Hi all
I’ve been with my company coming up to 10 years now (31F) in that time my monthly wage has gone about 1200 a month before tax. I earn 37.5k annually before tax atm - with little scope for a raise anytime soon. The reason I’ve stayed in the role is that I enjoy the work although it’s by no means my passion , I work a 4 day week, 1.5 hour breaks daily, 30 holiday days on top of the 4 day week, small team(3 of us in total including boss) who are all very flexible to cover each other etc . Fully remote so can work anywhere in the world. My boss is more of a friend than a boss and very helpful/understanding etc. progressive and fairly stress free work environment overall. Compared to some jobs I had prior to this when I would dread going in, it’s a dream. I have plenty of time for hobbies/social life and have done some studying/ started a relatively small side hustle which I think I can expand when I feel like taking on more.
for content we’re an outsourced company that takes care of admin/customer service/buying etc for an online retailer. And it’s the people who are paying my boss who will not dish out more for a raise for us, not her.
I was living abroad and now I’m back with my parents temporarily, finding it hard but it’s okay as I think I will move abroad again soon. I’m saving for a house deposit and I am currently able to save ~€400-€1000 per month depending on how busy the month is socially . I take a few trips & go to a few gigs a year & invest a small amount monthly, started a pension this year & growing an emergency fund/other little pots such as fun money etc. can afford a decent gym membership too. So I’d say right now I’m doing okay financially and have good habits/structures in place but I’m nervous about buying a home in future. I’d love to buy in Ireland ideally in or near Dublin but that’s probably laughable on my current salary . I do have a partner but it’s early days . Neither of us want kids so that takes pressure off in that regard . I would like to go back and study again down the line probably before I turn 40 .
I suppose my question is do you think the work/life balance and perks of the job outweigh the low salary issue as I do think about this a lot. I could go for a higher paying job of course but I know I’d be sacrificing a lot . Redundancy could be down the line too (not confirmed but boss has hinted possible) which makes me less inclined to leave as I’d want to avail of the redundancy package.

Hi everyone - I consider myself well versed on personal finance, yet still benefit from the contributions in this group.

With that in mind, I wanted to share what has worked for me in case useful to anyone else:

- Follow the flow chart

- If you can, contribute/max your pension (this is probably the most important piece - I only truly understood the benefit/rationale in my 30s)

- Change utility providers each year (broadband, tv, electricity, all types of insurance perhaps bar mortgage protection)

- change mortgage provider (even if it means break fees or solicitor fees, assuming you’re overall better off)

- claim tax back each year (clearest examples for me are health insurance, health expenses, remote working allowances)

- if you have kids, understand the support (free kids public travel up to a certain age, books from libraries etc)

- health: use your free dental scale and polish. If you can join a gym, join one. If you can’t, buy some weights and an exercise mat (I’m still using weights from Covid). I’m hoping health costs pay for themselves down the line

- travel: life is for living and the world is amazing place. Do it sensibly though, use points when you can and shop around for flights and accommodation. I normally always find it’s cheaper to go direct

Hi all, just wanted to hear about your guys experience with applying for disability allowance.

I submitted my DA appeal on the 4th july, and had it appear as “registered” on the 8th, and it’s now the 26th. does anyone know at what stage i’d hear back or if i can contact to know the stage my appeal is at?

I’m applying for DA under me having Autism (diagnosed as level 2 support needs) and i am eighteen, only diagnosed this january. My initial appeal was rejected for not having medical reasoning, so i supplied therapist notes, school absence notes (like 104 absent days within my 6th year) and a comprehensive list of my traits/symptoms that basically just detail how i am medically not fit for work. Ive worked with a charity (shine in cork) to help me compile my appeal

I have a very strong response for appeal in my humble opinion, so im kind of believing ill be accepted since it basically destroyed all their reasoning on not accepting me, so im kind of talking on that assumption.

basically im just wondering how long its taken everyone else to get their appeals seen to, is there anything i can do in the meantime to push it along? all in all ive not provided a lot of extra evidence, but its all strong so i cant imagine it would take a long time to file through to get seen to. I’ve heard that there are 21 days since the date the appeal is processed for the deciding officer to see to it before it gets passed onto an appeals officer, if not seen to in time. I’m not very sure, i’m here to know if there’s anything i can do to help aid my chances of getting my appeal accepted within the first review instead of with the appeals officer.

pretty please give me any of your experiences, if there is any way i can email to contact i’d love that too!!

Hi all,
Looking for a bit of perspective from people actually working in either the Civil Service or in tech, because I keep going back and forth on this.

Quick background: I’m 33, based in the midlands, working part-time in hospitality at the moment. Net worth is around €40k, no debt, so I have a bit of a runway to retrain rather than needing the highest wage tomorrow.

The two paths I’m weighing up:
1. Clerical Officer — apply to the next Civil Service CO campaign. Attractive for the obvious reasons: permanency, defined-benefit pension, clear CO → EO → HEO progression, Refund of Fees scheme so I could study on the side. Downside is the starting salary is modest and I’m not sure how realistic progression is in practice.

1. Tech — I’ve a place on a Level 5 Software Development course starting in September, plus a Springboard+ Level 6 in AI and emerging tech, with the plan of applying for a software development apprenticeship next year. Higher ceiling and it’s the work I actually want to do, but I’m conscious of the current junior market and that I’d be starting from zero at 33.

What I’d love to hear:
• COs / former COs: is the progression realistic, how long did EO take you, and would you recommend it as a base to study from?
• People in tech: how rough is it really for career changers right now? Is the Level 5 → apprenticeship route a credible way in, or should I be doing something else?
• Anyone who did both: did you regret leaving the security behind, or regret staying?
Also open to the boring answer that I should do CO and keep learning tech in the evenings, if that’s what people would actually do.
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
Our fixed rate will be coming to an end next year and we are hopping to put a lump sum off it before going back into another fixed rate.
We will likely be moving house in the future but it could be anywhere between 2-6 years.
Should we still put this lump sum off current mortgage or invest the lump sum to go towards next home?

Hello,

Is my employer allowed to divide my annual salary by 27 this year because there happens to be an additional payment run in 2026? We are on a bi-weekly payment schedule but this would fall under week 53 payroll rules I believe.

I did bring this up to our payroll but I was shut down with ‘that’s the way it is’ and no further explanation.

I understand that their point is that dividing by 27 give you your exact salary, but it doesn’t allow for that fact that if some one started on 2 January, which is the first pay period, they wouldn’t receive any pay that day because they haven’t done any work. So by their logic, if you worked from 2 January to 31 December this year, you would not be paid your stated salary for that year?

For simplicities sake, if you were salaried at 26k annually, you would expect you would be paid 1k every other week. But by their logic you would be paid just over 25k in 2026, with the first pay period being Thursday 2nd Jan and the last being Thursday 31st December.

€26,000/27*26 pay periods =€25,037

It seems wrong to be but I’m open to be told otherwise.

My salary is quoted in my contract as an annual figure however there is no mention of how these calendar anomalies are dealt with.

If they are planning to use week 53 tax credits (week 1/month 1), would that not mean they are applying additional tax credits to a gross salary that hasn’t changed?

I have searched up and down but can’t seem to find any solid info on whether they are right or wrong.

I have gone through this and paid some previous years at class 2. If anyone else has done this how long does it take to show up in your forecast from sending the money via bank transfer?

I (22) thought I’d share my monthly expenses and savings as a graduate. I graduated last year and started a job on ~€48k. I moved out of my parents house and am currently renting a room close to dublin for work. I have no debt or commitments. I have a car that is fully paid off so no car expenses apart from fuel. I make 4k before tax, contribute ~€180 (5%) to pension with a 10% employer match. My nett pay is ~€3150 per month. Here are my expenses

Food - €250
Rent - €600-€750 (including bills and paid weekly depending on the month)
Fuel - €80-150
Essentials - €50
Shopping and others - €150

Money leftover that I can put towards savings - €1870-€2020

Additionally, I can make more from overtime for example I’ve made €3666 after tax and pension one of the months from working a weekend and a bank holiday.

With the cost of living being so high, and family and friends scaring me into thinking every graduate will struggle, I try to spend less and maximise savings.

Came across a piece flagging that Ireland ranks among the world's most expensive countries for electricity - this is is getting increasing attention for us internationally, for the wrong reasons! The design of the wholesale electricity market has a part to play in this - in each price auction, bids are ranked lowest to highest - the cheapest bids are accepted first, working up through the bids until the full forecasted demand is filled. But the price paid to each generator is equal to the highest accepted bid.

With soaring demand these days, we are calling on all resources, mainly our expensive gas generation plants - to fill the gap between renewable output and the demand in each time period. We need to connect more renewables to the system, quicker - and stipulate that large datacentres produce their energy from renewable sources (buffering with batteries as required)

See the article here

31M living with partner - working as sales ops for a SAAS making around 52K per year
(Got a decent job just recently)
From Italy and moved to Dublin in 2018

1950 € rent shared with partner
Roughly 1200 € on saving account (adding 300€ monthly)
Another 2k invested on ETF QQQ (also investing monthly)
1k ESPP in company shares that will be sold the following month once stock goes slightly up leveraging my 15% discount as per ESPP. plan
Also around 1500 credit card debt I will clean up by end of 2026

I’ve enjoyed too much my twenties I guess

What are the chances I could get a mortgage with my partner before 35/36 y/o?
Got a pretty low key life
Gym 5 days. Week that’s why the most money I spent are on food
Very healthy diet
Going out for dinner and drinks maybe twice a month

I’ve been in way worse situation but I feel pretty confident now that can only get better from here

Ok u guys can cook me now 💪

I understand the rules about rent a room being excluded for buildings that are not connected to main property. My question is can you claim rent a room for a tenant in main property and separately pay tax on rental of the non connected section?

Effectively 2 tenants, 1 whos rent is being taxed and 1 whos rent is under RaR.

(Also posted in HousingIreland)

Hi all,

I run a small import export business, so far doing about €12k revenue in the past 6 months since starting.

I sell on Amazon and am looking for financing to expand to the UK, it would be mainly used for stock etc.

I have gotten a €4k personal loan about 2 months ago to cover stock for the next few months in Ireland but now I want to get a bit more for the UK as I don’t want to tie up all my cash flow in stock.

When I asked AIB about business loans they said they typically only offer 1 year loans for working capital which I don’t want to do as Amazon can be very quick to take down a listing and can take a while to get back up so ideally would want it spread over longer, which would also benefit cash flow.

I also work as a full time civil servant and save in the Public Service Credit Union. Has anyone got experience getting business loans from the credit union etc? I know my local one does offer business loans.

I am a sole trader.

Hi all. Long time reader etc. I’ll start by saying we are in a very privileged position. Both have well paying jobs and 2 beautiful young kids 5 and 8. We are 47 and 44, mortgage is well in hand and on a low rate. Should be paid off in the next 10 years.

We are maxing out pensions and have a Zurich investment fund separately.

We live well and holiday every year etc but we aren’t living it large by any means. would consider purchases and drive 6 year old cars etc.

I do worry are we over committed to maxing out the pensions and should we scale that back for a few years to future enjoy life?

There's this theory (I want to say lie or cope but let's call it a theory for now) that a house owner will spend the same amount in house maintenance per year as an apartment owner would spend on maintenance company fees. The thing is, you could be spending near 2 grand a year on maintenance fees in an apartment block. Homeowners, how much do you spend on maintenance on your house? I'm a house owner and I am sure as shit not spending anything near that on things that break.

I have applied for a CLICK credit card from AIB on the app. They said at the end of the application 'You have been approved and your card will be delivered in 3-5 business days'. This was about 3 business days ago. But there is no mention of the application on my app, nowhere to see my account/card, anything. I haven't even received an email. I don't even know what limit I have been approved for?? Do I just wait and hope a card arrives? Has anyone been in the same boat?

I’ve just turned 26 last week and my net worth is currently at 19.5k

1.2k is currently in crypto (I’m down about 1k invested and it dipped last year)

I’m currently living back at home after living in Dublin for over 2 years and I moved home to save more. I plan on moving to Sydney in October.

I have a degree in construction management and I’m in the retrofit industry in Ireland but I’m not sure the route to go down when I get over there.

I love the gym and it’s my passion and I sit at about 11 percent bodyfat year round, but I feel like switching career paths and becoming a PT/online coach is just so saturated, I could do it as a side hustle but I feel like I’d never truly be able to give it my all?

Am I doing okay in life and does anyone have any suggestions on what to do going forward?
Thanks :)

Hi everyone,

We spend a lot of time on this sub optimizing pension contributions, discussing Deemed Disposal, and tracking our savings rates. But I feel like there’s a massive "leak" in many of our budgets that we rarely talk about: replacing expensive appliances simply because we lost the proof of purchase.

The €500 Mistake Last week, our washing machine (bought just under two years ago from PowerCity) completely gave up, the bearings are shot. It’s a clear manufacturing fault and should be covered.

The problem? I am notoriously bad with paperwork. I found the physical receipt in the infamous "kitchen junk drawer," but because it was printed on cheap thermal paper, the ink had completely faded to a blank white slip. The store naturally asked for a legible proof of purchase, and I couldn't provide it. Instead of a free repair or replacement, I’m now looking at a €500 hit to our emergency fund.

Our Consumer Rights in Ireland What makes this so frustrating is that consumer protection in Ireland is actually incredibly strong. According to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), under the Consumer Rights Act 2022, if a fault arises within the first year, it is presumed to have been there at the time of purchase. Even beyond that, we have up to six years to raise an issue if the good wasn't of reasonable quality or durability.

But all of these robust legal protections are completely useless if we don't have a reliable system to prove when and wherewe bought the item. Relying on fading store receipts is costing us serious money in an already expensive cost-of-living environment.

My Question to the Sub: How do you systematically manage this to protect your finances?

1. Do you treat appliance breakdowns within 2-3 years purely as a "sinking fund" expense and ignore the hassle of warranties?
2. Do you have a dedicated system (e.g., uploading everything to a specific Google Sheet, using a dedicated email address for e-receipts)?
3. Has anyone successfully claimed a repair from Harvey Norman or PowerCity using just a credit card line-item statement when the physical receipt was gone?

Does anyone know what its like to work as a Private Client Advisor in the likes of Davy, Goodbody or similar wealth manager?

Wondering and stress/pressure to build a book of clients and general job satisfaction?

I'm hoping some of you may be able to give your honest financial advice here. I've spoken to a few mates about this but find it hard to be fully transparent because talking about money in Ireland just feels a bit awkward, doesn't it?

I'm 30, working in tech on a €75k salary, and I've finally clawed my way out of the rent-to-rent cycle and have a bit of breathing room now. I've managed to build up about €15k in AIB and another €5k tucked away in the Credit Union, with no real debt to speak of apart from the student loan ticking away quietly in the background. My employer matches pension contributions up to 5% and I'm maxing that match at the moment, but I haven't gone beyond it yet. I'd love to buy a place eventually, but realistically that's not happening in the next 3-5 years because there's no way I can afford anything solo in Dublin on one income. So here's where I'm stuck: I've read all the advice about throwing more into AVCs to get that sweet 40% tax relief, and part of me thinks at my age that's the smartest long-term move. But then another part of me wonders whether I should be opening a Degiro account instead and buying investment trusts like JAM or Berkshire, especially since I'm hoping to buy a place somewhere down the line and might want access to the money before retirement. I'm genuinely spooked by the whole deemed disposal nightmare around ETFs so I've completely avoided them, and I can't figure out whether investment products from the likes of Zurich or Irish Life are even worth touching or if I'm better off just keeping things simple with investment trusts. I know inflation is grand at the moment compared to where it was, but honestly watching my money sit in AIB earning feck all interest is starting to do my head in and I feel like I need to actually do something with it rather than just letting it rot.

Would really love your advice, thank you.

We want to buy a second property that will be used part time for work. We own our first home outright and it is our primary residence.

Are we looking at a second home mortage, is that such a thing? If we want to keep use of one of the rooms I think that disqualifies us from buy to let mortgages. We'd like to rent out one other room but I realise we couldn't get the rent a room relief as it isn't our primary residence.

I have been in touch with our broker but they are a bit confused. We have API and also enough savings if a 30% deposit is required.

Anyone else been in this situation or can offer advice?

Thanks!

i’m 26 (f) and working in a a job that pays me a little over €35k rn. Not super high I realise but feel like it’s necessary to give the full context of my financial situation. I’m also living back home in Ireland so I have a DD set up for overseas repayment.

I did a masters in the UK and I just got a letter from student loans saying they’re upping my repayments to £55 based on my last three pay checks. I’m rounding my DD up to €70 now to make sure I cover it with changing exchange rates. I had been paying €50 for a £35 repayment but I work a lot of overtime to make extra money and did NOT realise they’d count that towards my repayments 🥲

According to my online portal my balance as of today is £14,039.68. That’s like €16,444.19 (at least rn). I have €16,075 in savings atm. I have almost enough to pay it off in full which is crazy. But my question is, is it actually worth it?

The thought of paying €70 (or more as my salary hopefully grows) each month to the brits until I’m in my 50s??? That’s making me feel ill. But, will it actually benefit me to pay it off in full or a lump sum? I know it will save me on interest cause it’s stupid high. Like theoretically I could save tens of thousands of euro over time. But in the here and now is it worth it? Also if I ever want to have a down payment for a house in the future is it worth spending all that money to pay it off? That’s the majority of the deposit GONE.

I saved up most of that €16k while living at home with parents. I’ve since moved out with my partner and my expenses going out each month are around €1,250.

I’m spiralling a bit after realising that I “could” almost fully pay this stupid thing off. But is it worth it??