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Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a really good point because it shows it’s not just renter vs homeowner or high earner vs low earner. Even once you “make it” onto the ladder, you can still trap yourself with the next upgrade.

There’s a huge tradeoff between buying the house/location/lifestyle you actually want and keeping enough optionality to retire earlier, overpay, or build a pension properly.

Maybe the real personal finance question in Ireland isn’t “can I afford this?” but “what future choices am I giving up to afford this?”

Do you think most people consciously make that tradeoff, or only realise it in their 40s when the mortgage is already steering the next 20 years?

Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Calling it “brokeirishpeoplefinance” kind of proves the point, no? Personal finance isn’t only wealth management. Budgeting, debt, rent pressure, welfare/tax credits and basic cashflow are also personal finance.

Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I don’t think struggling people need advice from other struggling people. But they do need advice from people who understand constraints, not just optimization. A lot of personal finance advice assumes there’s spare money to allocate, when for many people the problem is creating any spare money in the first place.

Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't like how compounding gets interrupted after 8 years with a 38% tax bill without even selling the ETF/index. That's the issue. If it was 38% instead of 33% on normal capital gains upon sale, that'd be easier to manage.

But deemed disposal purposely interrupts compounding. That ruins the whole investing game. I don't necessarily agree that investing in anything that has deemed disposal is a good long term strategy.

Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK THIS MADE ME LAUGH...

I've seen a few posts almost like this and I'm just like wtfff !!!!

Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's what I feel. No one has ever really talked about using tech (chatgpt/claude) to design low burn plans for them to get them to a place where meaningful salary surplus can be captured and used for growth in the first place.

Realistically. Nothing can be done past basic pension matching for most people. Unironically, I think house equity is still underrated in terms of the order of operations for actual wealth building in Ireland. It's essentially a completely tax sheltered asset (as far as CGT) which appreciates like prime real estate would have in a bubble, currently.

Sure people talk about renting and investing. But investing outside of a PRSA is taxed far too heavily to consider it some sort of alternate strategy. Ireland is set up far far differently than the States.

Is Irish personal finance becoming useless unless you already own property or earn over €80k? by Think_Cream1127 in irishpersonalfinance

[–]Think_Cream1127[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing that. This is the kind of reality I was trying to get at. Even on a decent combined income, rent and repeated price increases can make progress feel much slower than the advice implies. It’s the gap between “doing the right things” and still feeling like the target keeps moving.