I had a financial consultation to set up an AVC which has left me quite confused. I'm a 28yo teacher living at home, no loans, 10k emergency fund, net about 2800 pm and saving about 1400-1600 a month atm. I explained to the consultant that I'm conscious I only have 3 years service under my belt which is less than my peers my age, so I was considering putting 150 pm into an AVC. Again, I have limited expenses so I can more than afford to do so atm and I was told "absolutely not", that it wouldn't be sensible to contribute an amount that high at my age. They recommended 75pm which works out at just 45 being extracted from my pay, which I ended up agreeing to. They instead recommend I prioritise investing with a Zurich investment fund, which I am looking into. I had intended to invest once I rebuilt my emergency fund regardless, just a bit apprehensive about where to start.

Other investment advice seems to point towards prioritising pension contributions, so I'm wondering why I was encouraged to do the opposite? Maybe I'm missing something?

I have always worked full time and earn a reasonably good salary. I contribute approximately €30,000/annum to cover expenses for a 4 bedroom/4 bathroom household with a large garden and 2 children under 12 yrs (groceries; furnishings; childcare; veterinary, medical and dental bills; health insurance; household bin collection; clothing; footwear; school outings; school stationary costs; extracurricular activity fees, equipment and clothing costs; pocket money; €450 per mth to OH toward household bills to which OH has never provided any visibility (electricity; family leisure club membership; family holidays; home, home appliance and garden maintenance; TV licence; broadband and TV channels).

I do appreciate that OH has paid off his mortgage on the home that we share.

For people with a home, family and garden of similar size, who live a comfortable but not luxurious lifestyle, (I.e. we do not holiday in very exotic locations/5 star accommodations nor is our local leisure club a 5 star facility, our appliances are good quality but not Neff) am I paying my fair share toward household expenses or am I being played for a complete fool?

I ask because I've made what I think is a very reasonable ask to see the bills which OH is covering and that I am paying €450 toward to understand where my money is going/ if overall I am covering my fair share/otherwise etc..but thus far he becomes irritable when I broach the topic and has refused to share them with me. If he has nothing to hide, I find this incredibly odd and really cannot understand this behaviour.

Any advice/assistance would be much appreciated.

Just wondering how much people’s salaries have gone up since 2022, if they’ve stayed in the same job and haven’t been promoted or taken on extra responsibilities.

I’ve been on around €41k for a while now and recently looked back at some old payslips. Turns out my salary has only gone up about 2.7% since 2022.

Honestly, it’s left me feeling a bit deflated. We’ve had a young family over the last few years, and life has been busy, so I suppose I haven’t really stopped to think about it. But when you look at how much everything costs now compared to then, it’s a bit depressing.

I know I probably need to bite the bullet and ask for a raise, but I’m not great at that sort of thing and wouldn’t really know where to start.

Just curious what it’s been like for other people. If you’re doing pretty much the same job you were doing in 2022, how much has your salary increased since then? Have you been getting annual increases, or has it barely moved?

I’m not talking about people who’ve changed jobs or been promoted, just people who’ve stayed where they are and kept doing what they do.
I suppose I’m trying to figure out if this is fairly normal or if I’ve really let myself fall behind without realising it.

I took out a pension fund back in 2008 with a previous employer. I paid into it until August 2013. I left the country soon after and totally forgot about it. Anyway fast forward to November 2025 when I returned back to Ireland. I was cleaning out my old room when I chanced upon discovering my old documents with the pension amount in it from January 2014. I rang up my broker (New Ireland) and was shocked to discover that it had nearly trebled its value despite it being dormant for over a decade. I'll be 50 in 8 months and I'm thinking about accessing it to a) build up my safety net (have €10k in savings) and using the rest to but my own place, probably outside of Ireland. At the moment it's worth about 45k. Will be worth about about 50-52k when I get access to it.

The fund was invested in high risk equity and started to lose value until I rang my broker and instructed her to change the retirement date to 2027. A bit about me, I am 49, male, no wife or kids, debt free, on JA but moving to CE scheme next month as I'll be classed as long term unemployed. I'm doing courses in order to recalibrate/reskill to move on to the next phase. I am looking to go into remote online sales.

I see no future for me here. I haven't been lucky in life coming from a broken home and also been unlucky when it comes to job security. I worked for a decade in a non EU country working as a corporate trainer before being made redundant last year. Haven't been able to find employment in Ireland despite 15 years experience in both public and private sector in project admin/governance roles and trainer in IT.

Now I will probably get told off to not touch it until I am 65 but what good is it to you when you are on the street. I am facing the strong prospect of homelessness next year hence my plan to upskill and leave. Those are my plans under my current circumstances but things might change. The job market is dogshit right now. Have tried everything - recruiters, tailoring my CV, training the lot but no luck. I am the epitome of the mid life crisis. I hope it doesn't kill me.

Does anybody on here know if the cwps is any good, soon to be enrolled in it through work but wondering if I should maybe set up my own one. 23M

I pay Irish Life over 300€ a month for a family of four. We use GP maybe once a year and get 25€ off per visit. I was looking what is covered and for example some scans like ultrasound you can get 50% off up to max of 40€. I'm not sure why I'm paying this much to get just a little off very rarely. What are the cases I really need it? if I get hospitalized for multiple days or if I get a cancer or something? Where does it really start to pay? Examples please.

EDIT: This is what is covered in my plan:

https://www.irishlifehealth.ie/onlinesales/health-insurance-plans/myplan-150-day-to-day

Had a choice between 5 year 3.35 and 7 year 3.45 with PTSB recently and picked the 7 year option

We were on year 3 of a 5 year fixed at 4.05 so right off the bat saving about €85 per month - no breakage fee thank god (although I rang last month and breakage fee was 990 but this month it was 0, delighted I procrastinated last month!)

But now worried fixing for 7 years was too long? Although does give us great piece of mind - thoughts?

Hi all,

I put about 23k into a revolut investment account, with the robo advisor option. Its up about 2k since the start of the year.

Am I liable for cgt?

Anything else to be aware of?

Thanks

I’m starting in one of the big 4 and my quoted salary is €31k. This is taking into account the current minimum wage of €14.15 per hour or about €29.5k a year based on 40 hrs per week. Now that the minimum wage is going up to €14.94 making the minimum salary above €31k, can I expect to see an increase in the new year in line with this to about €32/33k?

I’m emigrating permanently next year and having lived and worked here all my 40 odd years, a have a few different pensions. Contacted a service to transfer these to a higher risk fund and the company is looking for 1-1.5% of the fund p.a. to manage it. They have advised which find they think I should transfer to. I get people have to be paid but I feel it’s a lot to fork over for not a huge amount back given it’s going to just sit there for a good few years. Could I do this myself? Do I need a service provider for this? I feel like advice is more valuable in 10-15 years time as I reach retirement age

Hi everyone

I am a first time buyer looking at a 1980s built apartment. Have just gone through the OMC documents and they dont look great. However I wonder if this is worse than an average apartment in Dublin?

• Sinking fund balance: 50k

No auditor on financials since last year.

Service charge 2k per unit x 30 units.

6k allocation to sinking fund per year. Shortfall in budget last year.

Total arrears 4k. Seller not in arrears.

• Maintenance approved by AGM:

Structural work on 2 buildings - est. cost 50k, work has been delayed since 2024.

Roof leaking - cost unknown. Serval remedy roof works were done in the past

Land mapping correction - cost unknown, issue outstanding for 20 yrs unresolved.

• Outstanding issues for 5+ years with no proposed plan:

Non-compliant fire doors.

No fire proofing provision between apartments in the attic. Poor electrical installations in the attic. 

On going water ingress in walls and attic.

• There is a EGM soon to decide the mx budget allocation.

A new management agent is recently appointed.

Fire safety cert status unkown.

I currently have approx €20k in an Instant Access Savings account on Revolut. It’s a standard account so I’m only earning 1.26% AER which is very little really. I’m not the most financially literate person so I’m wondering if anyone can advise me how I could grow it? I plan to add about €400 a month to it for the foreseeable but with Revolut it seems to be extremely slow. Would upgrading my Revolut to a premium account or maybe moving the money elsewhere be beneficial? I don’t current have plans for the money but I like the fact that I can access it immediately in an emergency so instant access would be good to keep.

Hi All,

Partner and I are in the process of buying a house and are looking at getting a credit card to put all the purchases through so we can get some cash back/perks

We both have personal credit cards at the moment and won’t be overspending on it, moreso using it to put the purchase on, get the ‘reward’ and then transfer the money in to pay it off immediately.

Any advice as to what the best card for this would be? We have a small bit of renovation to do so we’re probably looking at spending circa €10k in the first year.

Thanks!

Don't worry, I'm taking professional advice too but there's a lot of shrewd heads in here so I would like to hear your thoughts also.

I have 3 children. 2 are autistic but I would hope they will be able to live independently with support as adults (they do not have cognitive disabilities.) Their sister loves them with her whole heart, but I do not want her to take on the responsibility of her siblings as her primary goal in life. I want her to have her own life.

We are lucky enough to be financially secure as a couple due to good jobs and decent pension funds, we aren't flashy, and we have inherited money recently from both sides sadly. We are trying to decide if it would be best to buy 3 properties with the inheritance (one for each of the kids eventually and rental properties until they need them) or to invest in other ways. We wouldn't invest in property if we didn't think the kids will likely be unable to buy their own property in the future, but the reality is they likely won't be able to. We want all our excess wealth to go to the kids anyway, we have enough for ourselves to live a comfortably as suits us.

Thank you for all thoughts and again, don't worry, we are also getting professional advice as we know it's a complex situation.

Looking at moving Credit Cards from AIB to Revolut

Im with Revolut with many years pretty much when they first started , before they ever became a bank , one thing i like it having alot of things in 1 place.

I have been offered a Credit Card from them with a way larger limit , bot that i need it i will prob change the limit to match my current

I have no balance on my current card never really do as i pay it off each week and pay remaining off in full each month i use it mainly for bills like electric etc , lunch for work , its just better and its safer .

Because if the way i pay it off , i never had interest on anything unless i need emergency cash. So to me its like a rainy day fund .

Wondering if anyone has moved or has both and could tell the difference except for the slightly higher interest.

Im on a metal plan with Revolut so will be a metal credit card , currently i have a Click form AIB

With how things go, I will have an excess of tax credits going forward.

Following the budget, the 2027 Calculators all say I end up losing money y-on-y because of it. :/

Beyond "just earn more money", is there anything clever I can do to make use of them so they don't go to waste?

I have money in savings accounts, investments accounts & shares from work. TIA

I have started my apprenticeship recently, and getting good money.(650 a week) I have just been putting this money into a trade republic acc getting 3%. (8 grand)
Should i start investing now with a t212 acc or wait till the new scheme comes in next year.
I also have nearly to no bills and dont spend much so have plenty of money left over each week.

Hiya folks, I was hoping to speak to people who may have been stung by insurance auto-renewals for my job. I'm a journalist with the Irish Examiner and do a bit of writing on personal finance. From speaking to colleagues and reading online, there seems to be an increasingly common trend of people being caught out by auto-renewals of insurance premiums- whether it's on travel, the car or health. I know there have been some measures put in place by the CPC to try and curb consumers unwittingly losing hundreds of euros on insurance premiums, but it still seems to be cropping up fairly frequently?

If anyone has any personal experience with this and would be willing to talk, it would be super, super appreciated. My email is alex.cunningham@examiner.ie. Thanks a million.

I’ll be starting my first full time job at 26 after juggling part time roles and study and relying on parental support. I could have saved and invested earlier but my lack of knowledge on this topic made me avoid it and as a result spend way over my means, but I want to change this now.
Where do I even start? I don’t even have savings atm.
1. build up savings net? Where? Regular account or some sort of savings account? Currently I use revolut for my main banking.
2. Investing small amounts regularly? I have about 400€ in total (100€ profit) in two individual shares on revolut, but i’m hearing now more and more this isn’t the best strategy. What investing account could I open and slowly add money in, even if it’s not that much every month?
3. Pension? I’m signed up to the myfuturefund through my job when it opened and have set it to the high risk category. My job doesn’t have it’s own pension.

Until now I seemed to have a mindset that my parents financial situation=me secure, but maturing has made me realise how that’s not the case at all. I’m worried about downward economic mobility…

During a period where I was in-between jobs last year I took on around 7 weeks of freelance work with a UK company.

When I started the first 4 week contract I was living in England, then I moved back to Ireland 2 weeks after starting, and I finished the rest of the contract in Ireland. I was paid into my UK bank account and my UK address was on the contract.

Then I took on another 3 weeks of work with the same company. This time my Irish address was on the contract but I was paid into my UK bank account because I didn't have an Irish bank account at the time. I registered as Self-Employed with HMRC (England) when I started, and I registered for Income Tax with the Revenue when I moved back to Ireland (I'm set up for the Revenue Online service because I've previously filed Form 11s for freelance work I did years ago).

I'm just wondering if anyone can advise me on what to do in regards to filing my taxes. I assumed that I would pay an accountant to advise me on how to do it correctly seeing as I had quite a bit of crossover between the 2 countries and want to make sure I do it correctly, but the accountants I've been able to find all seem like big companies, so I'm not sure if they would be the right option for me.

Does anyone know if there are websites that would have specific advice for freelancers working between Ireland and the UK? Or do you think accountants would be open to doing a once-off call to advise me on what to do? I'm happy to pay for their time of course but I'm just a bit wary of having a very expensive phonecall that might not be right for what I need. Any advice is appreciated!

Curious to know on average how much does people in cyber security earn in Ireland

permanent/contractor, years of experience, role (red team, soc, engineering, architect, etc.)

Any suggestions on how to get paid better are more than welcome.

Hi All, I have about €250 in my credit union. I’m looking to get a loan for a holiday in the region of €1200. Are they generally strict on how taking out more than three times what you have in there? The fact it’s for a holiday would that work against me? TIA

We're looking at buying a house with a D BER. The SEAI advisory report says it can only get to a C, and the roof, walls and windows are all listed as poor or very poor, with "no upgrade” meaning they can’t be upgraded? House was built in 1955.

Has anyone bought a house in a similar situation and insulated anyway?

Did you manage to insulate the roof/attic?
Did you do anything with the walls (internal, external, cavity)?

Was the "no upgrade" in the report accurate, or just a generic assessment?

Thank you!

Hi folks,

I'm in the fortunate scenario where I have about 200k in cash saved. I am looking to build a house with my partner in approximately 2 years (costs estimated at 500k). Currently mortgage and debt free.

Should I put the majority of this money towards the house (into a fixed term savings account until it's needed) or put a percentage aside into long term savings, investments etc?

Best to speak to a financial planner? I know I'll need to max out the AVCs first!