Help needed on my financial options

mattym

I'll keep this as brief as possible! I'm married with 3 young kids, mortgage but no pension yet. I have just come off a 5 year fixed term so am now on a variable rate €150 a month less than before. Between myself and my wife we are saving about €100 a week with the potential of the extra €150 a month from the mortgage. I don't plan on fixing again anytime soon so i have a few queries for everyone here. With about €550 a month over what is the best way to use it? Should i overpay the mortgage, start a pension, put in to savings or a mix of them all? I know there are a lot of variables in the situation but i am just looking for opinions. Thanks.

NIMAN

Usually people would advise putting the spare money against the thing that is costing you more.

For example, if you are on a SVR now on your mortgage and paying say 3.5%, and saving your money will only earn you 1.5%, then you'd be better putting your spare cash off your mortgage and getting that down quicker.

But of course thats all well and good in principle, but its always nice to have some spare savings hanging around for the odd bit of car maintenance, broken washing machine etc. No point throwing all your spare cash at your mortgage if you leave yourself with no spare cash.

As for the pension, well thats another thing. We are all being advised to start one asap, so perhaps you might need to look into that too if you haven't got one with your work or have a civil service one.

PaulM1977

You are better off seeking independent financial advice to see what areas of your financial situation need addressing, before deciding if you should invest in savings/paying off your mortgage early. You will probably have to pay a fee for this service but this can be offset against any commission that may be payable depending on the advice offered/needed.

Mrs OBumble

Depending on your tax rate, then investing in a pension could be worth significantly more than paying off the mortgage.

Get professional advice.

newacc2015

PaulM1977 wrote: »

You are better off seeking independent financial advice to see what areas of your financial situation need addressing, before deciding if you should invest in savings/paying off your mortgage early. You will probably have to pay a fee for this service but this can be offset against any commission that may be payable depending on the advice offered/needed.

I second this. A fee-based financial advisor is the best opinion. Not some financial advisor who will push a dodgy pension or mortgage that will get him the most commission.

OP if you choose a pension, research it carefully. There is some companies that do very well every year. While other do pretty horrific.

Jude13

newacc2015 wrote: »

I second this. A fee-based financial advisor is the best opinion. Not some financial advisor who will push a dodgy pension or mortgage that will get him the most commission.

OP if you choose a pension, research it carefully. There is some companies that do very well every year. While other do pretty horrific.

Any recommendations of an adviser who will not push dodgy pensions on you?

Punkyblip

For the moment save it and build up a cushion, with 3 kids you never know when you will need it. And keep those funds in place as emergency cash.

Once that cushion of funds is in place, then seek advice from an independent advisor. And get advice from more than one person.