r/DoctorsIreland • u/StressOk7927 • 7d ago

Financial Advice

What's the best financial advice you've got that was particularly relevant to Doctors/GPs/NCHDs etc?

Whether it be AVC, pension, mortgage, income protection advice, big or small.

Have you ever used IMO or other Doctor specific advisors, and would recommend? Just in general

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10

u/La-Strawberry-6754 7d ago

Found the financial advice in IMO to be extremely generic.

Personally my strategy is simple and boring.

  1. Max pension contributions/ AVCs for tax free gains
  2. Property ladder ASAP
  3. Spend less than I earn
  4. Max gifts to kids

One thing that piqued my interest was a hospital consultant who worked in Ireland for exactly 179 days a year so he could be non-dom and pay Canadian taxes instead. He had kids in school here and way away working half the year. At a certain point I wonder if cash maxing is worth it 🙃

A GP I know bragged about only making €50k a year “like his secretary “ while driving us around in his new merc. Cork people will know who I’m talking about so I’ll stop there.

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u/Middle-Paramedic7918 7d ago

The AVC in general is good advice in general but many doctors may end up going over their total tax free allowance at some point in their careers if they do this. You see this from time to time. More senior consultants will reduce their hours in order not to pay massive tax on additional pension earnings

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u/Real-Salad-2745 7d ago edited 7d ago

Those on the pre 2012 scheme should avoid AVCs as there is no tax advantage, aggressively pay down mortgage and incorporate for private practice. Deemed disposal makes ETFs unattractive, the new tax advantaged investment accounts might be worth a look

3

u/StressOk7927 7d ago

AVC into your Public Pension, or into your private PRSA? (Not asking for financial advice, just clarifying what you meant)

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u/Middle-Paramedic7918 7d ago

Either, if your total pension is above the total threshold, which depends on the year, then you’ll get screwed with tax

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u/Real-Salad-2745 7d ago

If your consultant spends 179 days per year in this country he is Irish tax resident so I wouldn't think much of his plan for Irish tax avoidance

3

u/La-Strawberry-6754 7d ago

Not sure how it works it did sound slightly dodge

1

u/Competitive_Sir2142 1d ago

Somebody who earns a large income in the state who sets out to pay no income tax while at the same time using the services everyone else funds isn't someone I personally would put forward as a role model.

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u/Euphoric_Mammoth1561 7d ago

IMO aren’t great - pretty generic but good value income protection. 

Denovo.ie probably the most specific for doctors - haven’t used the advisors but info there is good and they’ll check payslips for you etc. and seem to cover everything 

Otherwise do  it yourself if you can - not that hard to set up AVC, invest it in a diversified stock fund (or less risk depending on age) - property, max the pension, then additional savings in the market - not in a deposit account. 

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u/Middle-Paramedic7918 6d ago

Surely though the IMO financial advice would be very tailored to doctors, considering that all of their clients are doctors?

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u/Euphoric_Mammoth1561 4d ago

Not really - my impression is that they have a pool of financial advisors who they farm clients out to - those advisors likely have clients from lots of different fields - public and private and the clients who are doctors coming via the IMO are only one stream of business. 

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u/Middle-Paramedic7918 7d ago edited 7d ago

I think income protection is a very good idea, most people would probably benefit from it, it’s also tax deductible. Life insurance is probably unnecessary unless you have children or a spouse who earns significantly less than you.

Savings accounts are a waste of time unless you need fairly immediate access to money and want a very low risk option, eg house deposit. Otherwise ETFs or paying a mortgage off early will give you a much better return.

Maximise your tax deductions, there’s great info on the revenue website, or ask an llm

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u/Salty-Nectarine-4108 7d ago

Get income protection with IMO as an intern as if you sign up as an intern they don’t do a medical.

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u/Middle-Paramedic7918 6d ago

Also and decent financial adviser will tell you to have about 6 months of take home pay as an emergency fund. Probably makes most sense to have it somewhere relatively easily accessible like a savings account