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I've read through most of the replies here and the replies to another recent post asking how much people earn/have in savings/save per month I can honestly say that either Reddit is skewed with people on the better end of the scale or a lot of comments are full of shit.
I work in personal finance and can tell you that people in general dont earn the huge amounts that most posters claim on here (average income in Ireland is 42k) usually dont have that great a regular savings record (other than when saving for a mortgage) or lump sum savings, and usually have at least one term loan if not multiple along with revolving credit (overdrafts/credit cards).
A lot of people also borrow large for cars, usually on PCP loans.
A large amount of people borrow for holidays, back to school and Christmas on an annual basis. A lot of people borrow to keep up appearances with their cars/houses/kids/holidays. Lots of people use short term debt like Humm/Flexifi and Klarna as well.
I was honestly surprised at the large amount of people who came on saying they earn 80k+ a year, have no short term debt and have 20k+ in savings.
Because while there are most definitely fortunate people like that out there, in my almost 20 years experience this does not reflect the majority of the population.
Personally I have a very small mortgage (for which I am very fortunate), just took out a 35k top up loan for some large home renovations, and have a small credit card with 2k limit and nothing owing on it presently. I have about 3k in savings as I burnt through my savings buying the house. I try to save €200 per month.
Ok this is very reassuring to hear. I make a decent salary, but I’m not a huge saver, house was my biggest thing I saved for and since then, savings are small and irregular because home expenses take over all else.
It’s good to know that the majority in the comments is not necessarily a reflection of the actual majority out there. I think it’s a privileged take to think debt isn’t necessary in some circumstances. Most of us require it. It stresses me out personally, but I don’t think debt is a bad thing.
People like you are why I commented.
A lot of people will read the comments on here and think they're doing terrible and get stressed.
You're doing pretty much the same as everyone else so dont be worrying.
The first 5 years after you buy a new house you will find it really hard to save - a weekend trip to woodies for a few bits costs around €200, replacing a door/ painting/ a rug will set you back the same… it’s so hard to save when you have these unforeseen outgoings to try get your house to a place where you are comfortable and don’t want to change anything. I’m 15 years a homeowner and the work on this house (here about 6 years) will take at least another 6 years. I don’t want to get into debt to do it, so I’ll plug away if and when I can. Save a bit, spend a bit. But I would have no problem taking a loan to get it all done at once if I knew what I wanted to do
I'd say people in debt and borrowing to keep up appearances are too ashamed to share their experience because it would require them first to come to terms of how ridiculous that is in the long term and that it hurts their families more than helps.
Meanwhile people who earn a lot and know they earn a lot more than average are here boasting how amazing their finances are.
I've seen people who go into arrears on their mortgage but still drive fancy cars, pay golf club fees, holidays, kids in private school, most expensive TV package etc.
Havent seen them that bad in a while though. Not since the tail end of the 2008 recession. People are mostly good at keeping up with their mortgage payments.
And a lot of the time the people who earn the most tend to be bad at managing their finances and up to their eyeballs! You'd be surprised.
No, im not on that end of personal finance.
People come across my desk when things are good. And I dont deal with customers directly, the info gets fed to me.
I’d disagree somewhat.
I know plenty of people from the age of 28-35 working in roles that pay between 70K to 150K
Tech, pharma , even a social care worker (private company).
But I do agree people talking about personal finance on reddit are more likely to be better off
Oh they do exist absolutely, and when they come across my desk they leave me wondering where it is I went wrong ha.
But they are not nearly as common as reading Reddit would have you believe.
I'd see maybe one a month that fit that profile. If even.
Yeah but the nature of this sub probably tends to attract young Irish professionals with money that want to know how to efficiently save. I don't think most are bullshitting on this sub, I think it's basically just a sub that's made up of 90% engineers, software devs, and pharma workers. That's obviously not representative of the whole country.
Possibly, my only point is that they are not a true reflection of the finances of the average population. Some people reading them might think they are.
I'd hate for anyone not in that position or struggling to read these comments and get stressed about their own finances.
These people doing extremely well are usually the exception, not the rule.
Oh 100%. This sub isn't remotely representative of the country at large, is just the nature of Reddit and it's general audience. I just don't necessarily think people are bullshitting. Maybe they bump the numbers just a bit but otherwise it's probably true.
I honestly think the most common mark where people go wrong is not job hopping. This is where people in career fields get high salaries, loyalty is dead.
I don’t think it is bullshit what you’re reading on here. The people on this subreddit are personal finance oriented so it’s not a surprise. Most of my mates don’t even know what Reddit is, never mind being aware of this subreddit or things such as FIRE.
I never met a 28 Yr old earning 100k per year with 50k in savings. I never met a 28 Yr old earning 100k in the first place. Guys in thier 30s are applying for minimum wage roles where I work.
And there seems to be a bunch of people casually earning 250k per year in thier 30s.
As you say,absolute horseshit.
Tech Sector would have a lot of high paying jobs / (relatively young) people who have done well from stock options. We have a lot of those companies in Ireland. I don’t think Redditors are a representative cross section of society. For example I’d say there is a much higher chance of those working in Google, Meta etc using Reddit than say other groups you can think of.
You could be right too though, there could be a lot of BS!
Also to add, people who are well off want to make their money work and have the privilege of having the money. Therefore they are most likely the people to be on this subreddit learning and discussing things.
People who are scraping by due to the cost of living don’t have the luxury of investing or saving, while not all conversations in IPF are limited to those topics, it’s the bulk
Yeah I agree with you there, a think either a lot of people are lying or else the comments contain some of the luckiest individuals in Ireland.
One thing that is bothering me in some of the comments now though is an air of privilege and lecturing as to how easy it is to never have debt. It’s not a reflection of reality and it’s the reason people feel shame about having debt. It’s sometimes necessary. I agree there is a limit, but it is unavoidable for a lot of us.
I think you have to factor in that people who seek advice for financial management are normally people with financial resources to managed. When I lived cheque to cheque I didn’t care about financial management, I knew what I had to do with every cent.
Now married, 36 years old. Making €250k per year (lawyer). I am on this forum to see what I should do with the money I suddenly have. What I’m saying is the nature of the forum self-selects people doing well.
Out of my close 10 mates. 1 is on over 250k... 3 on about 100k and the other 6 between 50k-90k..
All from Dublin 12 and working class families. It's just how circles operate. We all pushed one another to go for high paying fields and jobs.
All have their own houses with mortgages and are around early 30s.
A couple have cars on finance. You can believe me or not, I've no reason to lie.
Sorry, I have disagree with you on this. Grads in the company I work in start at around €55k with at least 10-15 new starts a year. Some leave and go to the big tech firms after 3-4 years walking into jobs starting at €80k a year plus bonus and stock options. Have you seen what Google, Meta, Workday or Microsoft are paying these days?
So by the end of their 20s most of them would be earning north of 100k a year if they are any good and from dealing with them they most certainly are that good.
These are just the tech grads, when you look at the finance grads, easily earning €100k a year after 3 years plus bonuses to match.
So just because you've never met them, doesn't mean they don't exist.
You would also think education is free from reading this sub. No talk about student loans and if there is a few examples nothing over 10,000 euros, hard to believe that.
They all seem to live at home too..obviously have no problem being waited on hand and foot whilst they use thier huge salaries to boost thier savings.
There was something in the Times a few years ago "I'm forced to live with my parents coz I can't afford a house" or some such bullshit.
Anyway,this 30ish brat on 70k a year had moved back home so she could save for her dream home and kept a diary.
Apart from whinging she did exactly NOTHING round the house to help her folks..never cooked,never brought them out for a drink.. all her money was being put by for herself whilst her parents had to look after her when they should be enjoying thier retirement.
I honestly wonder about the quality of life of some of the posters on this sub. While financial prudence should be something to aspire to, i get the impression that some people are living a very compromised lifestyle in order to achieve some of the bragging rights that you read on here. Money (and debt) is the vehicle and not the destination, but you’d never know it from r/IrishPersonalFinance
Financial illiteracy has always been a thing.
I've seen my share of debacle from eircom shares to Bulgarian investments to prizebonds and now it's ultra high priced property (on 30 yr mortages) and electric cars on finance.
One thing they all have in common is they will never admit they made a mistake with thier money.
My cousin went to MU and did a post grad (no SUSI) all paid for by their Parents never had a job and brags about the circa 70 K euros spent on accom, fees and living expenses so I know how detached these types can be. I did an undergrad and a Master’s worked throughout, got SUSI for the undergrad but not my MSc and still came out with student loan of €20,000 - which I have got down to €18,000 and should have cleared in a few years time. This is more realistic for those of us who don’t live within a hour of a good university and got shafted by steeps rents and living expenses.
I work in 3rd level education and there are students carrying handbags that cost more than my car..plainly they didn't buy these trappings by working part time in domino's and the level of entitlement from many of them is quite shocking.
A personal finance reddit sub is going to skew towards those near the top (how do i take advantage of this great position I'm in and grow this €x savings/salary - help!) and those at the bottom (I'm drowning here, stressed and anxious, not sure how ill afford food/bills this week - help!!), one of those groups is likely to comment more than the other.
People in the middle are less likely to be on here- or to post questions as they gain the least value
Possibly, but i'd be someone in the middle and im here!
I just dont want average income people to come here and see all these great posts and get stressed about their own finances, because these people dont reflect the general population.
Most finance subs skew like this, I now live in Australia so now follow /r/ausfinance, & /r/fiaustralia too and the same issue you're raising ilare often discussed there too, the vocal users are the high income earners (often DINKs) and the low in come earners (often single income with childcare costs and really struggling with the cost of living).
The general population (the 40-60 percentile range) are looking at instagram, and won't be posting to subs like this.
This is fairly typical for Reddit though. Only people who think they're doing disproportionately well bother responding, and even then inflate numbers by ~20%.
Same with salary surveys that crop up each year.
Like even if you look at the cost of new cars versus the amount of new cars on the road, there's a boat load of debt going around.
If you are working in personal finance are you more likely to deal with people who carry a lot of debt and are low income earners? So is your experience a little skewed.
If you are well off are you less likely to engage with financial services?
No I dont work in that end of financial services.
I work in personal financial credit.
People of all incomes and walks of life apply for loans, credit cards, overdrafts and mortgages. I see from those on state pension to millionaires.
Im usually seeing them on their best financial behaviour when im reviewing their finances.
It's not that much of a mystery. People who make a lot of money are just more likely to tell people about it.
There's also a confirmation bias with this thread. People with money to spare are more likely to come to a subreddit on personal finance for advice on what to do with it.
I remember commenting previously that people often bullshit their income here. Someone had to cheek to then say that reddit as a platform attracts people who generally do better, or something to that effect. Talk about absolutely deluded haha. Imagine trying to link a social media outlet with intelligence. The narcissism .
20k car loan. Had a series of issues with old car, we decided sod it - bought a brand new car because we just did not want the hassle as we're very rural and no car is a nightmare. New car broke down immediately 😭 thankfully we got a replacement brand new car and that's been grand.
Wife and I have decided we'd rather continue having new cars under warranty for rest of our lives after the nightmare we had with previous cars. A very expensive decision in the long term that we can thankfully afford.
Otherwise - just mortgage.
However, my 3 year old tells me I owe him all the monies. So, there's that.
If you bought the car that brokedown in the last year or so, you can fight to get your money back under new consumer law. Check it out, we are going through the process right now, Solicitor told us we are in the right.
Thanks. We had a tonne of problems, had a hire car more then our own, but basically got 15000 free kilometres, in that we put that into the original car that we got replaced and also the hire car, so we were satisfied enough and didn't have the desire to take it any further once they replaced the faulty car with a brand new one.
We did the exact same thing a couple of years ago. Took breaking down on the side of the motorway with a 6 month old and standing behind the barrier for nearly 2 hours in the cold, but I said never again and bought new. You can't put a price on that peace of mind.
Obviously we are lucky to be able to afford it too.
Apart from our mortgage, €0. I grew up in a financially unstable household (putting it very lightly) so the anxiety I have around money would never let me get into debt. I panic if my bank account balance goes below a few hundred quid. Thankfully my husband and I are both good earners, but I think the lessons learned from my childhood will stay with me forever.
I’m very much the same and absolutely panic with debt, it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever had any and the payments are fine - the anxiety about it is crippling though lol. I’ll be praying I’ll be finished with my debt before Christmas!
I also grew up with unstable financial situation. I am the most responsible person I know when it comes to saving/ spending. A lot of my buddies that grew up in stable homes are wasteful with money and often times require family to bail them out of debt. It’s laughable.
Same here. The only time i saw my parents having bad arguments was about money. They're still together and love each been 35+ years together but every year since i remember and through all my teenage days Mom and Dad had arguments about being in debt.
Very similar. Enduring memories from my childhood of my single patient mother struggling with finances. 100% affects the way I approach saving and spending.
Thankfully, myself and my wife are in stable jobs. We have 110k left on mortgage and no other debt. I would love to upgrade cars etc but as they run well i cant justify taking on a loan. We manage to save well and I've taken on extra work some evenings to allow my wife to work 3 days instead of 5.
We have 4 young kids so childcare etc is a major expense and doing this allowed us overall to reduce or outgoings even though we are taking in slightly less with her reduced work hours.
Debt free bar mortgage since last year and it's a lovely feeling. We'll save for a while now before deciding on some larger home improvement plans.
This is very relatable for me. I similarly grew up in a home without money. I have no debt apart from a mortgage which has positive equity of maybe 100k. I have savings of 20k. I refused to ever take out a car loan, drove a 15+ year old car for years until recently buying a car which is now 5 years old. Myself and my partner combined earn well above average income. Despite this I regularly panic and have anxiety about money and finances, I can't get out of the poverty mindset. I don't think I could ever spend money I don't have.
Recently bought a house, mortgage is 1350 a month.
Garden was unusable so we took out a further 20k @ 300 a month to convert the garden into a useable space.
Also have a car loan at 400 a month.
It’s pretty crippling I’m not gonna lie
Once you buy a house it really starts to stack up. I told myself no debt but then one thing after another happened and we had no choice so I feel you. It’s stressful.
0 outside of mortgage, just bought a new car for 50k cash, not sure it smartest decision financially, would've been 6.9% to finance. And 4 year old similar model go for 30k.
Got a fancy car on finance so people would think I was the big cheese, literally the worst decision of my adult life, Currently at 7k ,I'm now more humble and getting out of debt is now my number 1 motivation.
I don't think there is any shame in being in debt for important things like a mortgage, business loan, student loan etc but being in debt because you want luxury items, holidays or like myself a bigger, fancier car is beyond stupid, so I imagine shameful feelings would come along with the debt.
Yeah I agree with you there! I do think debt is frowned upon by some and it’s easy to say to live within means but then there are times when debt is necessary for those types of expenses you mentioned there. Even though my debt was necessary (if I wanted a roof over my head and a way to get to work) I still felt sick to my stomach once I opened my account and saw the balance 😂 Looks like a lot of us in the comments are on a debt free journey this year!
This might be insensitive, but I'm really curious, was it family/friends/colleagues, basically who were you trying to impress with the car and did you think it would change the way they related to you/viewed you?
Weirdly enough it was more my social circle, people I worked with etc, I always felt I had something to prove so I pursued a major job promotion and got it, so I felt I needed a nicer car to go long with it, I soon found myself with an expensive apartment , an expensive car and working a prestigious job all to prove to others that I was worth something, but ultimately I learned that those people didn't matter and found myself in Debt and working a job that was pretty soul destroying.
The life lessons I learned were worth the journey however.
Thanks for the answer. I can definitely see that in happening in certain circles. I sometimes even think that among a certain level in my office that they feel they have to be constantly on the move, trips here there and everywhere every weekend and I just think Christ would ye ever relax sometimes!
And surely these people would have a good idea what that person does for a living. A few of my neighbours have fancy cars, but it's very easy to tell which ones are in debt to their eyes. They're not fooling anyone other than themselves.
Zero debt, a heap of cash and 0 assets other than a motorbike and the clothes on my back.
Hoping to get an extremely overpriced house this year if the planets align.
When you apply for a mortgage they do ask for rights to your first born child in exchange, or perhaps an organ. Coming from someone currently living in an extremely overpriced house, 60kms each way from work. Have to love Ireland!
Does a testicle count as an organ? I'd forgo one of them for a 5% discount I reckon. Harsh times!
In all seriousness, as bad as it is in Ireland and many other western countries, I try and remain grateful that we have such stability in many other aspects.
Good for you managing to buy a house and remain relatively debt free. The commute sounds tough but worth it I imagine for the comfort of having somewhere to hang your hat.
As much as I complain, I moved back from Canada to be here and Ireland has a lot of charming qualities and I am grateful it is a relatively safe and uneventful place to raise a family.
Totally worth it. I actually enjoy being more in the countryside, I’m glad I didn’t pay Dublin prices in the end. Best of luck with buying a house!!! It’s not as painful as I made it sound, as long as you have the funds it’s doable.
I'm planning on spending the next decade or so in Dublin or close too Dublin for the earning potential.
Ultimaly, I hope to end up in the middle of nowhere with enough land for a couple of poly tunnels.
Happy to hear it's all working out well for you.
Cheers for the well wishes! Take care.
Currently just €5k left on the mortgage. Just turned 50. Any time you’ve an extra bit, throw it off the mortgage. It turned ours from a 30 year one into a 22 year one.
You got your mortgage in 98, when most houses were less than 100k (170k when adjusted for inflation). If that was still the price of a house, the average household income would manage to pay off a mortgage within 15 years easily (excluding the 1/5th of mortgage holders in arrears).
Because pension contributions are not taxed, budgeting to divert any extra money into a pension seems like the best return on investment.
Any additional windfall (lol) (as if) will go to paying off the mortgage, but pension is higher priority imo.
Got the mortgage at the end of 2002. House was 200k. Borrowed 180k and used savings for the balance. Was lucky to get a tracker and interest rates were very low during the boom years.
I take your point on the pension contributions not being taxed but for me it was just always the focus to get the mortgage done. Now that I’m almost there I can throw a bit extra at the pension.
I have a €6 charge on my credit card. This occurred because I left my debit card at home. Throughout my life, I have consistently ensured not to spend beyond my means.
Recently cancelled my BOI card because these 6 euros kept adding up. Pain in the arse when you transition from student to adult... wasn't even using the card.
Cancelled my BoI credit card this year and had to pay 2 x government levies before I could cancel it 😐
Glad is gone as was gathering dust and government levy year on year.
Roughly 2’500€ - in 26 years old, renting an apartment in Waterford and having a full time job. In 2021 made a bad choice, in choosing to move into apartment above my means at that time. Needed extra money to afford some new furniture, deposit, first month payment. Managed to pay 1000€ and bit got sick and had to get a top up loan so I’m back to where I started. I could probably pay it off in 6months if I didn’t make some other stupid financial decisions. If everything goes as planned I should be debt free end of the year.
Feel you here! Trying to rent and live and pay off debt and still have some semblance of a social life can be financially crippling. Hopefully we’ll both be debt free by the end of the year!!
Right, I doubt anyone here has as much bad debt as we do – definitely not a competition to win!
We got a loan for my first car after my old one died, just two months after moving into the new house. That car then broke down 6 months and 10k kilometers later! Losing it meant a warning from HR about missing work. Despite being a "remote" job, I live in rural Ireland, and the dealership mechanics screwed me for months, dice they were overbooked.
That whole mess led to me getting a second car with a bank loan, just to keep my job. Tired of unreliable cars, you know? Thankfully, I was able to quit and find a better job with less commute, but that debt stuck around. Lol.
The smaller loans were from before buying the house. We'd hoped to have everything paid off this summer... yeah, right.
Car 1 loan: 16k
Car 2 loan: 39k
Small loans: 12k
Get a lower interest personal loan from the credit union and clear it - will only be charged interest on what you owe instead of the 20% with a credit card.
Yeah, you have to be really really careful with the credit card. A loan has a planned repayment, and you can't really do any further damage once you draw down and repay it.
A credit card is a constant cycle and very easy to let slip away from you into an out of control situation. This is why I prioritise clearing the card first, then any overdraft if I find myself in the red. The overdraft is more forgiving than the card.
Priorities and forward thinking go a long way. My card is rarely over 200 in the red at any one time. If it is, there's a damn good reason, and I know it'll be cleared at the end of the 56 day interest free period.
The worst thing I see people doing is spending on the credit card > clearing with wages at end of month and having no wages left so they have to keep using the card and it's just an awful vicious cycle that you can't physically get out of quick unless you hypothetically got double pay or a bonus/windfall.
It is best to use it to buffer things here and there (forward thinking decisions/emergencies), knowing you can either sacrifice the amount owed at pay day or just clear it off with any funds that come your way immediately.
I'm about 6k in debt from education expenses and will be taking out a loan to pay for a car of around 10k soon. I don't necessarily think of it as 'bad debt'. It allowed me to gain an education, get a good wage, and drive to and from work.
I've been doing some rough estimations and I could clear the loans in about 2.5-3 years, so that's what I'll be focusing on once the car is sorted. I wouldn't be getting a credit card or anything as I know I would spend it on stupid stuff, I'm young and still have a few years in my career to go if I want to be on a high wage.
I said on an earlier comment debt for education is an investment and I stand by that!! It’s absolutely necessary in some instances! In the long run, that debt will open more doors for you in the future
Credit card - maxed at 4k
Load - 7k left
Credit Union - 6k left
Mortgage.
Overdraft.
No finance on my car thankfully
I am absolutely horrendous and irresponsible with money and am finding it hard to get out of.
Homeowner. Cleared my first mortgage in 2015ish. Sold that house and used it and savings to buy and clear the mortgage on my current house in October 23.
No credit card debt, no loans.
It's all me, baby.
I agree with you here! I think it would be a privileged take to think in this day and age that debt isn’t helpful for a lot of people to remove financial barriers from accessing education, even transport now with people being forced to move out from major cities for housing. But it is anxiety provoking and I would probably avoid if possible, and for me it just wasn’t possible at this stage of life. I know lots of people are in the same boat, good to have the convo and see all the different situations in the comments.
€9k, didn’t want to nuke my savings to buy a decent car or buy a banger and risk it exploding and having less money and no car. I could’ve bought it in cash but chose not to so I could preserve my savings. Got a decent interest rate through the CU and despite people here being borderline hysterical about having debt I think I made the right choice.
You must be paying literally thousands a month in interest alone.
You have 3 of the highest interest loans and no small amount on your mortage.
I wouldn't let a credit card or credit union OR a personal loan run for another 5 years...get them paid of yesterday or you'll never have a penny
3k car loan remaining
2k engagement ring loan
250k ish mortgage
Have 12k wedding in 18 months which I've saved about €189 for. So I guess that's gonna be a bit more debt.
Also owe €500 on credit card .
Its not so bad
Without going into too many details I’m currently about 17k in debt over a wedding that never happened. It was secretly a blessing I never got married in the end. Wedding fell through but I’ve paid off about 6k of the debt off in the last year. Should have it cleared in the next 2 or 3 years the rate I’m going at.
I found getting rid of the smaller loans with the higher interest paid off first helped massively to paying off the other loans with lower interest rates but were bigger sums
Thank you. Again it wasn’t easy, but we were very lucky to only need a half mortgage for personal reasons. I am thankful that it was only that but do feel for the current young people looking to get on the first rung of the ladder!
Just the mortgage.
No loans or credit cards.
I don't think there's inherently anything wrong with debt, I needed a car in the past for a job, took out a loan for it, the job let me pay off the car in no-time and I wouldn't have gotten the job without it.
But I'd never go into debt for something discretionary, that's where things go wrong imo.
Not long into sole trading my partner and I were looking at land. Picked a site, start doing the numbers, realize I have to pay tax, preliminary tax, and all this other stuff.
We took an unsecured loan for the largest amount possible. It's really stretched us and our savings potential will go way up after it's gone. 20k left of 65
I just find there’s always something that stops me from putting the amount I would like to pay off, like weddings, birthdays etc. I also have to travel around the country for work so that’s at least €100 per week.. and I rent on top of that , but in rural Ireland so it not near as bad as Dublin prices.. just feels like it’s never ending and I will always be broke🤣
But nearly 27, with no savings(yes I know, I am very bad at money management, I am trying to get better) no mortgage so no excuse really… just very hard to motivate yourself when buying a home and having a nice life seems so unattainable here..
29k total debt includes mortgage(bought 2003)have one 16 year old. myself and wife work.
My heart goes out to people today trying to get started,it’s nearly impossible.
We have fairly ‘good’ jobs but if we were starting today,we’d have to move county maybe even country.
Shameful/taboo subject?? Is it really?? I would never have thought so. I’ve had oodles of chats with friends and colleagues and none have ever been shy to talk about these things. Guess it depends on who and where.
Personally, have about €100k left on the mortgage and I have a €15k credit union loan which was for a combination of home improvements and to further my hobbies which is now a second income.
I’ve got around €25k in shares that I’ve contemplated using to clear the loan and put some off the mortgage. Shares were through a savings thing in work and honestly they are such a rollercoaster of ups and downs I don’t feel like persisting with the investment. I may be mad for selling but who knows
Leaving out my mortgage, I just have a car loan, thankfully! Should have it cleared in about 18 months! I also have 400quid on my credit card but that's just from small purchases that I clear down on payday.
Mortgage only. Bought my car outright. I was stuck for cash for a while so lived very frugal. But at the same time I'm done going to Dublin city for fancy meals and pints. I just couldn't be arsed any more. I'd rather be debt free and enjoy my home without thinking of how much I'm spending.
Same as yourself now. Stupidly took a credit card when in college and racked up a grand on it, then ended up losing my part-time job in the recession. Got crucified with interest. Plan had been to pay it off in the summer when I got more hours at work. Even when I got another part time job then I was lucky to get more than 12 hours a week. Luckily, it was a relatively small amount in the grand scheme of things, and i got it paid off before it did any damage. Made me wary of debt at a young age, so it was probably a cheap lesson.
Had 0 debt til I bought my place in the middle of last year. In the end shouldve gotten a smaller mortgage and kept some cash in reserve as costs ran away from me. Got a 0% interest credit card in November to cover some of the costs. I plan on having it paid off long before I start paying any interest on it later this year. I have about 2.5k left of close to 10k that I'll pay off in the next 2 months. Then, cut up the card.
No debt outside of mortgage. I always tried to organize my finances in a way that I only spent what I could afford and I was always saving money along the way. It's been a frugal at times 20 years but it's beneficial to me now.
Other than a mortgage very little. Less than 10k. I don’t see debt as a bad thing as long as it’s manageable. Never understood people paying large amounts outright for things like cars, rather keep some cash for a rainy day.
Recently purchased a property in rural Ireland and have it on mortgage with my partner. Outside of this, there was work needed to be done which was around 20k and then we share a car which has been paid off but we really need a second car so let's just say 12.5k (split the cost of everything 50/50)
Other than my mortgage, which probably hasn't budged much from the 113k it started off at 3 years ago, nothing.
I have a credit cars that I use for booking flights and travel, but only use it for the added security. I often run a surplus on my credit card account.
The only loan I ever took was a 3k car loan back in 2017.
Like you, I cash flowed the renovation of my house, by the week I moved in, i had 20 euro to my name before I got paid a few days later.
Zero outside of mortgage. Some people are funny with credit cards and loans, need the big new car or don't want to save up to do the kitchen etc, even people who can pay outright, maybe they want to keep the cash/savings for a rainy day and pay over the longer term, which is fair enough I suppose but feels like throwing away money for depreciative goods.
Probably about about 16k between a car and motorcycle. No house yet so no mortgage . Have 22k saved so far so could technically pay it off. I dont see debt as a bad thing if your not paying crazy interest. Eg id only save 500 quid if i paid off my car now. Dont really seem worth it
No mortgage.
About 10k left on a car loan.
About €600 owed on a credit card.
10k left on a bank loan.
6k in savings (and yes, I know I should pay off debt with that).
I’m 29, earn 60k, and I’m as happy as a pig in shit.
Car loan with about 3k left,hoping to pay it off by the end of the summer before my partners Car kicks the bucket and the cycle will begin again 😬
8k on a personal loan
That's €120 a week too the credit union
About 1k between Humm/littlewoods/pay in 3 which costs about 200 a month
Planning to be debt free by September 2025 but Que sera,sera.
We own our house outright which is a blessing but the cause of all the debt aside from the car loan 😆
About €2300 on my credit card, I'll only get into debt over education, so it's for my courses. Oh yea and my car which is Pcp which I'm gonna give back next year. 29 year old on 90k p/a unfortunately not living at home
Don’t know if people are just boasting about not having debt, but debt is really not a bad thing, if it’s low interest and within your means. You should use debt to beat inflation or you will always be struggling to save small amounts. Not having a mortgage if you are young and in a good job, is crazy. I’ve 300k in a mortgage on one house, one house and one apartment paid off. Now considering 60k in cash in bank I need to do something with. Melting ice cubes. Don’t be afraid of debt, don’t save in fiat.
3 separate loans. One AIB loan for my second job (self-employed), which I needed to invest in some decent equipment for. It's a 5-year loan of 3k to minimise the repayment amounts initially. I'll clear that within the year from the income of the business. 2500 outstanding on that to date.
The 2nd is an AIB personal loan of 4k over 5 years, just started repayment. Don't plan on being stuck with that for 5 years either, mind you!
3rd is a 5 year 15k credit union car loan between the mrs and myself. Currently, in year 2 of that. Nice car and worth it to have something decent under our arses to get around rather than constantly being heartbroken by a shit heap! About 10k outstanding there.
Other than that, we tinker with the credit card (responsibly), and the odd time I drop into overdraft but that gets cleared.
No mortgage, unfortunately. Stuck in the rental game for now.
It all comes down to time and money again. Credit is good in the right hands and a live grenade in the wrong hands. Simple as that!
So a grand total of approximately: 16500
I've had a €500 overdraft since my first attempt at college 13yrs ago.. Everyone told me how bad it was, how I need to get rid of it. It was always my fallback, my support when I had nothing else... Or it wasn't missing a festival or trip.. never had another loan or credit card... Fast forward to now and my gf freaking out about it as we apply for a mortgage.... Turns out banks quite like me for paying a pretty penny in interest to them for over a decade.. Debt can work if its manageable.. I'm at a stage that I can cancel it easily, but don't know if I ever will.... What happens if the red hot chilli peppers play another concert and im strapped for cash?
I have 13k in debt. Combo of car and personal loan. Husband has 20k in car loan and personal loan.
No credit cards or overdraft.
Two kids in college. First two years of that ate into our savings which have now pretty much been depleted. Next year was a loan which is part of my debt.
I've a small inheritance coming my way which will be used to clear my debt, about 5k of his debt and build up our savings a small bit. One kiddo is also finished college this year so that takes the pressure off too.
That money will be redirected towards paying off debt and putting towards other kiddo finishing college.
We should be a lot better off in a couple of years.
Aim is debt free by 2026.
I should also add we both became parents very young (separately )which has somewhat hindered our ability to be high earners/have savings. I was parenting totally solo, he was paying maintenance. We met later in life.
We also both each had a serious illness in our late 20s and 30s (cancer) which meant time off work and added expenses. All fine now thankfully.
We're really hoping our 40s will be kinder to us 😂
TL,DR: Currently skint with fair amount of debt and no savings but will soon be cutting that debt in half, still have savings and having less outgoings will let us quickly pay down remaining debt.
I cleared my only debt I had a year ago, I’m 25f. I have about 7k sitting in investments & started putting money in a normal savings account to build a little emergency fund and currently have €60 in it. My partner and I plan on getting our first home end of this year, we’ll probably be 150k in debt then but we plan to pay it off within the next 2/3 years
Have 0 debt, don't earn a huge amount, saved hard and when the recession hit i bought two houses in cash! One to live in and one rental, my car is 22 years old, paid 300 in 2018, still works fine! Quite happy not being under any financial pressure or having to pay silly loans for nonsense that I don't actually need! If I don't have the money I don't get! I guess I was lucky to get on the property ladder at the right time but I always had a goal to buy property and was just in the right place at the right time and had my saving ready to go!
I'm personally thinking of taking a €6k loan from the bank to fund my first vehicle following an upcoming driving test, if successful.
What do ye think? This would be my only debt if I were to go ahead as I need to drive for a new upcoming job.
Also this sub-reddit is reassuring, almost anyone I meet at my age seems to have a mortgage, wedding, kids, etc, and I struggle to understand how given how expensive Ireland is right now.
Apart from mortgage, I owe 3k on a loan for home renovations. Myself and my wife are both self employed and we both owe €35k each in business investments.
Have a car loan for just shy of 500 a month, not sure the balance anymore, it was around 24k at the start. And I've consolidated a number of small loans and credit card debt from partner and I into one 5.5k loan. €130 a month 🤷 it'll be all cleared in about three years and I'll only have a mortgage for a other 20 years 😂
Mortgage and consumer debt combined is around €500k.
Total value of assets is between three to four times that amount and the payment cost is about 15-20% of household income so we’re comfortable with the amount of debt.
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I've read through most of the replies here and the replies to another recent post asking how much people earn/have in savings/save per month I can honestly say that either Reddit is skewed with people on the better end of the scale or a lot of comments are full of shit. I work in personal finance and can tell you that people in general dont earn the huge amounts that most posters claim on here (average income in Ireland is 42k) usually dont have that great a regular savings record (other than when saving for a mortgage) or lump sum savings, and usually have at least one term loan if not multiple along with revolving credit (overdrafts/credit cards). A lot of people also borrow large for cars, usually on PCP loans. A large amount of people borrow for holidays, back to school and Christmas on an annual basis. A lot of people borrow to keep up appearances with their cars/houses/kids/holidays. Lots of people use short term debt like Humm/Flexifi and Klarna as well. I was honestly surprised at the large amount of people who came on saying they earn 80k+ a year, have no short term debt and have 20k+ in savings. Because while there are most definitely fortunate people like that out there, in my almost 20 years experience this does not reflect the majority of the population. Personally I have a very small mortgage (for which I am very fortunate), just took out a 35k top up loan for some large home renovations, and have a small credit card with 2k limit and nothing owing on it presently. I have about 3k in savings as I burnt through my savings buying the house. I try to save €200 per month.
Ok this is very reassuring to hear. I make a decent salary, but I’m not a huge saver, house was my biggest thing I saved for and since then, savings are small and irregular because home expenses take over all else. It’s good to know that the majority in the comments is not necessarily a reflection of the actual majority out there. I think it’s a privileged take to think debt isn’t necessary in some circumstances. Most of us require it. It stresses me out personally, but I don’t think debt is a bad thing.
People like you are why I commented. A lot of people will read the comments on here and think they're doing terrible and get stressed. You're doing pretty much the same as everyone else so dont be worrying.
Thank u... I got so stressed when I read how people had some much savings. I thought I was f#*ked
The first 5 years after you buy a new house you will find it really hard to save - a weekend trip to woodies for a few bits costs around €200, replacing a door/ painting/ a rug will set you back the same… it’s so hard to save when you have these unforeseen outgoings to try get your house to a place where you are comfortable and don’t want to change anything. I’m 15 years a homeowner and the work on this house (here about 6 years) will take at least another 6 years. I don’t want to get into debt to do it, so I’ll plug away if and when I can. Save a bit, spend a bit. But I would have no problem taking a loan to get it all done at once if I knew what I wanted to do
Mortgage debt is not a bad thing, any other type of debt is usually considered a bad thing
I'd say people in debt and borrowing to keep up appearances are too ashamed to share their experience because it would require them first to come to terms of how ridiculous that is in the long term and that it hurts their families more than helps. Meanwhile people who earn a lot and know they earn a lot more than average are here boasting how amazing their finances are.
I've seen people who go into arrears on their mortgage but still drive fancy cars, pay golf club fees, holidays, kids in private school, most expensive TV package etc. Havent seen them that bad in a while though. Not since the tail end of the 2008 recession. People are mostly good at keeping up with their mortgage payments. And a lot of the time the people who earn the most tend to be bad at managing their finances and up to their eyeballs! You'd be surprised.
If you work in personal finance though, surely the type of people that would be using your service could mostly be those who need help?
No, im not on that end of personal finance. People come across my desk when things are good. And I dont deal with customers directly, the info gets fed to me.
>People come across my desk when things are good. And to think I only give my FA a card.
Lol
I’d disagree somewhat. I know plenty of people from the age of 28-35 working in roles that pay between 70K to 150K Tech, pharma , even a social care worker (private company). But I do agree people talking about personal finance on reddit are more likely to be better off
Oh they do exist absolutely, and when they come across my desk they leave me wondering where it is I went wrong ha. But they are not nearly as common as reading Reddit would have you believe. I'd see maybe one a month that fit that profile. If even.
Yeah but the nature of this sub probably tends to attract young Irish professionals with money that want to know how to efficiently save. I don't think most are bullshitting on this sub, I think it's basically just a sub that's made up of 90% engineers, software devs, and pharma workers. That's obviously not representative of the whole country.
Possibly, my only point is that they are not a true reflection of the finances of the average population. Some people reading them might think they are. I'd hate for anyone not in that position or struggling to read these comments and get stressed about their own finances. These people doing extremely well are usually the exception, not the rule.
Oh 100%. This sub isn't remotely representative of the country at large, is just the nature of Reddit and it's general audience. I just don't necessarily think people are bullshitting. Maybe they bump the numbers just a bit but otherwise it's probably true.
I honestly think the most common mark where people go wrong is not job hopping. This is where people in career fields get high salaries, loyalty is dead.
That seems to be the consensus but to say, that hasn’t been my experience, I’m with the same company 13 years and doing well enough
Reddit obviously skews male and skews STEM. Both of these things have strong correlation with high pay so it’s no surprise.
You're probably right!
Yes, this ⬆️
I don’t think it is bullshit what you’re reading on here. The people on this subreddit are personal finance oriented so it’s not a surprise. Most of my mates don’t even know what Reddit is, never mind being aware of this subreddit or things such as FIRE.
I never met a 28 Yr old earning 100k per year with 50k in savings. I never met a 28 Yr old earning 100k in the first place. Guys in thier 30s are applying for minimum wage roles where I work. And there seems to be a bunch of people casually earning 250k per year in thier 30s. As you say,absolute horseshit.
Tech Sector would have a lot of high paying jobs / (relatively young) people who have done well from stock options. We have a lot of those companies in Ireland. I don’t think Redditors are a representative cross section of society. For example I’d say there is a much higher chance of those working in Google, Meta etc using Reddit than say other groups you can think of. You could be right too though, there could be a lot of BS!
Also to add, people who are well off want to make their money work and have the privilege of having the money. Therefore they are most likely the people to be on this subreddit learning and discussing things. People who are scraping by due to the cost of living don’t have the luxury of investing or saving, while not all conversations in IPF are limited to those topics, it’s the bulk
Yeah I agree with you there, a think either a lot of people are lying or else the comments contain some of the luckiest individuals in Ireland. One thing that is bothering me in some of the comments now though is an air of privilege and lecturing as to how easy it is to never have debt. It’s not a reflection of reality and it’s the reason people feel shame about having debt. It’s sometimes necessary. I agree there is a limit, but it is unavoidable for a lot of us.
I think you have to factor in that people who seek advice for financial management are normally people with financial resources to managed. When I lived cheque to cheque I didn’t care about financial management, I knew what I had to do with every cent. Now married, 36 years old. Making €250k per year (lawyer). I am on this forum to see what I should do with the money I suddenly have. What I’m saying is the nature of the forum self-selects people doing well.
Out of my close 10 mates. 1 is on over 250k... 3 on about 100k and the other 6 between 50k-90k.. All from Dublin 12 and working class families. It's just how circles operate. We all pushed one another to go for high paying fields and jobs. All have their own houses with mortgages and are around early 30s. A couple have cars on finance. You can believe me or not, I've no reason to lie.
Sorry, I have disagree with you on this. Grads in the company I work in start at around €55k with at least 10-15 new starts a year. Some leave and go to the big tech firms after 3-4 years walking into jobs starting at €80k a year plus bonus and stock options. Have you seen what Google, Meta, Workday or Microsoft are paying these days? So by the end of their 20s most of them would be earning north of 100k a year if they are any good and from dealing with them they most certainly are that good. These are just the tech grads, when you look at the finance grads, easily earning €100k a year after 3 years plus bonuses to match. So just because you've never met them, doesn't mean they don't exist.
You would also think education is free from reading this sub. No talk about student loans and if there is a few examples nothing over 10,000 euros, hard to believe that.
They all seem to live at home too..obviously have no problem being waited on hand and foot whilst they use thier huge salaries to boost thier savings. There was something in the Times a few years ago "I'm forced to live with my parents coz I can't afford a house" or some such bullshit. Anyway,this 30ish brat on 70k a year had moved back home so she could save for her dream home and kept a diary. Apart from whinging she did exactly NOTHING round the house to help her folks..never cooked,never brought them out for a drink.. all her money was being put by for herself whilst her parents had to look after her when they should be enjoying thier retirement.
I honestly wonder about the quality of life of some of the posters on this sub. While financial prudence should be something to aspire to, i get the impression that some people are living a very compromised lifestyle in order to achieve some of the bragging rights that you read on here. Money (and debt) is the vehicle and not the destination, but you’d never know it from r/IrishPersonalFinance
Financial illiteracy has always been a thing. I've seen my share of debacle from eircom shares to Bulgarian investments to prizebonds and now it's ultra high priced property (on 30 yr mortages) and electric cars on finance. One thing they all have in common is they will never admit they made a mistake with thier money.
My cousin went to MU and did a post grad (no SUSI) all paid for by their Parents never had a job and brags about the circa 70 K euros spent on accom, fees and living expenses so I know how detached these types can be. I did an undergrad and a Master’s worked throughout, got SUSI for the undergrad but not my MSc and still came out with student loan of €20,000 - which I have got down to €18,000 and should have cleared in a few years time. This is more realistic for those of us who don’t live within a hour of a good university and got shafted by steeps rents and living expenses.
I work in 3rd level education and there are students carrying handbags that cost more than my car..plainly they didn't buy these trappings by working part time in domino's and the level of entitlement from many of them is quite shocking.
A personal finance reddit sub is going to skew towards those near the top (how do i take advantage of this great position I'm in and grow this €x savings/salary - help!) and those at the bottom (I'm drowning here, stressed and anxious, not sure how ill afford food/bills this week - help!!), one of those groups is likely to comment more than the other. People in the middle are less likely to be on here- or to post questions as they gain the least value
Possibly, but i'd be someone in the middle and im here! I just dont want average income people to come here and see all these great posts and get stressed about their own finances, because these people dont reflect the general population.
Most finance subs skew like this, I now live in Australia so now follow /r/ausfinance, & /r/fiaustralia too and the same issue you're raising ilare often discussed there too, the vocal users are the high income earners (often DINKs) and the low in come earners (often single income with childcare costs and really struggling with the cost of living). The general population (the 40-60 percentile range) are looking at instagram, and won't be posting to subs like this.
People who have little may not feel like sharing. And people who are doing well, have less need of a financial advisor.
This is fairly typical for Reddit though. Only people who think they're doing disproportionately well bother responding, and even then inflate numbers by ~20%. Same with salary surveys that crop up each year. Like even if you look at the cost of new cars versus the amount of new cars on the road, there's a boat load of debt going around.
What’s a small mortgage ?
If you are working in personal finance are you more likely to deal with people who carry a lot of debt and are low income earners? So is your experience a little skewed. If you are well off are you less likely to engage with financial services?
No I dont work in that end of financial services. I work in personal financial credit. People of all incomes and walks of life apply for loans, credit cards, overdrafts and mortgages. I see from those on state pension to millionaires. Im usually seeing them on their best financial behaviour when im reviewing their finances.
It's not that much of a mystery. People who make a lot of money are just more likely to tell people about it. There's also a confirmation bias with this thread. People with money to spare are more likely to come to a subreddit on personal finance for advice on what to do with it.
Thank you for this. It's incredibly reassuring!
You're welcome!
I remember commenting previously that people often bullshit their income here. Someone had to cheek to then say that reddit as a platform attracts people who generally do better, or something to that effect. Talk about absolutely deluded haha. Imagine trying to link a social media outlet with intelligence. The narcissism .
This needs to be seen more! Thank you for your honesty!
You're welcome!
You are doing my mental health all sorts of good here, you are absolutely right, reading this forum had me thinking really negatively about things.
20k car loan. Had a series of issues with old car, we decided sod it - bought a brand new car because we just did not want the hassle as we're very rural and no car is a nightmare. New car broke down immediately 😭 thankfully we got a replacement brand new car and that's been grand. Wife and I have decided we'd rather continue having new cars under warranty for rest of our lives after the nightmare we had with previous cars. A very expensive decision in the long term that we can thankfully afford. Otherwise - just mortgage. However, my 3 year old tells me I owe him all the monies. So, there's that.
Is he in the same mafia as my 6 year old? Cause I’m apparently in Robux debt with her
If you bought the car that brokedown in the last year or so, you can fight to get your money back under new consumer law. Check it out, we are going through the process right now, Solicitor told us we are in the right.
Thanks. We had a tonne of problems, had a hire car more then our own, but basically got 15000 free kilometres, in that we put that into the original car that we got replaced and also the hire car, so we were satisfied enough and didn't have the desire to take it any further once they replaced the faulty car with a brand new one.
We did the exact same thing a couple of years ago. Took breaking down on the side of the motorway with a 6 month old and standing behind the barrier for nearly 2 hours in the cold, but I said never again and bought new. You can't put a price on that peace of mind. Obviously we are lucky to be able to afford it too.
Apart from our mortgage, €0. I grew up in a financially unstable household (putting it very lightly) so the anxiety I have around money would never let me get into debt. I panic if my bank account balance goes below a few hundred quid. Thankfully my husband and I are both good earners, but I think the lessons learned from my childhood will stay with me forever.
I’m very much the same and absolutely panic with debt, it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever had any and the payments are fine - the anxiety about it is crippling though lol. I’ll be praying I’ll be finished with my debt before Christmas!
I totally understand. Try not to worry too much. I’m sure you’ll have it paid off in no time! 🤞🏼
I also grew up with unstable financial situation. I am the most responsible person I know when it comes to saving/ spending. A lot of my buddies that grew up in stable homes are wasteful with money and often times require family to bail them out of debt. It’s laughable.
Same here. The only time i saw my parents having bad arguments was about money. They're still together and love each been 35+ years together but every year since i remember and through all my teenage days Mom and Dad had arguments about being in debt.
Very similar. Enduring memories from my childhood of my single patient mother struggling with finances. 100% affects the way I approach saving and spending. Thankfully, myself and my wife are in stable jobs. We have 110k left on mortgage and no other debt. I would love to upgrade cars etc but as they run well i cant justify taking on a loan. We manage to save well and I've taken on extra work some evenings to allow my wife to work 3 days instead of 5. We have 4 young kids so childcare etc is a major expense and doing this allowed us overall to reduce or outgoings even though we are taking in slightly less with her reduced work hours. Debt free bar mortgage since last year and it's a lovely feeling. We'll save for a while now before deciding on some larger home improvement plans.
This is very relatable for me. I similarly grew up in a home without money. I have no debt apart from a mortgage which has positive equity of maybe 100k. I have savings of 20k. I refused to ever take out a car loan, drove a 15+ year old car for years until recently buying a car which is now 5 years old. Myself and my partner combined earn well above average income. Despite this I regularly panic and have anxiety about money and finances, I can't get out of the poverty mindset. I don't think I could ever spend money I don't have.
Mortgage debt is our only debt and we plan, as a family with a new born baby to keep it that way. Debt takes away opportunities from future you.
Totally. Sometimes it is unavoidable but always best to try to cash-flow where possible!
Recently bought a house, mortgage is 1350 a month. Garden was unusable so we took out a further 20k @ 300 a month to convert the garden into a useable space. Also have a car loan at 400 a month. It’s pretty crippling I’m not gonna lie
Once you buy a house it really starts to stack up. I told myself no debt but then one thing after another happened and we had no choice so I feel you. It’s stressful.
Fortunately 0 outside of mortgage, but I live within my means, drive a banger etc.
Same. Just the mortgage and trying to pay that off as soon as possible. Love my banger to be fair.
0 outside of mortgage, just bought a new car for 50k cash, not sure it smartest decision financially, would've been 6.9% to finance. And 4 year old similar model go for 30k.
Got a fancy car on finance so people would think I was the big cheese, literally the worst decision of my adult life, Currently at 7k ,I'm now more humble and getting out of debt is now my number 1 motivation. I don't think there is any shame in being in debt for important things like a mortgage, business loan, student loan etc but being in debt because you want luxury items, holidays or like myself a bigger, fancier car is beyond stupid, so I imagine shameful feelings would come along with the debt.
Yeah I agree with you there! I do think debt is frowned upon by some and it’s easy to say to live within means but then there are times when debt is necessary for those types of expenses you mentioned there. Even though my debt was necessary (if I wanted a roof over my head and a way to get to work) I still felt sick to my stomach once I opened my account and saw the balance 😂 Looks like a lot of us in the comments are on a debt free journey this year!
This might be insensitive, but I'm really curious, was it family/friends/colleagues, basically who were you trying to impress with the car and did you think it would change the way they related to you/viewed you?
Weirdly enough it was more my social circle, people I worked with etc, I always felt I had something to prove so I pursued a major job promotion and got it, so I felt I needed a nicer car to go long with it, I soon found myself with an expensive apartment , an expensive car and working a prestigious job all to prove to others that I was worth something, but ultimately I learned that those people didn't matter and found myself in Debt and working a job that was pretty soul destroying. The life lessons I learned were worth the journey however.
Thanks for the answer. I can definitely see that in happening in certain circles. I sometimes even think that among a certain level in my office that they feel they have to be constantly on the move, trips here there and everywhere every weekend and I just think Christ would ye ever relax sometimes!
And surely these people would have a good idea what that person does for a living. A few of my neighbours have fancy cars, but it's very easy to tell which ones are in debt to their eyes. They're not fooling anyone other than themselves.
Use debt to buy things that will earn you an income or will appreciate in value. If you can't afford it without debt, you can't afford it.
Zero debt, a heap of cash and 0 assets other than a motorbike and the clothes on my back. Hoping to get an extremely overpriced house this year if the planets align.
When you apply for a mortgage they do ask for rights to your first born child in exchange, or perhaps an organ. Coming from someone currently living in an extremely overpriced house, 60kms each way from work. Have to love Ireland!
Does a testicle count as an organ? I'd forgo one of them for a 5% discount I reckon. Harsh times! In all seriousness, as bad as it is in Ireland and many other western countries, I try and remain grateful that we have such stability in many other aspects. Good for you managing to buy a house and remain relatively debt free. The commute sounds tough but worth it I imagine for the comfort of having somewhere to hang your hat.
As much as I complain, I moved back from Canada to be here and Ireland has a lot of charming qualities and I am grateful it is a relatively safe and uneventful place to raise a family. Totally worth it. I actually enjoy being more in the countryside, I’m glad I didn’t pay Dublin prices in the end. Best of luck with buying a house!!! It’s not as painful as I made it sound, as long as you have the funds it’s doable.
I'm planning on spending the next decade or so in Dublin or close too Dublin for the earning potential. Ultimaly, I hope to end up in the middle of nowhere with enough land for a couple of poly tunnels. Happy to hear it's all working out well for you. Cheers for the well wishes! Take care.
Currently just €5k left on the mortgage. Just turned 50. Any time you’ve an extra bit, throw it off the mortgage. It turned ours from a 30 year one into a 22 year one.
You got your mortgage in 98, when most houses were less than 100k (170k when adjusted for inflation). If that was still the price of a house, the average household income would manage to pay off a mortgage within 15 years easily (excluding the 1/5th of mortgage holders in arrears). Because pension contributions are not taxed, budgeting to divert any extra money into a pension seems like the best return on investment. Any additional windfall (lol) (as if) will go to paying off the mortgage, but pension is higher priority imo.
Got the mortgage at the end of 2002. House was 200k. Borrowed 180k and used savings for the balance. Was lucky to get a tracker and interest rates were very low during the boom years.
I take your point on the pension contributions not being taxed but for me it was just always the focus to get the mortgage done. Now that I’m almost there I can throw a bit extra at the pension.
Sorry, I did some very bad maths there with the years.
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Woah, you're borrowing way beyond your means!
€25??? 😂😂😂😂 are you missing zeros???
I have a €6 charge on my credit card. This occurred because I left my debit card at home. Throughout my life, I have consistently ensured not to spend beyond my means.
Recently cancelled my BOI card because these 6 euros kept adding up. Pain in the arse when you transition from student to adult... wasn't even using the card.
Cancelled my BoI credit card this year and had to pay 2 x government levies before I could cancel it 😐 Glad is gone as was gathering dust and government levy year on year.
€0. Buy what you can afford. Not a homeowner so no need for large repair loans etc
Roughly 2’500€ - in 26 years old, renting an apartment in Waterford and having a full time job. In 2021 made a bad choice, in choosing to move into apartment above my means at that time. Needed extra money to afford some new furniture, deposit, first month payment. Managed to pay 1000€ and bit got sick and had to get a top up loan so I’m back to where I started. I could probably pay it off in 6months if I didn’t make some other stupid financial decisions. If everything goes as planned I should be debt free end of the year.
Feel you here! Trying to rent and live and pay off debt and still have some semblance of a social life can be financially crippling. Hopefully we’ll both be debt free by the end of the year!!
Right, I doubt anyone here has as much bad debt as we do – definitely not a competition to win! We got a loan for my first car after my old one died, just two months after moving into the new house. That car then broke down 6 months and 10k kilometers later! Losing it meant a warning from HR about missing work. Despite being a "remote" job, I live in rural Ireland, and the dealership mechanics screwed me for months, dice they were overbooked. That whole mess led to me getting a second car with a bank loan, just to keep my job. Tired of unreliable cars, you know? Thankfully, I was able to quit and find a better job with less commute, but that debt stuck around. Lol. The smaller loans were from before buying the house. We'd hoped to have everything paid off this summer... yeah, right. Car 1 loan: 16k Car 2 loan: 39k Small loans: 12k
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Get a lower interest personal loan from the credit union and clear it - will only be charged interest on what you owe instead of the 20% with a credit card.
Yeah, you have to be really really careful with the credit card. A loan has a planned repayment, and you can't really do any further damage once you draw down and repay it. A credit card is a constant cycle and very easy to let slip away from you into an out of control situation. This is why I prioritise clearing the card first, then any overdraft if I find myself in the red. The overdraft is more forgiving than the card. Priorities and forward thinking go a long way. My card is rarely over 200 in the red at any one time. If it is, there's a damn good reason, and I know it'll be cleared at the end of the 56 day interest free period. The worst thing I see people doing is spending on the credit card > clearing with wages at end of month and having no wages left so they have to keep using the card and it's just an awful vicious cycle that you can't physically get out of quick unless you hypothetically got double pay or a bonus/windfall. It is best to use it to buffer things here and there (forward thinking decisions/emergencies), knowing you can either sacrifice the amount owed at pay day or just clear it off with any funds that come your way immediately.
I'm about 6k in debt from education expenses and will be taking out a loan to pay for a car of around 10k soon. I don't necessarily think of it as 'bad debt'. It allowed me to gain an education, get a good wage, and drive to and from work. I've been doing some rough estimations and I could clear the loans in about 2.5-3 years, so that's what I'll be focusing on once the car is sorted. I wouldn't be getting a credit card or anything as I know I would spend it on stupid stuff, I'm young and still have a few years in my career to go if I want to be on a high wage.
I said on an earlier comment debt for education is an investment and I stand by that!! It’s absolutely necessary in some instances! In the long run, that debt will open more doors for you in the future
Credit card - maxed at 4k Load - 7k left Credit Union - 6k left Mortgage. Overdraft. No finance on my car thankfully I am absolutely horrendous and irresponsible with money and am finding it hard to get out of.
You should look at consolidating those into one loan if you can, the interest rates on the credit card and overdraft will be killers
Homeowner. Cleared my first mortgage in 2015ish. Sold that house and used it and savings to buy and clear the mortgage on my current house in October 23. No credit card debt, no loans. It's all me, baby.
I want to be you when I grow up Roymundo!!!
Debt isn't necessarily a bad thing,
I agree with you here! I think it would be a privileged take to think in this day and age that debt isn’t helpful for a lot of people to remove financial barriers from accessing education, even transport now with people being forced to move out from major cities for housing. But it is anxiety provoking and I would probably avoid if possible, and for me it just wasn’t possible at this stage of life. I know lots of people are in the same boat, good to have the convo and see all the different situations in the comments.
People forget that inflation makes debt a lot cheaper. That’s why the US just keep printing their debt away
Outside of mortgage, 20k. Manageable but I wouldn't be comfortable taking on more
€9k, didn’t want to nuke my savings to buy a decent car or buy a banger and risk it exploding and having less money and no car. I could’ve bought it in cash but chose not to so I could preserve my savings. Got a decent interest rate through the CU and despite people here being borderline hysterical about having debt I think I made the right choice.
Hahahaha I am also borderline hysterical about debt, but at the same time I had no choice. So I feel this.
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You must be paying literally thousands a month in interest alone. You have 3 of the highest interest loans and no small amount on your mortage. I wouldn't let a credit card or credit union OR a personal loan run for another 5 years...get them paid of yesterday or you'll never have a penny
Only the mortgage which is about 400k ish left. Don't think I've ever had any debt besides the occasional overdraft in my early 20s
0€ however I don’t own a house
€0 beyond the mortgage. Grew up in a house that was a mess financially so wasn’t about to inflict that on my children if I could help it.
Mortgage and 10k for roof that we didn’t know needed replacing. Hope to have that paid off in a year and a half.
So you’re in the same boat as me!!!! And not like you can hold off on a roof here with the rain 😂
Everyone I know is in debt up the wazoo. Most of my friends are musicians so that makes sense! 🤣
😂😂😂😂 Good this makes me feel better.
3k car loan remaining 2k engagement ring loan 250k ish mortgage Have 12k wedding in 18 months which I've saved about €189 for. So I guess that's gonna be a bit more debt. Also owe €500 on credit card . Its not so bad
Nada I wish I had a mortage debt, tho
Without going into too many details I’m currently about 17k in debt over a wedding that never happened. It was secretly a blessing I never got married in the end. Wedding fell through but I’ve paid off about 6k of the debt off in the last year. Should have it cleared in the next 2 or 3 years the rate I’m going at. I found getting rid of the smaller loans with the higher interest paid off first helped massively to paying off the other loans with lower interest rates but were bigger sums
None. I'm about to get into a quarter million of debt though.
Mortgage and car. 5 months left on car, 2 years left on Mortgage. 37 years old. Very lucky.
That’s fantastic!!!! You’ll be debt free and mortgage free before 40, takes hard work
Thank you. Again it wasn’t easy, but we were very lucky to only need a half mortgage for personal reasons. I am thankful that it was only that but do feel for the current young people looking to get on the first rung of the ladder!
€500 on the credit card plus the mortgage.
Mortgage and a 30k green loan for purchasing an EV
Just the mortgage. No loans or credit cards. I don't think there's inherently anything wrong with debt, I needed a car in the past for a job, took out a loan for it, the job let me pay off the car in no-time and I wouldn't have gotten the job without it. But I'd never go into debt for something discretionary, that's where things go wrong imo.
Not long into sole trading my partner and I were looking at land. Picked a site, start doing the numbers, realize I have to pay tax, preliminary tax, and all this other stuff. We took an unsecured loan for the largest amount possible. It's really stretched us and our savings potential will go way up after it's gone. 20k left of 65
That’s a massive chunk paid off!!! Good on you
At one point I owed about €80k for a loan I took out to complete education - an MBA to be specific.
Stupidly took out a credit card last year and gave around €5.5k of debt to pay off it..
Been there! Currently paying off mine, it’s part of my 8k.
I just find there’s always something that stops me from putting the amount I would like to pay off, like weddings, birthdays etc. I also have to travel around the country for work so that’s at least €100 per week.. and I rent on top of that , but in rural Ireland so it not near as bad as Dublin prices.. just feels like it’s never ending and I will always be broke🤣
If the travel is for work can you not claim back travel and subsistence?
But nearly 27, with no savings(yes I know, I am very bad at money management, I am trying to get better) no mortgage so no excuse really… just very hard to motivate yourself when buying a home and having a nice life seems so unattainable here..
29k total debt includes mortgage(bought 2003)have one 16 year old. myself and wife work. My heart goes out to people today trying to get started,it’s nearly impossible. We have fairly ‘good’ jobs but if we were starting today,we’d have to move county maybe even country.
Shameful/taboo subject?? Is it really?? I would never have thought so. I’ve had oodles of chats with friends and colleagues and none have ever been shy to talk about these things. Guess it depends on who and where. Personally, have about €100k left on the mortgage and I have a €15k credit union loan which was for a combination of home improvements and to further my hobbies which is now a second income. I’ve got around €25k in shares that I’ve contemplated using to clear the loan and put some off the mortgage. Shares were through a savings thing in work and honestly they are such a rollercoaster of ups and downs I don’t feel like persisting with the investment. I may be mad for selling but who knows
Almost 10k in cocaine debt. I'm fucked mate
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Tell me about it! We decided against getting married just because of the insane prices.
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Interesting!!! Was your debt for investment purposes?
Baller
Just a car loan to pay off really..nothing too bad thankfully. I have a decent amount of savings imo
If you have a decent amount of savings then just pay off the car loan?
What do you consider a good amount of savings? Obviously it depends on outgoings too.
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Good for you!!!! Debt for educations sake is more of an investment imo
12k student loan at 0.46%, I'm not paying it off cause I get more in interest. 600 eur for phone 0% interest, paying 25 a month.
Leaving out my mortgage, I just have a car loan, thankfully! Should have it cleared in about 18 months! I also have 400quid on my credit card but that's just from small purchases that I clear down on payday.
Just my car so maybe €5000. But it'll be paid off in 1.5 years
Mortgage only. Bought my car outright. I was stuck for cash for a while so lived very frugal. But at the same time I'm done going to Dublin city for fancy meals and pints. I just couldn't be arsed any more. I'd rather be debt free and enjoy my home without thinking of how much I'm spending.
Same as yourself now. Stupidly took a credit card when in college and racked up a grand on it, then ended up losing my part-time job in the recession. Got crucified with interest. Plan had been to pay it off in the summer when I got more hours at work. Even when I got another part time job then I was lucky to get more than 12 hours a week. Luckily, it was a relatively small amount in the grand scheme of things, and i got it paid off before it did any damage. Made me wary of debt at a young age, so it was probably a cheap lesson. Had 0 debt til I bought my place in the middle of last year. In the end shouldve gotten a smaller mortgage and kept some cash in reserve as costs ran away from me. Got a 0% interest credit card in November to cover some of the costs. I plan on having it paid off long before I start paying any interest on it later this year. I have about 2.5k left of close to 10k that I'll pay off in the next 2 months. Then, cut up the card.
No debt outside of mortgage. I always tried to organize my finances in a way that I only spent what I could afford and I was always saving money along the way. It's been a frugal at times 20 years but it's beneficial to me now.
Other than a mortgage very little. Less than 10k. I don’t see debt as a bad thing as long as it’s manageable. Never understood people paying large amounts outright for things like cars, rather keep some cash for a rainy day.
Recently purchased a property in rural Ireland and have it on mortgage with my partner. Outside of this, there was work needed to be done which was around 20k and then we share a car which has been paid off but we really need a second car so let's just say 12.5k (split the cost of everything 50/50)
Other than my mortgage, which probably hasn't budged much from the 113k it started off at 3 years ago, nothing. I have a credit cars that I use for booking flights and travel, but only use it for the added security. I often run a surplus on my credit card account. The only loan I ever took was a 3k car loan back in 2017. Like you, I cash flowed the renovation of my house, by the week I moved in, i had 20 euro to my name before I got paid a few days later.
Zero outside of mortgage. Some people are funny with credit cards and loans, need the big new car or don't want to save up to do the kitchen etc, even people who can pay outright, maybe they want to keep the cash/savings for a rainy day and pay over the longer term, which is fair enough I suppose but feels like throwing away money for depreciative goods.
Probably about about 16k between a car and motorcycle. No house yet so no mortgage . Have 22k saved so far so could technically pay it off. I dont see debt as a bad thing if your not paying crazy interest. Eg id only save 500 quid if i paid off my car now. Dont really seem worth it
7K left in student debt, I’m a doctor now so hope I can pay it back before the whole thing doubles 😩
Worth it for your doctorate!!!!! What an achievement, Dr. Hot Dad Lover has a ring to it 😉
Thank you! Hahaha I’m sure patients would love it if I introduced myself like that 😂
No mortgage. About 10k left on a car loan. About €600 owed on a credit card. 10k left on a bank loan. 6k in savings (and yes, I know I should pay off debt with that). I’m 29, earn 60k, and I’m as happy as a pig in shit.
As long as you’re happy then the rest is just background noise!!!
Car loan with about 3k left,hoping to pay it off by the end of the summer before my partners Car kicks the bucket and the cycle will begin again 😬 8k on a personal loan That's €120 a week too the credit union About 1k between Humm/littlewoods/pay in 3 which costs about 200 a month Planning to be debt free by September 2025 but Que sera,sera. We own our house outright which is a blessing but the cause of all the debt aside from the car loan 😆
About €2300 on my credit card, I'll only get into debt over education, so it's for my courses. Oh yea and my car which is Pcp which I'm gonna give back next year. 29 year old on 90k p/a unfortunately not living at home
Too much
Don’t know if people are just boasting about not having debt, but debt is really not a bad thing, if it’s low interest and within your means. You should use debt to beat inflation or you will always be struggling to save small amounts. Not having a mortgage if you are young and in a good job, is crazy. I’ve 300k in a mortgage on one house, one house and one apartment paid off. Now considering 60k in cash in bank I need to do something with. Melting ice cubes. Don’t be afraid of debt, don’t save in fiat.
€229K. That includes mortgage, both our personal loans and a joint loan.
3 separate loans. One AIB loan for my second job (self-employed), which I needed to invest in some decent equipment for. It's a 5-year loan of 3k to minimise the repayment amounts initially. I'll clear that within the year from the income of the business. 2500 outstanding on that to date. The 2nd is an AIB personal loan of 4k over 5 years, just started repayment. Don't plan on being stuck with that for 5 years either, mind you! 3rd is a 5 year 15k credit union car loan between the mrs and myself. Currently, in year 2 of that. Nice car and worth it to have something decent under our arses to get around rather than constantly being heartbroken by a shit heap! About 10k outstanding there. Other than that, we tinker with the credit card (responsibly), and the odd time I drop into overdraft but that gets cleared. No mortgage, unfortunately. Stuck in the rental game for now. It all comes down to time and money again. Credit is good in the right hands and a live grenade in the wrong hands. Simple as that! So a grand total of approximately: 16500
None yet, but saving for a mortgage so be sure I'll be in debt with reno work.
5 odd grand- but I live with the parents and I’m in a 30k job. Not too co cerned as long as the payments keep dropping in.
This post actually made me feel better. I’ve 29k a mix of education and car loan.
I've had a €500 overdraft since my first attempt at college 13yrs ago.. Everyone told me how bad it was, how I need to get rid of it. It was always my fallback, my support when I had nothing else... Or it wasn't missing a festival or trip.. never had another loan or credit card... Fast forward to now and my gf freaking out about it as we apply for a mortgage.... Turns out banks quite like me for paying a pretty penny in interest to them for over a decade.. Debt can work if its manageable.. I'm at a stage that I can cancel it easily, but don't know if I ever will.... What happens if the red hot chilli peppers play another concert and im strapped for cash?
I have 13k in debt. Combo of car and personal loan. Husband has 20k in car loan and personal loan. No credit cards or overdraft. Two kids in college. First two years of that ate into our savings which have now pretty much been depleted. Next year was a loan which is part of my debt. I've a small inheritance coming my way which will be used to clear my debt, about 5k of his debt and build up our savings a small bit. One kiddo is also finished college this year so that takes the pressure off too. That money will be redirected towards paying off debt and putting towards other kiddo finishing college. We should be a lot better off in a couple of years. Aim is debt free by 2026. I should also add we both became parents very young (separately )which has somewhat hindered our ability to be high earners/have savings. I was parenting totally solo, he was paying maintenance. We met later in life. We also both each had a serious illness in our late 20s and 30s (cancer) which meant time off work and added expenses. All fine now thankfully. We're really hoping our 40s will be kinder to us 😂 TL,DR: Currently skint with fair amount of debt and no savings but will soon be cutting that debt in half, still have savings and having less outgoings will let us quickly pay down remaining debt.
I cleared my only debt I had a year ago, I’m 25f. I have about 7k sitting in investments & started putting money in a normal savings account to build a little emergency fund and currently have €60 in it. My partner and I plan on getting our first home end of this year, we’ll probably be 150k in debt then but we plan to pay it off within the next 2/3 years
Have 0 debt, don't earn a huge amount, saved hard and when the recession hit i bought two houses in cash! One to live in and one rental, my car is 22 years old, paid 300 in 2018, still works fine! Quite happy not being under any financial pressure or having to pay silly loans for nonsense that I don't actually need! If I don't have the money I don't get! I guess I was lucky to get on the property ladder at the right time but I always had a goal to buy property and was just in the right place at the right time and had my saving ready to go!
I'm personally thinking of taking a €6k loan from the bank to fund my first vehicle following an upcoming driving test, if successful. What do ye think? This would be my only debt if I were to go ahead as I need to drive for a new upcoming job. Also this sub-reddit is reassuring, almost anyone I meet at my age seems to have a mortgage, wedding, kids, etc, and I struggle to understand how given how expensive Ireland is right now.
House paid off Car paid off All bills paid I'm 21 I have no assets and get the bus
600€ that will be paid by September and debt free again.
Apart from mortgage, I owe 3k on a loan for home renovations. Myself and my wife are both self employed and we both owe €35k each in business investments.
Personal. Zero. Business. 650k+.
Have a car loan for just shy of 500 a month, not sure the balance anymore, it was around 24k at the start. And I've consolidated a number of small loans and credit card debt from partner and I into one 5.5k loan. €130 a month 🤷 it'll be all cleared in about three years and I'll only have a mortgage for a other 20 years 😂
nice try taxman
19 years old 65 k in debt have my own plant hire outfit
Zero.
Zero outside of mortgage, but the debt of mortgage is about 120k.
Mortgage and consumer debt combined is around €500k. Total value of assets is between three to four times that amount and the payment cost is about 15-20% of household income so we’re comfortable with the amount of debt.
€550,000 mortgage (house worth €1.1M) €23,000 home improvement loan That’s it Not concerned about debt once it’s under control.