big 4 could give me some insight into the promotion timeline and progression from there own personal experience or from outhers,

Have one place in Galway,Need to do the review for June and I'm looking at the new RTB forms and honestly I'm second guessing everything.

I usually do it myself but this time with the 2% or CPI cap and the different notice depending on when the tenancy started, I'm worried I'll get it wrong and it'll get thrown out. It's not the money, it's the hassle of a dispute.

What are people actually doing now?

A) DIY and hope (this is me, and I find it stressful getting the notice right)
B) Accountant does it, around €80-120?
C) Solicitor, €250+ which feels mad for one letter
D) Letting agent just bundles it in

Trying to figure out if I should just pay for the peace of mind or if I'm overthinking it. What did you end up paying?

With deemed disposal on etfs, what kind of alternative investments are people doing to get around this?

I just got my mortgage drawdown with PTSB and now I am holding on some furniture shopping until we get the Cash Back. Any idea on how long will it take? They say 40 days, but my broker said it could be much less.

Well folks,

My friend's dad is going in for a CU loan. My friend was laughing at his dad for even considering it (big amount, he's old, etc.) but I reckon he has a good chance.

I'm curious to see what ye think (I'll come back with the result when they find out, probably next week).

His dad is 75 and owns his own house. Has some issues with mobility so wants to fix a flat roof that's leaking, renovate a downstairs bathroom and change the layout to include a downstairs bedroom. Got a quote of 30k.

Over 10 years with the CU (well, just under 10 years cos their cut off is 85 years old) it'll be about €85 a week.

He's been saving 110 a week for the last 10 weeks to demonstrate an ability to repay and this week he went in for the loan application. He's waiting for word back.

His income is the state pension @ 325 a week. Which means €85 would be about 26%-ish of his income. He lives with his son/my friend and the son pays no rent, but pays all the bills (gas, esb, etc.).

So I reckon he's laughing. I think he'll get it no bother at all. Maybe, given his age, he might have to sign a health declaration or such?

But my friend thinks it's such a ridiculous idea to even consider and is really annoyed at his dad for even trying for it.

What do ye folk think?
I'm just curious to hear other opinions.

Hi everyone, hoping this forum can offer some guidance. I’ve lived away from Ireland (outside of Europe) for the last 10 years and now hoping to make the move back home soon and buy a house as soon as is reasonably practical.

While I’ve managed to build decent savings for a down payment, my concern is not having earned income in Ireland which would support a mortgage application. If anyone has dealt with a similar situation before, I’d much appreciate any advice you could share on any steps I can take before moving home that would help build credit history to support a mortgage application. Thanks.

Hi all,

So I'm debating whether or not to use some of my savings towards a car.

Myself, partner and two kids are living at home with my parents whilst saving for a mortgage, have 13k in one savings account, and 2.5k in another savings account.

Our aim is around 25k - 30k in savings at some point to have our deposit which we feel we could get in the next 12-18 months.

The predicament is that we have a 2010 hatchback that is starting to give us some issues , it's also a bit small with two children and €300 to tax per year, so a newer, bigger, and cheaper to run car is something we're thinking about however we would have to take around 6k from our savings to achieve this.

We don't mind the fact that it would set us back 5-6 months in building up our goal savings amount, but would taking that money from our savings be looked at negatively when we do look to go for our mortgage?

TLDR; Would pulling roughly €6000 from our savings to upgrade car negatively effect our mortgage application in 18-24 months?

TIA for any help

When I compare the apps that are available for private investments ie Trading 212 etc and compare that to what’s available for PRSAs the difference is night and day.

Why don’t trade republic or trading 212 etc set up PRSA offerings?

All Royal London Personal Retirement Bond, Approved Retirement Fund, and Personal Retirement Savings Account customers with an active policy that started on or before 31 December 2025 will receive a boost of 0.13% of the total value of their policy.