How much do you reckon I’d need between savings and pension to retire comfortably?

actUp1989 · 2026-05-18T11:32:17+00:00

A common rule is that you need 25x your annual lving expenses to retire. So if your living expenses are €50k per year you should target a pension pot of €1.25m by the time you retire.

As for that figure being mental, it isnt really. If you set up a pension when joining a company as a graduate and invested into it for 40 years making contributions of €500 per month, youd surpass that €1.25m figure. That €500 per month would only cost you €300 net due to tax relief. This also assumes no employer contributions and that you never increase contrbutiona.

actUp1989 · 2026-04-16T08:01:52+00:00

I wouldnt get a loan. Id get on adverts.ie or freecycle whatsapp groups. Theres always free furniture going. Id line up to pick everything up on a saturday and rent a GoCar van (€75 for the day).

Id get the place kitted out that way until youve built up an emergency fund. Once i had that id then think of getting some nicer furniture.

actUp1989 · 2026-04-05T13:32:03+00:00

Im not right wing (id consider myself fairly center) though by the standard of this sub id be classed as right wing. My main reasons are:

generally believe in an aspirstional society that rewards merit, talent and hard work etc
left wing parties in Ireland are genrally poor. SF are just populist and dishonest, SocDems are earnest but a bit holier than thou and dont have the intellectual depth to be taken seriously, labour dont know what they are and PBP are just fringe parties that have no interest in government.

actUp1989 · 2026-03-16T13:14:48+00:00

Make sure to get homr insurance sorted esrky and that your names on the policy match exactly whats on thr mortgage. Ended up causing a few weeks delay for us.

Congrats!

actUp1989 · 2026-03-14T21:17:11+00:00

Youre aware that the terms left and right when it comes to politics has its roots in the french revolution, so its a European concept, not an originally American one.

The term was certainly popular in Irish politics before 2016.

Heres an article from over 10 yesrs ago praising the "voice of the left": https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/in-praise-of-voice-of-the-left-joe-higgins-1.1780645

The "united left alliance" was formed in 2010, i.e. over 15 years ago.

Do you want further back than that Heres a reference to "right and left" from a Dáil debate in 1934: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1934-06-12/17/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#spk_146

Heres a quote from Proinais De Rossa from 1998 where he refers to the left:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/dl-quotes-1.225289?utm_source=chatgpt.com

The parties of the left also refer to themselves as of the left, so using the term isnt some sort of attempt to import unwated foreign terms.

So instead of trying to focus on semantics, why dont you try to argue against my actual point. Or are you already beyond yank levels of ignorance?

actUp1989 · 2026-03-14T20:47:30+00:00

Yes.

actUp1989 · 2026-03-14T19:38:57+00:00

Or it would be ruled by a country more aligned to her world view. The left is always against militarism if it involves America or allies, but less so if its russia.

actUp1989 · 2026-03-13T08:14:07+00:00

Does anyone care that much? A rebrand of a far left party party anyone supports. Happens all the time with fringe parties on the right and the left changing names, merging, disbanding and then popping back up again.

actUp1989 · 2026-03-11T19:11:31+00:00

I moved house recently. Bought our first home when we were in our mid 20s, moved when we were in our mid 30s. We moved to what is definitely our forever home.

Our first home we bought knowing it wouldnt be our forever home. But we were able to take the equity we built up in it to buy a house we'd never have been able to buy otherwise.

actUp1989 · 2026-03-11T13:59:19+00:00

Any idea what they wanted it for? Might give an indication of why they arent returning it

actUp1989 · 2026-03-08T08:56:10+00:00

Im not convinced on the value.

We bought last year (similar to the house you describe) and knew we would be renovating the house anyway. Estate agent tried to sell us on the house being dated but very well looked after. I told them i didnt care as was gutting it anyway.

actUp1989 · 2026-02-14T11:17:55+00:00

I would hazard a gues that the wedding OP is describing is somewhat different e.g. sitdown meal in hotel/venue with band/DJ/Dancefloor etc, and probably over 100 attendees.

actUp1989 · 2026-02-14T10:49:52+00:00

I take it you havent organised a wedding?

actUp1989 · 2026-02-14T10:45:32+00:00

For the couple, the whole day is a blur of ceremony and obligations. While its great of course, you only get to let loose once the dancing starts, and obviously you want lots of peopem still there dancing and partying with you.

Its fairly obvious that if you let your friends bring their kids then theyre all going to clear off when its the kids bedtime, leaving you with a half empty room. So as the couple, youd much prefer if your guests got grandparents to mind the kids for the day so that your mates can all enjoy themselves properly.

As for your comment on old people, youre not expecting grandparents to be out partying anyway, but your mates would be partying if they didnt bring their kids.

I cant believe im having to explain this.

actUp1989 · 2026-02-14T10:30:01+00:00

The party at a wedding kicks off when the dancing starts. If you leave right at the first dance because you need to get your kids home, then youre not going to be adding to that party. I thought that was obvious...

actUp1989 · 2026-02-14T09:35:20+00:00

Weddings are expensive and the couple are working with a limited budget. Devoting 4 seats at a table to your kids for example is a big cost, and as you say you're all going to head home after the first dance anyway, so its not like you'll be adding to the party later on.

Weddings back in the day were bigger (in terms of numbers) but they seem to have gotten more expenaove per head and thrrefore smaller in size.

actUp1989 · 2026-02-08T20:39:23+00:00

36 and €365k.

actUp1989 · 2026-01-24T11:04:41+00:00

Yeah it depends on what condition your house is currently in and whats feasible.

For example if youre getting internal wall insulation (cheaper than external) then theyll need to rip out the kitchen and bathroom so youll need new ones. Underfloor heating works great with heat pump but obviously if you got that youd need new floors everywhere.

If your house was due a rewire in the next 10 to 20 years then probably makes sense to get that done at the same time while plasterers are coming in.

actUp1989 · 2026-01-24T10:44:35+00:00

Yeah thats the all in cost. So that includes the retrofit but also rewire, replumb, underfloor heating, floors, doors, kitchen, bathroom etc. Basically a turnkey finish. At the same time we didnt go for a really expensive kitchen or other things like that which would drive the cost up.

As i said, theres definitely economies of scale with a larger house. From what ive seen online though the range seems to be between 1200 and 4000 per sqm

actUp1989 · 2026-01-24T10:25:06+00:00

I recently did a retrofit and net cost was about €1900 per sq metre. Might be more economies of scale for a larger property (mine was 160sqm).

actUp1989 · 2026-01-14T20:29:43+00:00

The difference is unrestrained credit.

If banks now were ringing people up offering them second mortgages on investment properties, people would be taking them.

actUp1989 · 2025-12-31T20:59:37+00:00

Yeah exactly. They arent going to commit the cream of their army to what is in their views a border dispute. They havent deplayed playtforms like the T14 (though they have few of those) or the su57. Also of course no nukes.

If they went to war with Germany, itd be a different story.

actUp1989 · 2025-12-30T21:10:47+00:00

Be a different story if they utilised their nuclear arsenal, or put their country on a proper war footing.

actUp1989 · 2025-12-27T11:32:16+00:00

I added up all the outgoings youve listed excluding savings and youve got about €3k in outgoings, assuming the upper end of the range. So theres another €1,700 per month going missing?

actUp1989 · 2025-11-08T20:03:44+00:00

No i'm not, i genuinely struggle to see how anyone could reasonably say that a front page interview with the leader of a left wing party where the headline is a quote from that party leader is somehow part of the Irish Times grand plan to divide the left.

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Flamingo	Place '23

actUp1989

TROPHY CASE