Online Mortgage in Ireland 2019

As Operations and Compliance Manager of Irish Mortgage Brokers here since 2004, Karl Deeter has established himself strongly in the mortgage and financial world. One of his latest projects is Yes.ie that he started back in 2016. In short, yes.ie is an online brokerage. The website allows you to apply for mortgages, remortgages, investments or buy to let loans, while comparing the most competitive prices all in the comfort of your own home. On top of looking for mortgage rates, yes.ie also offers services for insurances. So, if you need mortgage protection, a pension, or life insurance, yes.ie has all the information you need within a few clicks. 

Everything about this website is geared towards the client. There’s no opening or closing time, and everything is done at your own pace. It’s hard to find the time to make an appointment with a broker. Now, there’s no need to take time out of your busy schedule to do so. Without facing the pressure of a salesperson, you can feel comfortable and apply on your own terms. 

If ever you need …

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Cuckoo Funds Shifting Buyers towards Renting

Long-term pension funds are at risk with the aging population and increases in the rental market. The aging population is going to dry up pension funds because there will not be enough younger people to payoff older generations pension funds. Additionally, the expanding rental market will cause long-term retirees having trouble sustaining a comfortable lifestyle. Renting can be a great solution in the short term if someone is young, temporary, etc. However, not owning a home and having your mortgage paid off when you reach retirement ages can cause a lot of stress.

Cuckoo funds are contributing to this problem by spending approximately €2 billion on buying thousands of apartments and still have about €6 billion left to invest in the housing market according to global real estate advisor CBRE. Many consider Dublin to be one of Europe’s top markets for large, global funds to invest in.

There has been a dramatic shift from investing in Ireland’s commercial to residential property. In the first half of 2019, about 40% of commercial property investment is now being used for the residential …

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Pensions data

Pensions, what exactly are they? As a young worker, it is easy to opt out of these regular reductions in pay to create a fund that will not be utilized for the next few decades of your life. Pensions are funds in which payments are drawn from your salary each month or every few months in order to support yourself and the lifestyle you want to maintain after retirement. 

According to recent official data from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, only 47pc of workers are contributing some of their salary to an occupational or private pension. This means that 53pc of the working population will be reliant on the non-contributory state pension plan. This plan offers a varied amount of funds to adults, mostly those who are retired. 

The age for retirement is 66 years, but there are adults that are to qualify for this plan below that age; if you are below 66 but do qualify, you will receive €156.60 per week from the government. Between the ages of 66 and 80, you receive €237 per week. Over …

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Is Long-Term Renting Sustainable?

Lifelong renting is becoming increasingly popular within Ireland’s largest cities. Influential Cork developer, Michael O’Flynn, talked about instances when he heard of people suggesting that up to 50% of houses should be rented. O’Flynn heavily disagrees with this statement and suggests that ideas such as economic and pension polices should be reviewed.

O’Flynn most recently addressed this issue during his discussion at the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV). He set out to prove that retirees could not sustain a long period of renting properties and instead should have a house paid off to retire in. He asked the audience, “There are currently five workers for every pensioner, but the projection is for this to drop to two workers for every retiree by 2050. Have we considered how that will impact on pension income?” The renting model is not affordable for many classes of people and can cause severe economic troubles down the road when savings begin to dry up. Renting can be a great alternative for people moving to new areas or students and young adults in the …

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Fair Deal Scheme

The Fair Deal Scheme was enacted in 2009 to assist those who cannot afford to pay full cost of nursing home care. The Fair Deal Scheme mainly applies to those in need of long term nursing home care, but cannot afford it. The main purpose of the scheme is to ensure that no one needs to sell their family home to pay for cost of care.

Nursing home care costs are managed under the Health Service Executive (HSE).  The costs can be paid in full or partially. Those charged with paying the resident’s portion of the cost are allowed to defer the charge. Under the Fair Deal Scheme, every person contributions to the cost of care is based on their means and the state will then pay the balance.

A financial assessment is needed to define the level of contribution an individual makes towards the cost of future care. Income and assets of each individual are assessed. Ultimately if you have little income and assets you pay less than those who have more income and assets.

Financial assessment requires …

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Pension top-ups failing seniors, women

The most recent governmental review of pension top-ups has left many retired people with far less than they had anticipated. Only 15% of around 11,500 cases reviewed within the last period will be receiving top-ups, leaving 10,000 people who applied for a top-up without any other option than to survive off of their same plan, despite rising prices.

This denial of pension top-ups extends beyond this small percentage of retirees. Tens of thousands of people were affected by this bad review, causing the public to go into a frenzy. Understandably so, given that everyone who has a pension is retired and between the ages of 60 and 70. Most of these people have already worked for over 40 years and have planned and saved so that they no longer have to work in the elderly stage of their lives.

Usually, people begin saving for pensions at the age of 25, paying small amounts to their retirement fund that are sometimes matched to a degree by either their current employer or the government. These plans also usually have higher …

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Newstalk: Karl Deeter on the Pat Kenny show discussing pensions

The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk had us on to talk about the future of pensions and to help people understand some of the looming issues in the retirement space.

It is a complex problem which is affected by everything from home-ownership to central bank interest rates. The main thing to take from it is that everybody who can start a pension, no matter how small, should do so. One of the biggest issues is the fact that people don’t even have one they can contribute to.

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Irish Times article by John McCartney, Lorcan Sirr & Karl Deeter

The Irish Times carried an article by John McCartney (Savills), Lorcan Sirr (DIT Bolton St) and Karl Deeter (Irish Mortgage Brokers) about the issues surrounding a shift away from a home ownership model.

Our point isn’t that there is a definitive ‘right or wrong’ way to provide housing, obviously our market has massive issues at present, but the larger question is the long run effects and how a lack of household savings can turn a property crisis into a pension crisis of sorts.

That is why we need to find new solutions for more than just housing.

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Behavioural economics and pensions

There was a fascinating paper published by the pensions institute in 2010 entitled ‘spend more today’ and it was about ways to encourage (or to use the economic vernacular ‘nudge’) people to take out pensions.

We realise that forty pages of technical reading may not be everybody’s cup of tea so here is the most brief synopsis we can offer you as an alternative. Just note that this isn’t what you ought to do per se, it is about how the system ought to work.

They put forward the idea of using ‘SPEEDOMETER‘ which stands for ‘Spending Optimally Throughout Retirement’, and the steps to take are as follows:

1: First make a plan, ideally with, but if necessary, without an advisor. This first point is of interest because we obviously think everybody should get advice when planning their pension, but upon reflection it’s equally true that a ‘start’, even with no advice is better than inaction and there is simple reason behind it.

Say you decided to start putting €200 a month into a pension, given that you might be …

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Talking Money on RTE 1 Drivetime: Cash in pensions for the over 55’s, 9th February 2015

On the 9th of February in the ‘Talking Money’ segment of  RTE 1 Drivetime show Mary Wilson had us in to discuss some changes that were coming down the line in the UK for the over 55’s regarding their pensions. This will have an effect on thousands of Irish people and we considered that as well as whether or not the move was a good idea or not.

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