Savings & Investments

We believe in building a life long trust with our customers

Whether you are planning for your new home, a perfect wedding, college fees or simply for peace of mind against unforeseen events, a sensible savings plan can make all the difference.
We can help by offering you a wide range of savings solutions whatever your needs may be.

 Savings

There is a huge difference between saving and investing. Both saving money and investing money have a place in your life, but they play very different roles.

How you handle these two things can have big implications for your financial success, stress level, and how wealthy you ultimately become. It can even mean the difference between suffering through a recession or depression or sleeping soundly through the night knowing you have enough spare liquidity on hand.

Saving money is the process of parking cash in extremely safe accounts or securities that can be accessed or sold in a very short amount of time. Investing money, though, is the process of using your money or capital to buy an asset you think has a high probability of generating a safe and acceptable rate of return over time—even though it may decrease for years. Typically this means stocks, bonds, and real estate.

Why should I start saving for my child?

Unfortunately for parents, the cost of raising children increases year on year
right up until they’re ready to fly the coop. A lot of parents underestimate
the costs needed to provide for their children’s future education and end up
borrowing to meet these costs.

Providing a child with the best education is what every parent wants for their
children – but it doesn’t come cheap. The annual student contribution for
university, is currently €3,000 (August 2020). If your child was to go on to do
a four year course at university, you would be expected to hand over €12,000,
and that’s excluding accommodation, transport, food and book costs!

Of course, there are many other expenses along the way – you might want
to give them a headstart with buying their first home, buying their first car or
helping them set up their own business. By taking the time now to plan for
these future expenses, you can become the architect of their future.

How much deposit will you need in cash terms?

To calculate how much you’ll need to save for your mortgage deposit in cash terms, there are two things you should consider: Typical Prices in your area will be available on MyHome.ie and DAFT.ie. also you should refer to the property price register which will tell you the exact sales prices for those already sold in the area. As first time buyer you will need 10% of the purchase price, 1% stamp duty and additional costs to include Solicitors fees, valuation fees and structural surveys. For the latter we feel a budget of circa €5,000 would be adequate where standard conveyancing (legals) has occurred. Don’t forget you will also have to furnish and potentially decorate the property.

Investing money – short term

When it comes to money for short-term goals, finance experts say people should focus on saving rather than investing. Money needed in fewer than three years needs to be protected from market volatility.

For short-term goals, try one of the following short-term investments:

• Mortgage saver accounts.
• Post Savings accounts.
• Prize Bonds.
• Demand Deposit Accounts.

Investing money – long term

For the money that isn’t needed for at least three years, look at putting at least a portion in stock market equities. Since most bear markets last from nine to 16 months, someone investing with a five-year time horizon can afford to risk a down market. Their investments will likely rebound before the cash is needed. However, to be safe, people should begin moving money to bond and fixed income funds as it gets closer to when it will be used for its intended purpose.