We recently wrote about why people should be thinking about their retirement in their 30’s, and why this is the time when you should start seriously saving to achieve your desired lifestyle in retirement. We got a great reaction to this article, and were asked by a number of people in their 40’s for some […]

With markets having powered ahead in recent years, in general people are happier talking about the performance of their investment portfolio. After all, it’s easier to talk about gains than losses! But we’ve noticed some conversations shifting towards consolidation of gains as the prospect of a turn in markets probably moves closer all the time. […]

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. This […]

Well the short answer is no, you’re not mad to be thinking about retirement in your 30’s. Of course it is not going to be foremost in your mind as there are lots of competing priorities – a house to be bought, maybe a wedding to be celebrated or a family to be started. And […]

Tax is a necessary evil. If we want to live in a country with access to public services, taxation is the system used to pay for these services. We can (and do!) argue and moan about the different levels of tax payable and whether they are levied fairly. But at the end of the day, […]

In financial planning businesses such as our own, a relatively small proportion of our time is spent dealing with the implementation and servicing of financial products on behalf of our clients. Because financial planning is so much deeper than simply putting products in place. Instead our clients today come to us with relatively simple questions […]

According to the Census carried out in 2011, 12% of families in Ireland are now made up of cohabiting couples.  This cohort of our population still faces some unique challenges when it comes to personal finance and inheritance. In this article, we’re going to identify some of the significant issues to be managed, and set out […]

Small & Medium Enterprises (SME’s) and pensions schemes… they don’t appear too often in the same sentence! Pensions are a real issue for employees working in these small businesses and a headache for their employers. So what is the current situation and what needs to be done?   Pension coverage is at historically low levels […]

History teaches us many things. Particularly if we’re looking for a bit of guidance in prudent personal financial management, the last decade offers us a wealth of useful lessons. During the last decade we’ve seen a (hopefully) once in a lifetime global economic collapse, the entire banking system teetering on the brink, followed by a […]

A marriage breakup is usually a traumatic time. Very significant life decisions are needed about custody of children and access arrangements, and where each party will live. Often relations between the parties become quite fraught… and then financial arrangements need to be agreed. At this stage, the difficult areas of dividing up the assets, maintenance […]