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Irish Times
13 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
How to build wealth in Ireland: Save and invest in your 20s and 30s
When Teresa Bruen and Brian Redmond were aged 24 and 25 respectively, they bought their first home – an old house in need of a lot of love outside Gorey, Co Wexford – for €195,000. At the time, they had a combined income of €55,000, with Redmond working as a teacher and Bruen an apprentice financial adviser. They lived with Redmond's mother at her home in Wicklow and paid rent, and on top of this, he commuted daily to his teaching job in Castleknock, Dublin. But with no family help towards the house purchase, how did they do it? 'We just saved anything we could from the start of 2019, and we didn't have help from anyone,' says Bruen. 'I know people hate when we tell them don't go out for a coffee or go away for a holiday if you want to save, but that's what we did. We had a hard 12 months or so of saving the guts of €2,000 a month, and our wages weren't great so with the exception of whatever we needed to eat, we saved everything. And that's how we got there. In June 2020 we bought our first home.' READ MORE Bruen, now aged 30, and a financial planning consultant, and Redmond, 31, have a two-year-old and live in a larger home in Gorey having sold their first house in May for €316,000, a profit of €121,000. They have since bought again in the same area for €500,000. 'At the time we had friends telling us to live our lives a bit more, but we had our goals and that was to get a house and then enjoy a holiday. Now these friends are at the stage we were at back in 2019 and saving to buy something that might not be achieved until they are 40.' [ Budget 2026: What will it mean for the average earner in Ireland? Opens in new window ] Are the couple, who have now shifted their financial energies towards pension pots, a good example of an age group primed for a lifetime of secure financial planning, or is there hope for people only beginning to address such matters in their 40s and even 50s? Is there a right age and time for financial planning? While research shows young people are much better at saving these days – the Growing Up In Ireland study of 25-year-olds, published in March, found two-thirds save regularly – this money is not ending up in investments or pensions. How to manage your pension in these volatile times Listen | 37:00 The Life Insurance Association (LIA), which specialises in education and development of financial advice and planning professionals, shared research that same month that found that 42 per cent of young adults – ages 18-34 – do not have a pension. This, according to some financial experts, is a wasted opportunity, particularly for thirtysomethings who by properly mapping out and planning their financial futures, could make life very comfortable in the decades that follow. 'The most valuable asset you have in your 30s isn't your job title, your property or your savings account, but time. When you invest early, time will do the heavy lifting,' says Robert Whelan of Rockwell Financial, a Dublin-based financial management firm. 'This is the essence of compounding: small amounts, invested consistently and allowed to grow, can become something meaningful.' To drive home his point, Whelan presents two examples – a person who starts saving in their 30s for 10 years, stops and never contributes again, compared with another who starts saving in their 40s for 20 years. Both save €3,000 a year and achieve a 7 per cent return on their investments, but there is one clear winner. 'By the age of 60, the early saver ends up with €151,000, while the 20-year saver from the age of 40, ends up with €122,000,' he says. 'Let that sink in: the early saver ends up with €29,000 more, even though they contributed €30,000 less overall. The difference was time, because those early contributions had two extra decades to grow.' [ How to get children saving early – and why prize bonds aren't the answer Opens in new window ] Time is something Whelan values given his own brush with missed savings, pension contributions and compounding. 'In 2008, when the financial crisis hit, I was 31, and like so many others, I took a significant salary cut just to stay employed,' he says. 'A few years later, at 35, I was made redundant, so I started a business at yet another pay cut. This meant, for nearly a decade, I didn't go back to my 2008 salary level because I was focused on survival. 'It's why I can relate to those in their 30s now who are worried about the effect of missing out on getting on the property ladder, as I know the real cost. It isn't just the money you didn't earn – it's the wealth you don't build. 'I meet a lot of clients between the ages of late 40s and early 50s, and the difference between those who managed to avoid the worst of the recession and their peers is significant. These were workers in tech or pharma, or sectors which weren't really affected by the downturn, and got wage rises when people were getting pay cuts, or bonuses when others were just happy to have a job. So if you have the opportunity to build on your wealth, you should do it.' But where you save, what access you need to funds and what returns you might get on those savings are just as important, says David Funcheon, a financial planner at Ask Acorn, a personal and business financial company in Galway. 'If somebody needs access to cash in the short term, which we define as three to five years, it should be in an on-demand deposit account, but if it's going to be longer, they should be saving into an account or a fund that's going to yield them a return equal to the risk you're willing to take to get that return,' he says. 'We have a serious amount of money being invested in traditional banks and current accounts and deposit accounts that are returning little to nothing. 'A lot of these accounts are returning 1-1.5 per cent, with inflation around 2 per cent, so the buying power is being significantly affected. If people can save in a facility – whether an equity-based fund or a managed fund through a life company set-up – then you can expect to get a return of 4.5-5 per cent over the medium to long term because the effect of inflation is negated by the rate of return. 'Saving in equity-based funds over traditional banks also has the benefit of gross return or 'gross roll-up', where the tax is applied on these funds every eight years, whereas traditional bank accounts are taxed on an annual basis. 'Someone in their mid-to-late 20s with the goal or expectation that they might be able to save €20,000 or €30,000 over a 10-year period could actually benefit from the compound gross roll-up year in, year out for eight years and then be taxed on that rather than on an annual basis.' You need to get your basics right – get a roof over your head, keep your debts low, and then move on to your investing But all is not lost for people in their 40s and 50s who want to enhance their pension funds now because some additional disposable income is finally available to them. 'I would be looking at how they are fulfilling their requirements in relation to the amount that they can save equal to the threshold of €115,000 based on their age,' says Funcheon. 'If someone in their 40s can save 20 or 25 per cent of their income – most people are probably saving on through pension return of about 6-8 per cent – there is huge scope to make up that difference through additional voluntary contributions [AVCs]. 'The benefit from that is the tax relief, because if they're earning over €44,000 a year, they're getting a 40 per cent return on it. So there's a huge advantage to doing it because it's then supplementing the retirement income.' Bruen's advice for people her own age and younger is to start saving immediately and be realistic about what you want in the short term before planning for the longer term. 'I think a lot of young people get caught up on TikTok and Instagram and come out with all these ideas around how to make money fast and invest in certain things like Bitcoin and stocks on Revolut, and these are not the places to be saving your money,' she says. 'If your goal is a house and you want to do that in the next five years, then you need to be looking at banks, at deposit accounts that offer cashbacks, then that's a good place to get started. You need to get your basics right – get a roof over your head, keep your debts low, and then move on to your investing.'
Irish Times
19 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Assessment of need and the HSE
Sir, – The report that over a quarter of children undergoing the Assessment of Need process are found not to have a disability highlights a fundamental flaw in the naming of the process (' Quarter of children found not to have disability after assessment of need, HSE figures show ,' July 28th.) These applications reflect real needs for support by our health, social and education system, as evidenced by families' willingness to pursue this process, even if the children do not meet the legal criteria for disability. As a GP, I regularly see children wait years for vital services often resulting in further distress and worsening of their condition. Furthermore, that families must resort to a legal process instead of a health process to access diagnosis for the 75 per cent who are diagnosed with a disability is a stark indictment of our current system. – Yours, etc READ MORE DR JOE GALLAGHER, Gorey, Co Wexford.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Gorey Market House Festival was ‘an extraordinary success'
Visitors got to enjoy a packed schedule across the entire weekend including live music from acts such as The Swift Show (Taylor Swift Tribute), Live Forever (Oasis Tribute), and Fairytale of The Pogues (Pogues Tribute). Traditional tunes were also played on the stage from Gorey and Ballygarrett CCÉ. Members of the community also gathered to take part in the annual Making Music Busking competition, where over €1,000 worth of vouchers were won. Alongside the bustling music on the streets, the Family Fun Day made its return to Gorey Town Park on Saturday, where locals engaged with hands-on interactive workshops filled with arts and crafts, dancing, games and competitions. Sinead Monaghan is involved with the festival and said the weekend was a huge success. 'This year's Gorey Market House Festival has been nothing short of extraordinary From the music to the Family Fun Day, Superhero Fun Run & Market Day, it was fantastic to see the whole town out enjoying themselves. 'A heartfelt thank you to the committee, the festival sponsors, Wexford County Council and volunteers who made this event a memorable success & of course the people of Gorey. We will see you all in 2026 for another great Gorey Market House Festival,' Sinead said. Sergeant Evelyn Reddan in Gorey Garda Station said the Market House Festival was a great success. Sgt Reddan said only three minor public order incidents were handled by An Garda Síochána at the festival last weekend.
Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Irish Times
Man (46) appears in court over €1.6m drug haul in Wexford
A man (46) charged in connection with a €1.6 million drug haul in Co Wexford, appeared before a special sitting of Gorey District Court on Sunday afternoon. Fintan Fanning of Slaney Drive, Ballycarney, Enniscorthy, came before Judge Kevin Staunton charged with having in his possession a controlled drug, namely cannabis, for the purpose of sale or supply. Herbal cannabis worth an estimated €1.6 million was seized at Tincurry, Ballycarney, on Friday after a van was intercepted by gardaí following a targeted joint operation involving An Garda Síochána and Revenue's Customs Service on Friday. About 80kg of herbal cannabis was discovered during the van search, with an estimated street value of €1.6 million. READ MORE The accused was arrested at the scene and detained for questioning. Mr Fanning appeared in court wearing a grey tracksuit, with slight beard, and heavy tattooing around the neck area. The hearing lasted less than 10 minutes. Det Garda Dean Healy told Judge Stauntion that on July 19th he arrested the accused and charged him as set out on the charge sheet. The accused made 'no comment' when the charge was put to him, Det Healy said. Defence counsel, Craig Phillips, BL instructed by Eoin O'Sullivan, solicitor, said there would be no application for bail. He applied for free legal aid but no statement of means is yet available to the court. [ Woman with black eye and newborn baby claims husband 'kicked me and dragged me up and down' Opens in new window ] Sgt Stephen Ennis told the court he would be seeking a remand in custody for the accused, to appear before Wexford District Court on Tuesday via video link. Judge Staunton said he would grant free legal aid subject to a statement of means being made available to the court and remanded the accused in custody.
Irish Independent
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Olympic Gold medallist visits Wexford gymnastics club
Gorey Guardian Today at 02:00 Gorey Gymnastics club had a visit from Olympic Gold medallist Rhys McClenaghan recently. Gorey was one of eight clubs chosen around the country to take part in the Gymnastics Ireland Club Tour. 'There was great excitement and preparation in the weeks leading up to the visit,' said Angie Dooley, head coach of the club. Rhys McClenaghan made history as he became Ireland's first gymnast to win a gold medal for the Men's Pommel at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. 'Rhys spoke to the gymnasts, giving an account of his journey to the Olympics and making history both as the first Irish gymnast to reach an Olympics final and the first Irish gymnast to win a medal in the Olympics,' Angie said. Angie added that Rhys mentioned his motivations, ups and downs and encouraged gymnasts in Gorey to keep training and working to improve their skills. Gymnasts had the opportunity to be in a group photo with Rhys and hold the Olympic gold medal. A number of students took part in an exclusive training session with Rhys, where he gave expert tips and advice. He also showed the coaches various coaching techniques, demonstrating his extensive knowledge and skills. Speaking on behalf of the club, Angie thanked those involved with the special day. 'The coaches and gymnasts at Gorey Gymnastics Club are very grateful to Rhys McClenaghan for his generosity of time and his dedication to the sport and to Gymnastics Ireland for the opportunity to take part in this club tour,' Angie said.
