Retirement is one of life’s biggest transitions. After decades of working, saving, and building towards this milestone, many people focus on the financial aspects - pensions, tax efficiency, and investment strategy. While these are essential, true retirement planning goes beyond money. It’s about preparing for how you’ll live, not just how you’ll fund it.
For many people in Ireland, the 31st of October looms each year as the critical self-assessment tax deadline. Whether you’re a PAYE worker with additional income or self-employed, it’s the date by which you must file your tax return and pay any balance owed. But while most associate this date purely with taxes, it’s also very relevant for pensions, and understanding why can make a real difference to both your retirement savings and your tax bill.
It is probably fair to say that we know instinctively that consumers achieve better outcomes when they get financial advice. But maybe it’s also fair to say that sometimes we can be remiss in placing hard numbers on this.
We were asked recently by a client about how best to introduce financial planning to their adult children in their 20’s, as they didn’t really “get” what it was all about. So here are our thoughts…
The world is a nervy place at the moment, with many people worried about the impact of tariffs and the chaos that has ensued around the globe. All of this has caused a lot of uncertainty in the economic world, and if there's one thing stock markets don't react well to, it is uncertainty. As a a result, we've seen sharp falls in markets and a lot of volatility in recent weeks.
We thought it might be useful to step back a little bit and review the value that we bring to our clients, in order to make sure we’re meeting your needs as much as we possibly can. We identified ways in which we enrich the lives of our clients and ended up with quite a long list! We then came up with the brainwave of narrowing down this list and sharing with you 10 ways in which we can help you to improve your lifestyle.
At the turn of this century, yes 25 years ago, it was a stated aim of government to simplify the pensions landscape in Ireland. There was clear recognition then that the range of pensions schemes had mushroomed, and it was time to help consumers by making the whole area of pensions easier to understand.
“Planning brings the future into the present so you can do something about it now.” Alan Lakein.
We’ve been working with several young, successful, professional couples in their 30s in recent months. It’s very clear that they have worked hard to establish their careers and are enjoying the rewards of dual incomes. It’s a very exciting phase of life, with incredible opportunities to shape their financial futures, however, navigating financial priorities effectively requires planning and discipline.
Investors today are getting nervous… Markets remain volatile, we’ve seen another year of really strong returns particularly in the US, where the S&P 500 index grew by 25% in 2024, after also growing by 26% in 2023. This growth has been driven largely by “The Magnificent Seven” stocks, each of which are now showing extremely high price / earnings ratios. With US stocks now accounting for a large proportion of global indices, investors are understandably edgy.
When it comes to investment returns, the list of influencing factors is vast and varied. From economic conditions to market sentiment and interest rates, numerous external forces play a role. However, there are also factors within your control that can significantly shape your investment outcomes. We find that focusing on controllable elements, coupled with strategic guidance, can empower investors to navigate these complexities more effectively.
2025 is fast approaching, and as your head starts to fill with great intentions for the upcoming year, we’d like to take the opportunity to suggest a few great personal finance habits. If you can commit to these, you’ll really strengthen your financial situation over the coming 12 months.
Auto-enrolment is a major development on the horizon for Irish employers. With the government's plan to introduce this new pension scheme, it’s vital that businesses of all sizes understand what it entails, why it is being introduced, and how they can best prepare for the upcoming changes. As your financial adviser, we want to guide you through some of the key questions, ensuring you’re equipped with the right information to make sensible decisions about this important development for your company and your employees.
We often hear the phrase “life is not a rehearsal,” but how often do we truly stop to reflect on its meaning? Life is fleeting, unpredictable, and precious. Yet, many of us live as though there will always be another chance, another opportunity to do the things we desire.
When you think of retirement, what comes to mind? Is it those extra rounds of golf, spending a few months each year basking in the sun, and relishing quality time with your grandkids? Or do you find yourself worrying about your pension funding, fearing it might not be sufficient to cover all your dreams and aspirations?
The most famous of all investors, Warren Buffett once said, “People seeking riches never have enough. Wealth is a state of mind. Wealthy people always have enough.” To him, riches are a monetary amount and never satisfy you. On the other hand, wealth is a journey and a set of actions that lead to a more fulfilled life.
You might be wondering if you need to bother reviewing your financial plan every year. After all, if we've already done the hard work of setting it up, why tinker with it? Here’s the simple truth: the world changes, life changes, and so must your financial plan. Skipping your annual financial review is a bit like ignoring an engine light on your car’s dashboard—it might not seem urgent until it's too late. Let's consider why these reviews are crucial and how they can keep you on track to achieving your financial goals.
Sometimes when it comes to life assurance and cover for living benefits within specified illness and income protection policies, you can get a little lost in the marketing messages of the different features and benefits that are available in the market. While these are of course important in helping you (with our guidance) choose your preferred policy, it’s really important to never lose sight of the real reason for taking out insurance, and that comes back to one single key aspect – that the insurer will pay out to you or your loved ones in your time of need.
Ending a marriage is usually a really tough time. There are big decisions to make about who gets to take care of the kids, how often each parent gets to see them, and where everyone's going to live. Often, things get pretty tense between the ex-partners.
Maybe it’s a stage in life that you get to, when eventually you recognise that building wealth for most people is a pursuit that happens over many years, indeed decades. And most importantly, that it’s perfectly acceptable to build wealth slowly.
OK, we don’t want to blow our own trumpets, but we got access to some research recently that was simply too good not to share the key findings with you. The research titled “The value of financial planning” was carried out by the Financial Planning Standard Board, in which they surveyed over 15,000 consumers in 15 countries, including Ireland. The full report can be found here.
As our clients progress through their financial lives, we see a consistent trend. Thoughts tend to move from thinking about the “here and now” to a much greater focus on the future. While the age at which this happens varies from client to client, retirement coming on to the horizon is an obvious driver for this mind shift. Alongside this, or maybe lagging by a few years are thoughts and conversations about passing wealth efficiently to loved ones. Of course, this opens up the whole discussion about estate planning.
The word retirement conjures up different thoughts for each of us. Some think of growing old, others think of enjoying life in the sun. Some people think of the need to save money in pensions, others think of finally having that freedom from work and enjoying their financial freedom. Each view is valid, some just a bit more positive than others.
So here we are again, digging around for eligible receipts to reduce our upcoming tax bill. Sometimes in the rush to complete the tax return on time, valuable tax-saving opportunities are missed. So here are a few ways for you to reduce your upcoming bill.
ESG Investing is here to stay. This is being driven firstly by a raft of new regulations and legislation coming from the EU around responsible investing, ensuring that investment managers consider carefully the ESG credentials of the assets in which they invest.
“It’s not just about the money” is a phrase I find myself using in nearly every client meeting these days. This stems from the evolution of the role of financial advisers and planners in recent years – a shift from focusing solely on a client’s money and investment returns achieved to a focus on the client as a person and what you want to achieve in your life. Our role today is to help you achieve your desired future life through careful and wise decision making in relation to all aspects of your finances.
When we’re designing an investment portfolio for our clients, we take into account quite a number of considerations. We start by understanding your investment goals and time horizons, and then we build a full understanding of your liquidity requirements, any asset class preferences that you might have and also the returns that you expect.
Do you remember 2013? It sounds quite recent, but then when you think about the major events that happened that year, they seem so long ago. That was the year that Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95, two homemade bombs ripped through the crowd of fans and runners at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing three and wounding nearly 300 others and Typhoon Haiyan killed over 6,000 people in the Philippines and south east Asia. It was also the year the word "selfie" became mainstream!
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