MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS:
Irish Times HOW WOULD you like to knock as much as 20 per cent off the cost of your mortgage without breaking a sweat? Believe it or not, it can be done – and it is not hard – yet for reasons that are beyond us, virtually no one is doing it.
Irish consumers are conditioned to pay their mortgage on a monthly basis but this can cost a lot of money. If, instead of paying monthly, you pay your mortgage every two weeks then you could easily dramatically cut its cost over the full term.
If someone has a €300,000 mortgage taken out over a 30-year term and they make a monthly repayment, it will cost €1,610.46 every month, based on an average interest rate today.
If they pay fortnightly, it will cost them €805.23 each time.
But when a person pays monthly, the total interest on that loan over the full 30 years is €279,767.35 or €777.13 a month. If, however, that person pays off the mortgage every fortnight then the total interest falls to €226,466.56 or an interest payment every bi-weekly period of €289.60.
The reason the interest falls so substantially is very simple.
Most banks calculate mortgage interest on a daily basis. If you owe €100,000 and pay off €1,000 monthly, a bank will calculate the interest owed on the full amount of €100,000 at the end of that first month. But if you pay off €500 every fortnight, then for the second half of that first month, the amount of interest you pay is less because for two of the four weeks, the capital owed is €99,500.
Spread that over the 30 years and the savings really mount up.
“The mortgage holder could knock almost €54,000 off the cost of their loan,” says Frank Conway, director of moneycoach.ie.
Earnmoneyforme.com
Showing posts with label beat the recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beat the recession. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Is your job costing you too much money?
CareerBuilder.co.uk
When you're considering a job offer, you can't help but factor in salary. Money matters unless you've got a sizeable nest egg that lets you spend without care. That is not the case for most workers.
Instead, you have to consider the cost of your rent or mortgage, student loans, monthly bills, food and other expenses. A dream job can quickly lose its glimmer when you realise it doesn't pay nearly enough to survive.
But do you continue to examine your expenses once you've accepted the job? If you're strapped for cash on a regular basis, have you resigned yourself to thinking you need to earn more? Well, until that happens, you might want to examine what your job is costing you, not paying you. Many workers forget the indirect expenses of work, such as wardrobe, transportation and food. If you can cut down or make alternate arrangements, you might be able to boost your bank account even without a pay raise.
Here are six ways your job might be costing you:
1. Clothing and dry cleaning
Whether you wear suits or jeans, clothes cost money and you have to replace your work attire regularly. If you have to wear dress clothes, the up-front cost is already steep, but then you're stuck taking them to the cleaners every week. Or you have to buy enough clothes to go to the cleaners less frequently. Either way, you're stuck shelling out cash.
2. Transportation
To get from your home to your workplace probably costs you money in some form. (If you can walk to work or work from home, you're lucky and saving money.) Public transportation is usually cheaper than driving, but it often takes longer, so it costs you time.
But if you're driving, don't just look at the price of petrol, which definitely puts a dent in your pocket. The back-and-forth of everyday commutes puts more miles on your car, which translates into more maintenance and eventually a need to replace the car sooner than if you worked close to home. And if you have to pay tolls, that's yet another expense to consider.
3. Food
One of the easiest ways to save money during the week is to pack your lunch. Unfortunately, life often interrupts the best laid plans and you end up going out for lunch, which means you spend a few quid here, a few quid there, and by the end of the week you've spent 50 pounds on lunches alone. For many workers, job-related activities take up more than 40 hours each week. From the time you leave in the morning to the time you return home, you might have been gone for 12 hours, and that means you probably don't have time or energy to cook tea. Therefore you'll be picking up food on the way home.
4. Child care
If you have children, you know how expensive it is. The cost of child care depends on many factors, such as the child's age and how long the care is for, but it's never cheap. Several studies have shown that many working parents spend a majority of their paycheques on child care, and sometimes parents who work part-time end up losing money. Unless you have an onsite daycare that saves you money or can arrange a more affordable deal with a friend or relative to care for your child, this expense is one you can't avoid.
5. Housekeeping
OK, housekeeping is considered a luxury by many people, and that's fair. However, if your job takes up so much of your time between hours worked and the commute that you're gone 75 hours each week, you're not left with much free time. Therefore, you might feel inclined to have someone clean your house while you're working so you can enjoy yourself when you get home. A job that takes up less of your time would allow you to do chores without feeling like you're wasting your few hours of freedom.
6. Mobile phone and entertainment
If you have to use your mobile for work, hopefully your company covers the cost. Not all companies do, however, and employees are stuck paying for expensive smart phones out of their own pockets because they're expected to be on call every day. They need to be able to access e-mail and send documents at a moment's notice, and these phones and their service plans are expensive.
Some jobs also involve entertaining clients. Again, many companies provide expense accounts, but not all of them do. If you get stuck taking clients to lunch or drinks on a regular basis, that cost adds up, especially if you're driving them around yourself. Just be certain that you're earning more from their business than you're spending.
When you're considering a job offer, you can't help but factor in salary. Money matters unless you've got a sizeable nest egg that lets you spend without care. That is not the case for most workers.
Instead, you have to consider the cost of your rent or mortgage, student loans, monthly bills, food and other expenses. A dream job can quickly lose its glimmer when you realise it doesn't pay nearly enough to survive.
But do you continue to examine your expenses once you've accepted the job? If you're strapped for cash on a regular basis, have you resigned yourself to thinking you need to earn more? Well, until that happens, you might want to examine what your job is costing you, not paying you. Many workers forget the indirect expenses of work, such as wardrobe, transportation and food. If you can cut down or make alternate arrangements, you might be able to boost your bank account even without a pay raise.
Here are six ways your job might be costing you:
1. Clothing and dry cleaning
Whether you wear suits or jeans, clothes cost money and you have to replace your work attire regularly. If you have to wear dress clothes, the up-front cost is already steep, but then you're stuck taking them to the cleaners every week. Or you have to buy enough clothes to go to the cleaners less frequently. Either way, you're stuck shelling out cash.
2. Transportation
To get from your home to your workplace probably costs you money in some form. (If you can walk to work or work from home, you're lucky and saving money.) Public transportation is usually cheaper than driving, but it often takes longer, so it costs you time.
But if you're driving, don't just look at the price of petrol, which definitely puts a dent in your pocket. The back-and-forth of everyday commutes puts more miles on your car, which translates into more maintenance and eventually a need to replace the car sooner than if you worked close to home. And if you have to pay tolls, that's yet another expense to consider.
3. Food
One of the easiest ways to save money during the week is to pack your lunch. Unfortunately, life often interrupts the best laid plans and you end up going out for lunch, which means you spend a few quid here, a few quid there, and by the end of the week you've spent 50 pounds on lunches alone. For many workers, job-related activities take up more than 40 hours each week. From the time you leave in the morning to the time you return home, you might have been gone for 12 hours, and that means you probably don't have time or energy to cook tea. Therefore you'll be picking up food on the way home.
4. Child care
If you have children, you know how expensive it is. The cost of child care depends on many factors, such as the child's age and how long the care is for, but it's never cheap. Several studies have shown that many working parents spend a majority of their paycheques on child care, and sometimes parents who work part-time end up losing money. Unless you have an onsite daycare that saves you money or can arrange a more affordable deal with a friend or relative to care for your child, this expense is one you can't avoid.
5. Housekeeping
OK, housekeeping is considered a luxury by many people, and that's fair. However, if your job takes up so much of your time between hours worked and the commute that you're gone 75 hours each week, you're not left with much free time. Therefore, you might feel inclined to have someone clean your house while you're working so you can enjoy yourself when you get home. A job that takes up less of your time would allow you to do chores without feeling like you're wasting your few hours of freedom.
6. Mobile phone and entertainment
If you have to use your mobile for work, hopefully your company covers the cost. Not all companies do, however, and employees are stuck paying for expensive smart phones out of their own pockets because they're expected to be on call every day. They need to be able to access e-mail and send documents at a moment's notice, and these phones and their service plans are expensive.
Some jobs also involve entertaining clients. Again, many companies provide expense accounts, but not all of them do. If you get stuck taking clients to lunch or drinks on a regular basis, that cost adds up, especially if you're driving them around yourself. Just be certain that you're earning more from their business than you're spending.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Budget 2011
The Budget 2011 contains a number of reforms which are likely to affect people at all levels of society.
These are just a few of the key proposals unveiled by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan are:
- Social welfare payments are to be cut by 4%.
- A cut of 10 euro a month in child benefit for the first & second child and an additional cut of 10 euro for a third child.
- An increase in the excise duty on petrol by 4 cent and diesel by 2 cent by midnight,although alcohol and cigarettes are untouched until next year.
- A 4% cut in all public sector pensions above 12,000 euro a year.
- A 10% lower starting rate for new employees in the public sector, including judges.
- Reform of state cars with former Taoisigh and Presidents given a pooled system with the number of garda drivers cut.
- Immediate reform of stamp duty to standard 1%
- One of the jets,The Gulf Stream Government jet, which is at the end of its life span, will not be replaced.
You may remember last year Brian Lenihan told us we had turned the corner,well i suppose in a way we did and ran into a brick wall.I wonder what is around the corner we are currently turning??
Everyone is going to have to pay more,unfortunately some are already at breaking point and cant afford these charges.
It is now time to find another way of replacing that lost income
I can show you how to replace your lost income
Friday, August 27, 2010
Jobs Strategy
Have you been made redundant,had your hours cut or taken a drop in your wages?
Not to mention all the extra bills we are all facing!!
This is what i am planning to do about it
Or we can take a chance and wait for the government to save us. Have a look at their plan below
THE Government was last night accused of having no jobs strategy as the number of unemployed broke the 450,000 mark.
Defending the Government's economic policies, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said jobs will not be created "in a vacuum and will not be created on the basis of letting our public finances go out of control".
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the latest jobless figures were "the highest number of people ever unemployed in the State". He described the level of unemployment as the "biggest crisis that the country is facing at present".
He accused the Government of not taking the problem seriously. Mr Gilmore said the 452,882 people now on the live register is 300,000 more than when Fianna Fail and the Greens took power after the 2007 general election.
Emigrated
"This is not counting the number of people who have left the country -- as immigrants who have gone home and young Irish people who have emigrated to Australia and elsewhere.
"One in every three young men in the workforce is out of work. It impacts on the level of poverty experienced by households and the self-esteem and morale of those out of work," he said.
Fine Gael finance spokesman Kieran O'Donnell said the latest figures show the domestic economy and the labour market are still mired in recession.
"The ongoing collapse in investment spending revealed in theCSO's Quarterly National Accounts, and the large rise in benefit claimants, confirm that the Government's recovery plan is failing.
Mr Cowen said: "Everything that can be done to find opportunities for people to up-skill and train is being done. Increased resources are being applied."
"The difficult decisions that we are taking have to be taken and are absolutely necessary.
"I do not suggest for one moment that there is any degree of satisfaction or complacency about these figures.
"But we will only turn this around on the basis of doing the job of work which the Government is engaged in -- reducing our costs, getting exports going, as we are doing, and making sure that people can sell goods and services in the marketplace in order to maintain the jobs we have, take on part time people in due course and then turn those jobs into permanent jobs," he added.
Reported in the Irish Independant
The choice is yours.
Take a chance ??
Or Make It Happen For Yourself !!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Recession Is Over
Leading economist issues warning over recovery
The recession is technically over but it won't make any difference for most people until at least next year, a leading economist said today.
An expected announcement tomorrow that Ireland's economy has officially turned a corner was denounced by Friends First chief economist Jim Power as a statistical illusion.
Figures to be released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showing economic improvement in the first three months of the year are skewed by surging sales in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, he claimed.
Mr Power said in reality joblessness would continue to get worse, thousands of businesses would still struggle for survival, new taxes would be brought in and the cost of living still needed to be slashed.
"The bottom line is, to generate economic activity that will result in meaningful job creation and improvements in tax revenues, you are going to have to see a recovery in consumer spending and in business investment spending," he said.
"I have to say I don't see either of those conditions until 2011 at the earliest.
"So I think the economic recovery story is more illusory than real."
In his quarterly outlook, Mr Power predicted the Government would be forced to bring in at least two more austerity Budgets as it battled to bring order to the public finances.
Despite a gradual improvement in the world economy, Ireland's struggles are made worse by increasing nervousness among international money markets about lending to countries they think might not be able to repay debts, he said.
In order to cut national borrowings as quickly as possible, the Government would inevitably introduce water charges - likely at a flat rate of around €175 per house because no water meters have been installed, he forecast.
While there was some recent "kite-flying" over a new property tax in December's Budget, he claimed it was more likely to be brought in next year once the public has been softened up for the levy.
Although the cost of living was continuing to drop there wasn't a large enough decrease in some consumer prices, Mr Power said. Food, clothing and footwear prices particularly should come down further in the near future.
Apart from small pockets around the country, demand for houses would remain low for the next three to four years and prices should fall by another 5pc this year - after a 7pc dip in the first six months, he predicted.
"Hopefully that will represent the bottoming out of the cycle and we will see some stabilisation in 2011," Mr Power added.
He said consumer confidence, which affects spending, remained low with a recent rebound in the retail industry mostly down to increased car sales.
Thousands of small and medium-sized businesses "are hanging on by a thread at the moment" because they can't get any credit from the banks.
Find out how to avoid this situation
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Construction job numbers halved
Direct employment in the construction industry has decreased by 130,000 jobs since 2007, according to a new study.
The report, compiled by the construction consultancy firm Davis Langdon PKS (DLPKS), forecasts a further 40,000 jobs will be lost in the sector this year.
In their annual review of the sector, DLPKS predict that the Irish construction industry will see a decline of approximately 23 per cent in 2010.
From a high of €38 billion in 2007, the sector is predicted to have reduced in value to the region of €19 billion in 2009 and is expected to fall by a further €14 billion this year.
According to Davis Langdon PKS, direct construction employment totalled 260,000 in the second quarter of 2007 and is now at about 130,000.
Who do you know who may have been affected by this? Let them know there is an alternative
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