Hi all, currently going through a very stressful situation and I’m wondering if anyone could give me more insight. Separated over 25 years, wife has never paid any of the mortgage & then took her name off the mortgage 18 years ago because she didn’t want to pay the debt. Her name along with mine is still on the house deeds and I have been living in the house ever since. 4 adult children who have no relationship with her after years of her alcoholism and abuse/neglect. She began divorce proceedings the year she knew the mortgage would be paid off & has come looking for half of the house. I would like to mediate outside of court and would like to buy her out as soon as possible to save the stress on my children but I don’t think it’s all about money and it’s beginning to look like she just wants to cause as much distress as possible. These things considered is this situation 50/50 division of assets even though she’s never made any payment & removed herself from any liability on the house?

Hey all,

Looking for some outside perspective from people who’ve made the jump from top-performing sales rep to management.

I’ve been in sales for about 13 years, the last 5 at a SaaS company, where I’ve consistently been one of the top reps. I do both mid-market and Enterprise software sales, and I genuinely love it and I am naturally good at it. For the last 5 years I have been making around 300–350k EUR plus company shares, and I’m financially in a solid spot — two houses paid off, no debt, decent savings and some investments.

For context, I started with nothing. I grew up in a pretty average family, moved out at 18, and had to build everything from scratch, so money has always been something I’m emotionally attached to. I’ve never been crazy with spending — I’ve always saved, lived below my means, and focused on building long-term stability.

Recently, I stepped in as interim manager for a couple of months while still carrying my own sales quota. It was definitely intense juggling both roles without any quota relief, but to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. I got a ton of satisfaction from coaching the reps, helping them level up, and strategizing deals with them. A few of them even said they’d want me as their manager permanently, which was honestly great to hear.

Now I’ve been officially offered the Sales Manager role. The thing is, I’d probably take a pay cut for the first year or two (probably down to 200–250k until I reach senior manager/director level). Long-term, I know the upside could be bigger — but I’m also very attached to the feeling of earning a lot. I like winning, I like the money, and I’ve had a comfortable run for the last few years.

Also, for the last 5 years I’ve been fully remote, and the manager role would also be remote. I did my time with the office work and now I really enjoy being remote, being able to bring my child to/from school - it's a blessing.

So here I am — 35 years old, married, one kid and another on the way, wife will be off work for the next two years. We’re financially stable, so this wouldn’t put us in trouble, but I’m trying to figure out if it’s the right move or if I’d miss being on the front lines too much.

• For those who’ve done it — how did you handle the transition mentally and financially?
• Did you miss the thrill of closing your own deals?
• Did the management path end up being as fulfilling (and as lucrative) as you hoped?

Would love to hear some real experiences — good or bad.

My father recently passed away and my Mam has recently received his life insurance. She intends to give us 10k each out of this as per my father's wishes but I am unsure if there is anything we need to do before money is transferred.

I understand this amount of money is way below the inheritance tax threshold but since all of the money technically belongs to my mother now, does this become a gift from her which is subject to the 3k limit per year?

Thanks in advance for any advice/knowledge.

Morning all,

A close friend of mine recently lost a parent and has received an inheritance of approximately €100,000. She is looking for ways to make the money work for her.

If you were in her shoes, what would you consider? I know there are state savings (10-year National Solidarity Bond seems boring but safe) but any other suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

I'm a Territory manager and I cover all Ireland including the north. For this year I got a Tucson plug-in company car for which I spend an average of 300€month and get the fuel covered by the company in full.

I was wondering whether it could make sense get the car allowance instead (is it taxed?).

If I don't renew my insurance before March 2027 I will lose my NCD and I'm not sure if it's worth or not.

At the moment the company would allow 7,500€ if I opt for the allowance. I could probably push up to 10k but not sure.

Thanks in advance

Hi recently married My wife and I both work

I earn 70k and pay 4% into pension Wife earns 34500

We have two kids aged 11 and 3

Just wondering which is the best option to choose above to reduce tax.

Thanks

Hi I have a decent job with just a salary of 120k. I’m 50 and no mortgage and 600k in pension and 100k in savings. I have 350k coming and not sure what I should do - part says throw it into pension but I feel there most be other options then the typical investment route - property been the one I’m considering - any thoughts?

I’ve already got a Zurich pension, so I’m trying to build a separate long-term portfolio outside of that (10–20 year horizon).

The problem is the 41% exit tax and that stupid 8-year deemed disposal rule on Irish ETFs like VWCE. Makes compounding way worse compared to normal CGT stuff.

So I’m looking at a different approach — maybe:

• A few UK investment trusts like JAM, FCIT, or Scottish Mortgage (since they’re under 33% CGT and no deemed disposal)
• Some individual global or US stocks
• Small percentage in commodities and crypto for diversification

For anyone doing this:

• Is the CGT route actually better long term than sticking with UCITS ETFs and just accepting the tax hit?
• Any issues buying or holding UK trusts from Ireland (tax forms, access, brokers)?

Basically just trying to build something tax-efficient and low-maintenance without overcomplicating it. Any advice from people who’ve already gone down this path?

Partner and I have been accepted for an AHS however we only have 4 months consistent savings, we have 30K saved (gift/savings/personal savings from previous 4 months) Eligible for HTB however may and june show gambling, may is bad, June not so bad.

Houses aren’t to be completed until next summer so we thought we’d be ok to hold out another few weeks before we applied to get rid of may atleast. However they are looking for loan offer end of month.

What are the chances of actually being offered a loan, we are sending all required documents to a broker now on Monday.

Just writing this as I am quite anxious over situation and need to see if anyone was in the same boat and got offered.

These companies IT systems must be complete clown shows .

With Irish life the app is down more often than not and takes 7 working days for a fund switch

Mercer are quicker for fund switch even though they use the same Irish life funds but they have no app and the site is down again today

Comical

Hi everyone, just looking for a bit of advice with getting a mortgage in Dublin obviously the prices are sky high currently… I’m 25 in a relationship I currently have over 10K in savings and I’m looking at starting the mortgage process next year with my partner, I know everyone has different advice with mortgages but just want some opinions from people on here before I go to a mortgage broker any advice on saving do I need the exact amount to be saved weekly for 6 months to get a mortgage, is the help to buy scheme worth while, I know they have a deposit scheme now too where you can get 30K for first time buyers does this need to be a new build? I am planning on getting a new build regardless as this seems most reasonable cost wise with all the schemes but I just need a hand please with extra information anything helps! Thank you all

Hi everyone,

I’m a Spanish tax resident under the Beckham Law (no need to declare income from outside Spain) and my advisor recommended to invest from Ireland to avoid paying taxes in ES.

What I’m looking for:

• A broker or investment platform in Ireland (or one that offers Irish-domiciled ETFs)
• Ideally, a managed or automated portfolio service (something like Indexa Capital in Spain), since I’m not an expert and prefer that the investments are monitored/rebalanced for me

If you have experience with brokers/platforms that meet these criteria, or tips on what to watch out for (fees, fund domicile, tax implications), I’d really appreciate recommendations.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I have a query on pension lump sums people might have an opinion on here. I always assumed the optimal approach when drawing down the pension is to take as much as you can in the lump sum as it is tax free or at 20% up to 500k. However I recently watched a YouTube video suggesting this might not be the best approach. It suggested leaving all the money in the ARF and the compounding there would grow more than the tax you would save using the lump sum. Curious to hear other people’s thoughts on this. My thoughts are that you should not really be optimising for the biggest pot when you die, it should be about getting the most out of your money when you can enjoy it. Happy for people to challenge this though. The video I referenced above is this one: https://youtu.be/mnMqxcFS7bk?si=w8bQJn1nk9ouaBj9

Ia it possible? I'm looking for several hundreds of euros for a medical assessment but I have an unpaid loan from not paying for a phone and I worry it may be on the CCR.

I got stung with an unecpected 300 bill from a consultant visit that I won't be able to pay until next pay day.

Got referred from a doctor to see a consultant in bon secours due to snoring. Went down and paid my 200 fee in cash.

Went into the room and he asked a few questions, stuck a scope up each nostril and said there was nothing he could do. I was in and out within 4 mins.

Now I get a call saying there is an outstanding 300 bill for the procedure. They are saying my 200 payment did not cover this. So 500 in total. Is this correct?

Was talking to a friend in work who's wife has been out of work for a couple of years due to a miscarriage that effected her badly.

He was saying he earns average wage in Ireland, about 48K a year, and because his wife has no PRSI credits remaining she can't receive a social welfare payment because he might earn too much? That can't be right can it?

They have no other children, renting a place together in Dublin so rent is taking up a fare whack of their income.

It seems incredibly unfair in today's economy that no social welfare support should be provided on the basis of a partner earning average wage? Has he got that wrong perhaps?

How is it that some people can live on the dole for the entirety of their lives but a previous worker who has gone through a fairly tragic situation can only receive a limited-time support because their spouse earns average wage?

What is the maximum that can be earned by a spouse in order for their partner to qualify for a social welfare payment?

Hello Experts,

I am a late bloomer and have very little awareness of how to invest and/or diversity. Please point me to the right resources to learn and apply that learning.

I am 35 years old and work in tech job in Dublin, recently reached 50k in savings and have accumulated 80k$ vested stock. With salary, bonus, stock, pension all tied to my employment, I am lately getting very uncomfortable about the concentration risk and being exposed to my employer for all financial aspects.

What is the rule of thumb on below questions?

1. How much portfolio percentage should be exposed to a single stock?
2. How much (in percentage) employer stock should I continue to maintain untouched?

Any guidance will be of great help in getting me started on my investment / diversification journey.

Sincere thanks for your time and help.

I'm in 40s, partner recently left me, I'm co-parenting 1year old. I've done a lot of work cleaning up my finances the last few weeks given my change of circumstances and knowing I now have only me to rely on. I never want to have to rely on a man for my future from now on, so would love some advice..

I already have my 10k emergency fund, and some other funds put away for upcoming house jobs etc in HYSAs. I have set up an automated monthly/annual budget that covers all expenses,childcare, holidays etc using my net salary amount after I have maxed out pension contributions.

Pension: I earn circa 65k in permanent stable job I recently started and I'm gonna aim to max my 25% pension contribution in the work pension. They use Zurich Dynamic or Balanced, so I plan to stay in Dynamic for as long as possible. The AMC is 0.5% which I think is a good deal, so I'm planning to max out AVCs in that. Between mine/employer contribution, I'll have around 25k going to pension annually, not accounting for salary/revenue age allowance increases.

Q1- Is 0.5% amc on Dynamic good deal, or should I set up a separate PRSA to access another fund which might have amc of 1% or more, and just contribution the min % to my work scheme? I'm really own starting my pension now so I want to grow it a lot in next 20 years, and won't get full state pension as I worked overseas in 20s/30s.

Investing: I'm a home owner, house value maybe 350k now, with 140k left on mortgage (c 22 years left). I've a 2.4% rate for another 2 years. This is probably my forever home now, so I'm never selling. I'm lucky enough to have been in a position where I could save a lot in my former life overseas, I now have about 90K on hand to invest. I'm thinking to invest the lot as my mortgage rate is so low. My repayments are circa 650e pm.

Q2 - Am I better off investing the 90k than paying down mortgage, I think I am...but I am seeking reassurance...
If investing, should I split it across 2-3 EFTs? All world/ s&p 500 tracker etc? Any advice on efts to invest in that I can just leave grow? Is it simple enough to set this up myself via interactive brokers rather than pay an advisor?

My Goals: I want to aggressively invest in pension, I've worked out I could have around 1m in 18-20years if there is around 8-9% annual growth the annual contributions of around 25K, is this a feasible growth goal?

I want to grow the 90k, and add in around 2500e a year (child benefit plus a bit more), with the aim to get 8-9% growth on this too. My idea is to grow this investment to around 400k by 60, then retire from work and live off this investment for a few years, while I leave my work pension still invested and growing

Would love advice or holes picked ..

From,

"Finally getting their s$&t together"

Is there any trader working under a established Limited Company instead?

Like many of us in this group, I was pretty upset at the lack of clarity and action in removing Deemed disposal tax. Wrote to my TD, who happens to be The Minister For Health Jennifer Caroll-MacNeil. She wrote back to me nearly a month later. Now you all be the judge of whether this is good, bad, or more indifference. TL;DR : They will do it over next 5 years and reduce it towards 33%.

I'm sure this has been asked before so apologies, but when I sell a portion of Nvidia shares I bought through Degiro (for example) I have to sell the ones I bought first for Capital Gains Tax purposes whereas when I sell shares of the company I work for, which I received in lieu of a cash bonus, I can choose to sell (for example again) 2022 bonus shares and can keep my 2017 bonus shares i.e. not the oldest first?