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Mortgage Broker of the Year 2006 and 2007why go to any other mortgage broker?

www.rea.ie

THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT PULL OUT SUPPLEMENT FROM MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITH THE IRISH INDEPENDENT

PERSONAL ANDFAMILY FINANCE

FEBRUARY 2008

Taking it day by day

WIth so many demands on limited re-sources, taking care of your day to dayfinances can be a nightmare

page 6

The Money Doctor

Expert advice on how to achieve asound financial philosophy and awealthy life from John Lowe

pages 5 & 13

How to Plan a Holiday

Top tips on everything that needs to beconsidered when you are planning theyear’s biggest single purchase

page 12

Investing In Your Home

Making the most of your home bothinside and out can also make good financial sense

page 14

THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT PULL OUT SUPPLEMENT FROM MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITH THE IRISH INDEPENDENT2

CONTENTS

Five mortgage tips 4The Money Doctor’s five top secrets 5Taking it day by day 6An assurance of health 8Get the most from house insurance 9Inheritance tax planning 10How to plan a holiday 12The Money Doctor’s top five tips 13Room to manoeuvre 14Adorning your nest 14

Project Manager: Leah Doyle Layout: Jez MacBeanText: BeCreative • Prepress: Jez MacBean Print: The Irish Independent

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FAMILY FINANCE – A TITLE FROM MEDIAPLANET

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In research that we conducted recently, a third of peo-ple said that nothing worries them about their finances.It could be that they have their finances under control,or maybe they haven’t given them much thought.

Even if you are confident about yourfinancial situation, your needs varyat different life stages, so it is worthtaking time to look at your financesand see whether you need to makesome changes.

Do a financial health checkTry to review your budget at leastonce a year. The budget planner onitsyourmoney.ie is a good startingpoint. It gives you a breakdown ofwhere your money is being spent,making it easy to see where you canmake changes. If you are regularlyspending more than your income,you’ll need to cut down on non-es-sential expenses. On the other hand,if you find that you have money tospare each month, you should lookat savings or investment options tomake the most of your money.

Make personal finance goalsThese could be short-term, like pay-ing off a loan early or they could belonger term, like saving for your re-tirement. Be realistic-consider howmuch your goals will cost andwhether you can afford to achievethem within the timeframe youwould like.

Tackle your debts Look at credit cards first- they areusually the most expensive debt.Making just the minimum repay-ment won’t reduce your balancequickly and you will pay a lot ofmoney in interest, so try to pay asmuch as you can afford each month.Or consider transferring the balanceto a card that charges lower or no

interest for a period of time. How-ever, try not to use the new cardand, if possible, cut up your old cardso you are not tempted to use it.

Then look at your personal loansor overdrafts. If you have a variablerate loan from a bank or buildingsociety, you can usually make extrapayments and they may let you paya lump sum to save interest andclear your loan early.

“It is worth taking timeto look at your finances

and see whether youneed to make some

changes”Shop around for financial productsIt is also a good idea to regularly re-view your savings, borrowings andinvestments. Find out how muchyour mortgage, loans, overdrafts,credit and store cards are costingyou; how much interest you areearning on your savings; and howmuch you are paying to insure yourcar and your home. Then shoparound for better value, using thecost comparisons on itsyour-money.ie. They show the costs andbenefits offered by the mainproviders in the Irish market for anumber of financial products andwill help you find the deal that’sright for you.

Take control of your personal finances

� Mary O Dea

Finance is something that affects people onall levels in all areas whether you are dealingwith your own personal finances or yourfamilies. There are many different areas thatneed to be considered and Mediaplanet ispleased to publish a paper that examines themain financial issues that are facing people inIreland today. Our articles examine the issuesand gives accurate insight from the relevantexperts ensuring that all the areas discussedare easily understood for your benefit.


Buyers, for the first time in overa decade, decided to sit on the

sidelines as they waited for some in-dication that interest rates hadpeaked; news of what, if anything,the government was going to dowith stamp duty and whether or notproperty sellers were finally goingto get the message that propertybuyers were now in the driving seatas the market rapidly moved to abuyers market. The end of 2007 sawconsumer confidence further erodedby the actions of a small number ofsolicitors.

So what are the kind of things youshould know about when consider-ing to take a Mortgage.

Choosing the Wrong Mortgageis an Expensive MistakeThe Mortgage market offers youhundreds of different products fromdifferent lenders. Which one is rightfor you ?

Individual banks and building so-cieties generally can only offer youa choice of product limited to theirown particular product range.

The wrong mortgage could costyou thousands of euros over the lifeof your mortgage! You can researchthe market yourself or use the ex-pertise of an independent mortgagebroker who will save you time andmoney by indentifying the bestmortgage for you.

Five things you shouldknow about mortgagesThe last twelve months has proved to be one of themost turbulent the Irish mortgage market had seen inmany years.

Not All Mortgage Brokers arethe SameDifferent banks and building soci-eties pay different amounts of com-mission to mortgage brokers andsome mortgage brokers deal withvery few lenders! To make sure youare getting the choice you deserveask your mortgage advisor wherethey place their business so you cansee for yourself that they offer youthe choices that will save you money.

Legal CostsIreland is now the fifth most expen-sive EU country for conveyancing! Anew EU report reveals it is twice as ex-pensive to have a conveyancing car-ried out here than it is in the UK.While it is very important to takesound legal advice to avoid ownership

and potential title problems into thefuture it is equally important to shoparound for value for money. It is pos-sible to find solicitors practices whooffer very attractive conveyancingterms and indeed many lenders offerfree legal costs on switching yourmortgage to them – based on variousdifferent terms and conditions.

Estate Agents and MortgageBrokersPersonal finance experts advise thatyou should never arrange yourmortgage with the estate agent thatis trying to sell you a home. Estateagents have a legal obligation to ob-tain the highest possible price for theseller so why tell the seller howmuch you can afford to pay for yourhome! Make sure your mortgage

broker is independent and workingon your behalf!

Specialist LendersThere are a number of specialistlenders in the Irish marketplacewho can help if you have hadcredit history problems and cannotqualify for a mortgage through thenormal channels. However makesure you are only using their ser-vices if you cannot get a loan froma normal prime lender, becausespecialist lenders do charge extrain interest charges which can proveexpensive.

Put €1,000 back in your pocket

Switch Now & Save Money… Call White Star Mortgages today & put the €€€ back in your pocket.

Lo-Call 1890 252546Email [email protected]

Review your mortgage interest rate today

White Star Finance Ltd. Trading as White Star Mortgages is regulated by the financial regulator. Example citing €1,000- back in your pocket, is based on the cost difference between a standard tracker mortgage with a rate of 4.6% / 4.69% APRand a standard variable rate of 5.25% / 5.39% APR - higher rates exist. Based on a property valued at €600,000 with a mortgage of €300,000 resulting in a loan to value of 50%. Rates used are accurate as of 08/02/08.

MORTGAGE KNOWHOW• Know your mortgage interest rate: Are you repaying more than you should?• Review your mortgage every year: You review your car insurance, why not

this? • Research your life cover options: Get proper advice on all products avail-

able, ‘cheapest is not always best’. • Shop around to reduce legal costs: If you refinance your mortgage, some

lenders may cover these costs. • Maximise your Mortgage Interest Relief: The 2008 Budget has now in-

creased this relief up to Eur333pm. • Use a Broker – Independent Mortgage Brokers generally represent all banks

and life companies, and in most cases don’t charge a fee. Provided by White Star Mortgages

� Pat Mcgrath REA Mortgages, 2007Mortgages broker of the year

THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT PULL OUT SUPPLEMENT FROM MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITH THE IRISH INDEPENDENT 5

Secret one: money is not boringThe only boring thing about moneyis not having enough of it. If younever, ever want to have moneyproblems, then set aside a reason-able period of time on a regularbasis (I do it once a month) to re-view your financial position. Amoney plan – both immediate andlong term - is essential. Remember,too, that investment can be fun. Ibelieve in putting spare cash intothings that bring pleasure such asoverseas property, fine wine, evenrock and roll memorabilia !

Secret two: put your house inorder before you beginYou won’t get very far if you haveone hand tied behind your back. Be-fore you set off on your quest forprofits, pay off any expensive debtand make sure you aren’t wastingmoney unnecessarily. Depending onyour circumstances, protecting yourincome in the event of being unableto work – and protecting your de-pendents if you die – may be yourfirst priorities.

Secret three: every euro countsYou can turn €10 a day into€1,180,253 by the time you are age60 if you start on your eighteenthbirthday ( assuming a growth rate of8% pa). Yes, if you have money tostart with it helps – but it is possibleto make yourself rich by saving on aregular basis. There are some fan-tastic deposit rates - up to 7.15% -for the regular saver. Don’t be afraidhowever to release equity from ex-isting property if you do not haveimmediate spare cash. This shouldbe for investment purposes mainlyand not funding your lifestyle.

Secret four: don’t be greedyIn the autumn of 1955, a former so-cial worker from New York called

Bernard Cornfeld arrived in Pariswith a yen to make money andended up launching a mutual fundgroup called Investors Overseas Ser-vices which, at its peak, employed25,000 door-to-door salesmen. Thefirm’s winning one-line pitch was:‘Do you sincerely want to be rich? ’and hundreds of thousands of in-vestors piled in. The initial gainswere fabulous but, of course, it allended in tears. If something seemstoo good to be true – if the promot-ers are trying to pressure you in toinvesting – forget it. Bear in mindthat the very wealthy tend to share asingle trait: their priority is not toachieve spectacular returns but topreserve and grow their wealth.

Secret five: diversify, diversify,diversifyI am a firm believer in the old adage:never put all your eggs in onebasket. When planning yourinvestment strategy divideyour money between differentclasses of investment (the stockmarket, the bond market, prop-erty and so forth). Within each cat-egory of investment you shouldalso be diversified. For example,you shouldn’t put all yourmoney into a single shareor even a single market.Bear in mind that themost lucrative, long-term investment is thestock market andwhether you investdirectly, in a basketof shares (such as aunit trust or man-aged funds) orthrough a pensionplan – it should makeup a large part ofyour wealth. The sec-ond most profitable,long-term investmenttends to be property –

so you should have money in this,as well. Only then should you lookat alternative investments. Also,while tax savings are important (es-pecially via pension plans) youshould never let the tax tail wag themoney making dog. Finally, don’t beshy about getting expert help. Agood financial adviser is worth hisor her weight in gold.

Current favoured investment?Spain has been a little out of favourwith investors in recent times for avariety of reasons. But in my view itis still a solid area. Here in Ireland,demographically we are gettingolder, living longer, healthier livesand retiring earlier. We want moreleisure time and quickly – no sevenhour long haul flights - and lots of

sun, somewhere where you can beassured of heat and sunshine withina two/three hour flight and you cango there on a regular basis. Globalwarming has all but put paid to Ire-land being the sunshine oasis of thenext few years. Hence Spain or Por-tugal. If you start with a few pre-cepts• Good location, not overdeveloped.• Bonded developer• Legals (land title) checked out and

verifiedThen add in a reasonable property

package ( on a golf course, 30 min-utes from skiing, in historic, gloriousGranada for instance ) with goodvalue ( only 10% down, 10% a yearlater followed by 80% mortgageupon completion – just over a twoyear process. Prices for 2 bedroomedapartments start from €260,000 ) to-gether with a guarantee of 5% rentalincome for the first 10 years ( fromthe tour operator rather than the de-veloper ), and in my view, you havea solid investment that effectivelywill pay your mortgage for thosefirst 10 years. You may even decideto live in it yourself thereafter or in-versely, buy it for lifestyle purposes.Just a thought – email me for furtherdetails.

John Lowe, Fellow of the Insti-tute of Bankers, is managing direc-tor of Providence Finance Services

Ltd Stillorgan Co Dublin andDrumcondra Dublin 9 and author

of The Money Doctor FinanceAnnual 2008 (out now from

Gill & MacMillan) tel +353 1278 5555, email

[email protected] [email protected] – Hispodcast series “How to get

rich this week with TheMoney Doctor” is available

on the above web sites,iTunes and

www.gillmacmillan.ie

The MoneyDoctor’s fivetop secretsThe five secrets to a sound financial philosophy and awealthy life, with John Lowe, The Money Doctor

Cover may vary depending on product, provider, type and level of plan. Terms and conditions apply. VIVAS Insurance Limited, trading as VIVAS Health, is regulated by the Financial Regulator.

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John Lowe, author of The Money DoctorFinance Annual 2008


As soon as you’ve fixed up yourdentist bill, delighted at the

prospect of being able to buy a tin ofbeans to accompany your regulardinner of dried herbs with teabags,your car breaks down. The insuranceis due. You clear that phone bill, andthe washing machine breaks down.That quick trip to the supermarket tobuy a few groceries for tonight’sdinner… comes to €151.37.

So, with everyone else having firstdibs on your money, there’s justabout enough left to get youthrough three days of fear, worryand an unhealthy descent into ob-sessive compulsive behaviour. Timeto have a root down the back of thesofa to find old pennies and smashthe piggybank?

There is an easier way to manageyour finances. Jennifer Chamber-laine, with the Irish Payment Ser-

vices Organisation (IPSO), suggeststhat paying by Laser Card, a debitcard which takes money directlyfrom your current account, canmake life so much easier: ‘It’s faster,because you don’t have to keepgoing to the ATM. It’s safer, becauseit eliminates the need to carry casharound. It’s convenient, becausepeople have instant access to theirfunds whenever they want. One ofthe great benefits is that card userscan avail of Cashback, which is of-fered by most shops. This is alsobeneficial for retailers, as it reducesthe amount of cash they have tohold on their premises, not to men-tion the transport, security and ad-ministration costs associated withprocessing cash.’

Around two thirds of adults in Ire-land own a debit card, while a fur-ther 24% own an ATM card.

Taking it day by dayCash. Credit card. Debit card. Bills. Cheques. Direct deb-its. Charges. Keeping track of your day-to-day financescan be a nightmare.

Meanwhile, Ireland is only one ofthree countries within the eurozoneusing cheques to any significant ex-tent, although their use has fallendramatically by33% since last year.

For cash-strappedconsumers, one of thegreat advantages ofusing a debit card is thatthe monthly accountstatement contains arecord of all LaserCard transactions.Being able to examineyour records of day-to-day expenses can be a significanthelp when reviewing your spendingand organising your budget.

Paying by cash and cheque has aknock-on effect on Ireland’s com-petitiveness. IPSO estimates thatusing cash costs Ireland’s economyin the region of €1.5billion annu-ally. ‘People are interested in main-taining Ireland’s competitiveness,’says Chamberlaine. ‘Everybody paysmore for using cash. Moving tomore efficient payment mechanismshelps the economy. The benefits ofreducing cash dependency could seeseveral hundred million, annually,released into the economy to bemore productively employed.’

In the future, cash may be a foot-note in history. Contactless swipecards, along the lines of the LondonUnderground’s Oyster Card or theDublin LUAS smart card, may be-come a common means of paymentfor a wide range of services. Bio-metric payments – such as thumbprint scans – are becoming increas-ingly common in the United States,even in everyday scenarios like su-permarket shopping.

DIRECT DEBIT

Direct debit is the most popular used methods of paying household utilitybills, insurance premiums and other regular payments in Ireland. It offersthe user a simple solution to financial budgeting, and ensures that once a Di-rect Debit is set up no bill will go unpaid – as long as the funds are in yourbank account.

A Direct Debit is easy to set up: a customer either fills out a paper DirectDebit Instruction or may do so over the phone with the chosen company.This authorises the customer’s bank to accept regular requests from thebilling party and debit the customers accordingly

To ensure the integrity and trust of the Direct Debit, all banks offer to theircustomers the Direct Debit Guarantee, which provides the following securityto the customer:

• The billing company must notify you of the amount being debited fromyour account in advance of requesting the debit from your bank.

• Your bank will accept and pay such debits based on your initial instructionand provided that your account has sufficient available funds.

• If an unauthorised Direct Debit is charged to your account, you are guar-anteed a prompt refund by your bank of the amount charged.

You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by writing to your bank.


Awide proportion of the Irishpopulation are not entitled to

avail of the state health system witha medical card, which means thatinsurance is really the only main op-tion that is available. Moreover, theavoidance of long waiting lists, andthe desire for more personal careleads customers into the privatehealthcare system.

The policy of risk equalization(which sees new players in the mar-ket place paying Vhi compensationfor their older customer base) re-sulted in the exit of BUPA from theIrish market. There remains onlythree players in the Irish market: theaforementioned Vhi, Quinn -health-care (who took over from BUPA),and VIVAS Health.

VIVAS Health’s entrance to themarket stimulated greater consumerchoice as the young challenger in-troduced innovative benefits athighly competitive rates, such asdiscounts for students.

VIVAS Health entered the market-place at a point when choice was onlyjust becoming a consideration, andIrish consumers were waking up to thefact that they did not necessarily haveto pay a fixed tariff for insurance be-cause it was the only price available.

‘Better benefits and better value toput people back in control. It really isthat simple,’ explains Deirdre Ashe,Marketing Director of VIVAS Health,when discussing why people havechosen to avail of her company’sservice above the alternatives.

An assurance of healthHealth insurance, one of the biggest bugbears of Irishsocial care provision, is now being opened up to acompetitive market structure in which the insured standto gain more for their money.

‘Our extensive research into whymembers are choosing to switch toVIVAS Health demonstrates thatthese are the core issues that areresonating with our new members.’‘VIVAS Health covers more hospi-tals and treatment centres thanany other insurer, we are commit-ted to providing cover for all pri-vate hospitals as they comeon-stream, we are the only insurerin the market to provide compre-hensive overseas medical benefitsand we also provide the most com-prehensive out-patient cover andcover more scan centres than anyother insurers,’ says Ashe.

Such considerations are nowparamount – the introduction, andgeneral awareness, of new diagnosistechnologies, such as MRI scans, haslead to increasing numbers of pa-tients wanting to avail of such facil-ities. Not cheap, any insurer that iswilling to provide cover for scansand treatments is sure to attractmore custom. Health insurance hasalso expanded its remit to includeother treatments that have becomepopular. Lifestyle benefits – not nec-essarily medical, not essential, andcomplimentary therapies are nowbeing covered by certain policies.

‘We offer a range of lifestyle ben-efits such as cover for laser eyesurgery, teeth whitening and smok-ing cessation therapy that is com-pletely unique to the Irish market,’says Ashe.

As the health insurance marketcontinues to evolve in Ireland,competition will increase, furtherputting the squeeze on insurers tooffer more services at more cost-ef-ficient prices.

The consumer stands to gain morethan ever before.

Who & what is an insurance loss assessor?A Loss Assessor is a qualified building surveyor andinsurance practitioner who act for you the public, theyunderstand every procedure involved in negotiatinginsurance claims and they are the only full-time businessservice on your side. PCD only use qualified buildingsurveyors.Is a Loss assessor associated with InsuranceCompanies?No. They are employed exclusively by you thepolicyholder and not by an insurance company.Why should I use a Claims Assessor? Because every insurance company appoints a LossAdjuster to every household claim and the clienttherefore needs a professional to represent them toachieve their full entitlementHow much does it cost to employ PropertyClaims Direct on their first visit?Our first survey is Free based on a no win no fee basis.Once the claim is settled our professional fee will beincluded in your settlement cheque 10% plus VAT

Do you only deal with the bigger claims? Property Claims Direct would always call out once aclaim is reported however small the damage is.Will this claim affect my premium?One claim shouldn't affect your premium, however ifyou have more than one in a short space of time thiswould change your premium.Do I need to ring my insurance companybefore contacting a claims assessor? The normal process would be to call Property ClaimsDirect 1890 711711. We then assess the damage beforereporting to your insurance company giving the client afirm understanding on the extent of the damage.How long will it take for my claim to besettled?Without complications you should have settlementbetween 6 to 8 weeks.

Property Claims Direct is regulated by the financial regulator

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DAILY EXPENSES

At certain times of the year we all use more energy to heat our homes. Butwith rising oil, gas and electricity costs, we are forking out more and moremoney. But if we follow a few simple rules, we can cut our energy andheating costs. By being more energy efficient we are also cutting our car-bon footprint.

Average domestic energy use, which is defined as 20,500kWh of gas con-sumption and 3,300kWh of electricity consumption, will result in 4.9 tonnesof carbon dioxide being generated. If you drive a car and fly on holidays, thetotal direct household carbon footprint can be anything between 20 and 30tonnes annually.

Insulating your home can save up to 20% on your home heating bill. Youcan do this by following a few simple steps:

• Place a lagging jacket over your hot water cylinder. It will keep water hot-ter for longer and pay for itself within months.

• Fix reflective foil behind radiators which are mounted on external walls. • If replacing a hot water cylinder, make sure to buy a cylinder with factory

applied insulation. It retains heat much better. • Make sure to draw curtains at night to keep heat in. • If you are building a new house, it is advisable to get double glazed win-

dows. Although more pricey they are very effective in keeping out the cold.

If you are looking to reduce your energy costs, try to keep your electricityand gas bills and work out what you pay per year. Then follow some of theabove advice and take the measures to reduce energy costs. You will soon seea difference in cost. Many people are lazy when it comes to following thesesteps, but even by turning off lights when you are not in a room and switch-ing of the pilot lights on televisions and computers it will make a differencenot just to your bills, but to the environment too. For more information onhow to save on energy costs go to the Sustainable Energy Ireland website onwww.sei.ie.

Broadband and telephoneCurrently in Ireland there are 52 publicly available telephone providers and70 broadband providers. This includes wireless, flashlight and DSL. Hence thechoice is endless. Needless to say the market is highly competitive. Each daywe are bombarded with different offers to suit us. In some cases these offersmay seem better than what we are currently using, but sometimes these of-fers could be too good to be true or not suit our own requirements. When it comes to our broadband providers, most people don’t really shoparound properly. The competition within broadband providers in Ireland ishuge, says Kerry O’Hare, a communications executive at Comreg, the com-munications regulator. ‘Each individual has different broadband needs, so itis important for them to see what’s out there.’In 2006 Ireland had the fifth-highest broadband growth rate among EU andOECD countries according the latest OECD broadband statistics.


Our home is the most importantitem of material value in our

lives and it also contains the mostimportant items that, although theymay have no monetary value, wouldbe greatly missed from our livesshould they be lost or damagedthrough whatever reason.

Items from our childhood, or yourchildren’s childhood, old pho-

tographs, family heirlooms passeddown through generations, yourchild’s first cuddly toy or perhapstheir first pair of shoes.

These items play a fundamentalrole in our lives as human beings, itswhat makes us different from allother living species on this planet,the fact that we have an over-whelming bond with our material

Getting the most from your house insurance

As we all know our home is generally our biggest in-vestment or financial commitment ever made, espe-cially with the huge rise in house prices in recent years.

possessions. This is why we musttake every possible precaution toprevent any damage happening toour home or its contents. These pos-sessions need to be protected fromtheft, fire, flood, water and acciden-tal damage. Most people will, to thebest of their ability take care of andprevent any incidents happening tothere home or belongings, but acci-dents can happen and damage hap-pens to homes and contents everyday, and when its least expectedthat’s why its so crucial to have yourproperty well insured.

I have seen cases where peoplehave made enquiries as to what theyshould do after they have suffered aloss, which may have been a fire, aflood or even burglary. Cases wherepeople did not have the right coveron their policy or not enough coveron their policy.

The reality was these people willnot receive enough money fromtheir insurance provider to cover thecost of these repairs or replacementof their contents and by this stage itis too late.

If you take in to account these fol-lowing simple steps they can greatlyhelp you to get the most from yourhouse insurance, you can savemoney, and rest assured that if any-thing were to happen to your homethat you are covered.

Review your policyContact your insurance providertoday and confirm that your policyis active and that your policy isindex linked, which means the valueof your policy will rise with infla-tion, it may mean an increase inpremium by a couple of per cent perannum but its crucial. Remember theonus is on you, the policyholder toensure your property is adequatelyinsured – it’s not up to your insur-ance company!

Don’t under or over insureBuildings should be insured for

the rebuild cost of the building, notthe market value of the building. Ifyou under insure your property itwill most likely have an effect onany claim that you may have. Sim-ilarly, it is important not to over in-sure your property. You will end uppaying a higher premium andshould you have a claim it will onlybe assessed on the rebuild cost of theproperty. The insurance market cur-rently recommends a rebuilding costin the region of €2000/m2 to re-build.

Disclose all factsThere is a large element of trust in-volved with both parties engaged inthe insurance policy. Trust that youthe policy holder will be truthful tothe insurance provider, and trust thatthe insurance provider will reimburseyou with any money lost through aninsured risk, however if you do notdisclose any material facts to the in-surance provider at the proposalstage of the policy this can bedeemed as being distrustful, even ifnot being asked a specific questionregarding an area concerning yourpolicy, if you feel it may be relevantyou should disclose it immediately.

Some examples of facts thatshould be brought to the attentionof your insurance provider are:

1 Have you notified your insurancecompany, if you are renting aproperty?

2 You should notify your insurancecompany if you commence anybuilding works.

3 If you have built an extensiononto your property, have you in-creased your sums insured in linewith the new sqare footage of thebuilding?

Fire and Burglar AlarmsThere is a small deduction applied topremiums if you have fitted in yourhome fully functional smoke andburglar alarms, however should youavail of these discounts and an acci-dent happen whereby either alarmcould have minimised the damagecaused, and your particular alarmwas, for whatever reason was not inworking order it could result in yourclaim being declined or not receiv-ing full payments. Our advice is notto avail of these discounts.

This advice along with other in-formation is available at www.insuranceworks.ie

CARRY ALL YOUR CASH IN A CARD

FAST . HANDY . SAFE


There is of course no need for atestator, ie a person who is mak-

ing a will, to take any heed of propertax advice when they are preparingtheir will, but there can be substan-tial tax savings for the beneficiariesif they do.

The problem is that because of aflat rate of 20% tax that applies tomost inheritances, there can be asubstantial tax liability for the ben-eficiaries of the deceased.

There are some tax thresholds thatapply to people of particular degreesof relationship to the testator so thatthey only have to pay tax on anysum they receive over the thresholdamount.

The current thresholds for 2008are €521,208 for children, €52,121for grandchildren and siblings of thetestator and €26,060 for anyoneelse. No inheritance tax applies be-tween spouses.

In light of the increased value ofestates, particularly as a conse-quence of the rise in property pricesover the last decade, it is vitally im-portant when making a will that youcarefully consider the tax implica-tions of what you propose to do withyour assets.

Most people choose to leave theirentire estate to their spouse, if they

have one, and this is the most taxefficient way of dealing with the es-tate of a married person.

A will should also provide forwhat is to happen to a person’s as-sets in the event of a husband andwife dying together. In those cir-cumstances, generally, if there arechildren, this would entail providingthat the entire estate would passequally, or in stated proportions, tothe children.

This assumes that the share ofeach child will be less than the cur-rent tax threshold amount that ap-plies. If it is greater than thethreshold, you could give anygrandchildren you have a sum equalto the maximum threshold amount

that applies to them instead of giv-ing more to your children, as by sodoing you increase the amount ofmoney that comes out of your estatetax free. If the grandchildren areunder 18, their share can be held intrust for them until they are older.

If you have a farm or a familybusiness, you could consider trans-ferring the farm or business to achild or children during your life-time, rather than on death, as in thatway you can, so long as certain cri-teria are met, pass valuable assetswith little or no tax being paid at all.

Dying intestate, i.e without mak-ing a will, deprives you of choice asto who inherits your estate, so it isalways more preferable to make awill, whatever its contents. Withcareful preparation, moreover, a willcan result in substantial tax savingsfor beneficiaries.

Mark Felton is a Partner withFelton McKnight Solicitors leadingthe firms Property Department. Heis a member of the Family LawyersAssociation and is the Chairperson

of the Mental Health Lawyers Association

Tel: +353 (0)1 287 4341E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.feltonmcknight.ie

Inheritancetax planning:why bother?Why bother with proper tax planning when you make awill? “Sure I’ll be dead and gone and it won’t affectme” is an argument I often encounter.

� Mark Felton of Felton McKnight

INSURING A SUCCESSFUL TRIP

Travel insurance needn’t cost the earth. Going abroad without it, however,might just cost your world. Peter McGuire reports

Nobody likes to think that everything won’t go swimmingly on holiday.The reality is, however, that things fall apart before you even get to the air-port. Flights can be delayed or cancelled; a relative can die just before you setoff for the airport; your car could break down or be involved in an accidenton the motorway. While flying, your luggage could go missing. While on hol-idays, you may have your cash, cards, or luggage stolen. Worse still, you couldbecome ill or suffer an accident.

‘Without travel insurance, you could find yourself paying out a lot ofmoney if things go wrong,’ says Ciaran Mulligan, joint managing director ofBlue Insurance. ‘We had a case recently where somebody dived into a pool inLas Vegas and seriously injured themselves. The medical bill came to justunder $500,000. Without insurance, a bill like this could have cost his home.’

Patricia Ronane, MD of tour operator Great Escapes, advises that travellersshould always shop around for the best deal on travel insurance. ‘Travelagents and tour operators offer travel insurance when people are booking,’she explains. ‘The main health insurers also have competitive add-ons whichpeople can add to their existing policies. When you pay with certain creditcards, you can get free travel insurance – a lot of people don’t realise that.’

There are certain areas that most policies won’t cover. Drug or alcohol re-lated accidents are excluded – although some insurers have had difficulty inproving that claimants were intoxicated. Suicide, anxiety and depression arestandard exclusions.

Increasingly, travellers are going abroad more than once a year. This makesit more affordable to choose an annual multi-trip policy. Even for those whoonly intend travelling once in the year, multi-trip insurance can work outcheaper. Indeed, some insurers have stopped selling single trip travel insur-ance altogether.

The average medical claim, according to Mulligan, is for between €500-750. ‘We also have a number of large claims each year, which can be anythingfrom €5,000 to €100,000. Occasionally, they can go as high as €250,000.Last year, between seven and eight percent of our clients made a claim. Whenyou look at the costs that people can incur, going abroad without travel in-surance is madness.’

Berlin InvestBerlin Invest has been involved in theproperty and asset management marketin Germany since 2003. Berlin Investonly operates in German market andsome of the reasons for this decision in-clude the facts that Germany is Europe’slargest economy, the economy is nowgrowing steadily again, Euro zone, goodlegal system for property purchasers andmost importantly the property prices arecurrently very low compared with otherwestern European countries. Berlin In-vest is involved in the sale of full Resi-dential Blocks, Single Apartments,Commercial Developments and Invest-ment/Pension Funds.

Residential Blocks/Single Apartments Nearly 90% of Berlin residents rent apart-ments rather than purchase them. Thisleads to a strong rental market providedthe apartments are located in areas thatare attractive to tenants. All apartmentsrented are furnished which is an attrac-tion compared with other markets.

Property prices are currently very lowand there is currently international interestin the market which should lead to in-creasing prices in the years ahead. It is alsopossible that the tenants will begin to seekto purchase the apartments that they arerenting. Berlin Invest has a number of welllocated single apartments available withprices starting from €60,000. It is difficult

for non national investors to obtain mort-gage finance in Germany. However, it maybe possible to borrow about 40% of thevalue of a purchase. Berlin Invest also hasavailable a number of full residentialblocks with prices starting from €500,000.

Commercial DevelopmentsBerlin Invest has a large pipeline of a newbuild commercial developments available,these are located throughout Germanyand they are leased on long leases (15 to20 years) to large multi national compa-nies. Rent reviews are built into the leasesand all buildings carry a 5 year construc-tion warranty. Prices start from €400,000and they give rental yields of about 7.5%.

Please contact us if you require any fur-ther information.

Investment/Pension FundsBerlin Invest has launched the Elm Fundwhich is designed to accept pension in-vestment, pension transfers, ApprovedRetirement Funds and investments fromSmall Self Administered Schemes. Cur-rently many pension funds are not per-forming well due to the uncertainty on

financial markets and we believe thatnow is a good time for investors to diver-sify some of their pension funds to spreadthe risk and maximise the gains.

The Elm Fund is forecasted to grow15% per annum and has a life of 5 years.

SINGLE APARTMENTS - PRICES START FROM €60,480RESIDENTIAL BLOCKS - PRICES START FROM €350,000

Elm Fund is a pension fund based on German property suitablefor pension investments and transfers. Small Self Administered

Schemes and ARF’s, see details on www.berlininvest.ie

• SALE OF SINGLE APARTMENTS IN BERLIN• SALE OF RESIDENTIAL BLOCKS IN BERLIN• SALE OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY THROUGHOUT GERMANY• PENSION & INVESTMENT FUNDS

COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES - OVER 7% RETURN, LONG LEASES, BLUE CHIP

TENANTS, PRICES START FROM €450,000

Lismard HouseLismard Business Park

PortlaoiseCo. Laois

Republic of IrelandPhone + 353 57 8670039

Fax + 353 57 8680633Mobile + 353 872302461/+ 353872831021

Email [email protected] www.berlininvest.ie

Please contact us if you are interested in transferring a portion of your pension fund into a solid fund, based on German property, witha good growth outlook. Details on www.berlininvest.ie.

Friedrichshain Single Apartments Christburger Residential Block

Commercial Developement Zehlendorf Berlin


Holidays are the biggest singleannual expense. Fortunately,

they are also – unlike rent and mort-gage payments – usually the mostexciting.

There are a whole myriad of costsinvolved with holiday travel. A littlebit of planning, however, can ensurethat these are kept to a minimum.

One of the key tips for anybodythinking of travelling is planningwell in advance. If you haven’t al-ready begun to arrange a holiday,it’s unlikely to get any cheaper be-tween now and the summer.

Patricia Ronane, managing direc-tor of Great Escapes, a tour operatorbased in Swinford, Co. Mayo, saysthat early booking is the key tokeeping the price low. ‘Price is ahuge concern for people taking aholiday,’ she states. ‘If you bookearly, it will be significantly cheaper.

You also stand a better chance of se-curing the type of holiday and ac-commodation you want. It canhappen that three and four star ho-tels or apartments are booked early,leaving perhaps only two star ac-commodation.’

Families usually face greater ob-stacles than couples or single peoplewhen looking for suitable accom-modation. Many areas of the worldhave a shortage of the two and threebedroom apartments needed forpeople holidaying with children.This makes early booking, for somepeople, all the more important.

Of course, there’s no law to saythat travellers must fly in the sum-mer. Whilst families are more re-stricted by school holiday times,those without children may be freeto take a break at any time of theyear. Flights and accommodation

during off-peak times is undoubt-edly cheaper. Indeed, with themoney saved, Ronane points outthat people may be able to pay foran additional holiday: ‘We’re find-ing that a growing number of peopletake a holiday in February or Marchand then another one in October orNovember.’

This coming November, RoisinQuinn, a 28-year old graphic de-signer, is travelling to Buenos Airesin Argentina with her boyfriend.Their return flights, including taxesand charges, cost only €780 each.‘We really wanted to go to SouthAmerica,’ she says. ‘We were bothplanning when we could take oursummer holidays when we stoppedand thought, why does it have to bea summer holiday? We don’t havekids so we’re not really tied as towhen we take our annual leave. Be-cause it’s summer there while it’swinter here, it also made more senseto go then. Flights in the summerwould have cost us well over€1,100. This was a big saving forus.’ Quinn also saved money by fly-ing midweek – when fares arecheaper – instead of at the weekend.

There are great deals on offer iftravellers are prepared to look. Theinternet has revolutionised our ap-proach to holidays, with many usingit to find cheap flights and accom-modation. This can, however, be astressful approach. The major bene-fit of using a tour operator is thatthis stress is relieved. Flights and ac-commodation are included in thecost of the package, while there isthe added comfort of knowing that

the operator has researched the areaand is willing to put their seal of ap-proval on it. In addition, every touroperator will have a representativeon site. This means that, if a holi-daymaker is unhappy with any as-pect of the trip, he or she has a pointof contact to whom they can com-plain. In the vast majority of cases,the tour operator can resolve anyproblems that may occur withflights or accommodation.

‘People often think that once theyhave booked their flight, they arefending for themselves,’ says Ro-nane. ‘In fact, they are met by touroperating staff at the airport – it’spart of what is paid for.’

Value for money is usually seen asa key indicator of how good a holi-day was. Nobody likes to feel that

they didn’t get what they paid for –especially on package holidays. ‘Ifit’s a family holiday, people usuallywant a kids club,’ Ronane says. ‘It’simportant for adults to be able to getsome time to themselves. People al-ways want a central location or on-site facilities. Couples and youngpeople want to be close to areaswhere there is nightlife. Everyonealso wants to be within walking dis-tance of shops, bars and restaurants– if they are too far out, this can bea hassle.’

There’s no reason why organisinga holiday has to be a hassle. Withjust a little forward planning, lyingback in the sun with extra cash inyour pocket while listening to thecool sound of the roaring ocean canbe as easy as… well, a holiday.

How to plan a holidayNow is the time to start planning your holiday, according to Peter McGuire

www.greatescapes.ie

BOOK NOW SUMMER 2008

CRETE LANZAROTE SALOU PORTUGAL

Direct Flights From Ireland West Airport Knock

For more details log on to www.greatescapes.ie Phone us on 09492 53657 or Contact your local Travel Agent.

TOP TIPS

• First, foremost, and most obvious: Shop around for the best deals on offer.Whether you choose a package deal or book flights and accommodationseparately, there can be substantial differences in price

• Consider travelling at off-peak times. Avoid the June-August season and al-ways try to travel mid-week rather than at weekends.

• Book well in advance. • Package deals: despite travel agent fees, it can work out cheaper for holi-

daymakers to get a package deal. Booking accommodation and flights sep-arately can cost more, as many tour operators provide discounts when theyare bundled together.


With a slowdown in the econ-omy, and in certain quarters, a

gloom and doom prophecy for thetimes ahead, here are five ideas forsaving money or being smarter withit over the next year. These tips arenot in any particular order:

1 Think smart with surplus cashDo not leave surplus money in yourcurrent account. At least transfer itinto your bank’s deposit accountand when you need funds to meetthe cheques you have written,transfer amounts over to the currentaccount to meet those cheques asyou write them. If that deposit ac-count is sizeable, negotiate withyour bank – their rates will be farless attractive than say Rabobank(5% for the first €10,000 – internetonly) or Anglo Irish Bank (30 daynotice at 4.5% - they also offer aone-year fixed account at 5%) oreven Investec (the South Africanbank with a very strong A3 ratingfrom Moodys) offer for those withover €100,000 a compound rate of4.59% on 30-day notice. Rememberalso the regular saver accounts –you agree to save regularly for 24months a maximum of €1000 permonth yielding up to a whopping7.15%. Anglo Irish Bank (7% andup to €1000 per month for 24months) Bank of Scotland Ireland(7% and €350 per month) and firstactive (€1000 per month for 24months and a 7.15% return) areamong the best.

Think about other forms of invest-ment - you could do worse than buyThe Money Doctor – 50 Ways toWealth, a compilation of 50 articles onmaking money from art and wine in-vestment, rock memorabilia, invest-ment clubs to classic cars, philatelyand bonds. Out in april 2008, it ispublished also by Gill & MacMillan.

2 Plan a yearly householdbudgetAdd all your yearly household li-abilities together and divide bytwelve. That figure is theamount you need to putaway each month tomeet the budgetand is the monthlyexpenditure youneed just to run thehome. Any capital or“luxury” spending mustbe found outside of thisbudget. You could also adopta monthly budget if preferred. Youshould also have a five-year or evena ten-year overall plan – so you canreally anticipate all those futurecosts and dreams (secondary educa-tion for the children, exotic holi-days, overseas holiday homes etc).Remember, if your expenditure ex-ceeds the income, you have twochoices: earn more or spend less!

3 Check your mortgage interest rateSometimes we go to great lengths atthe initial stages of obtaining a

The Money Doctor’s top five tipsThe top five ways to save money in 2008… with advice that will save you €s, from John Lowe, TheMoney Doctor

mortgage, trying to ensure the mostcompetitive interest rate at the time.Once taken out, there is a tendencyto overlook the maintenance of thatmortgage. You could very easily findout that your lender’s current adver-tised interest rate bears no resem-blance to your own. This is also atime to check whether your mort-gage is currently on a variable stan-

dard rate (the mostexpens ive ) ,

4 Think pensionsIf you are self employed, 5% equityholding director or even in an occu-pational pension scheme (wherepension holders can make furtherpayments through an additionalvoluntary contribution) you shouldreview your pension requirements.For every Euro, you will save tax atyour marginal rate depending on thetype of pension, plus all profits aretax free and on maturity, you canencash up to 25% of the fund taxfree. Just remember if you were re-tiring now, ask yourself could youlive off the €223.30 per week fromthe state pension, if you qualifythrough your stamps? Talk to an ad-viser now and specifically those reg-ulated by the Central Bank –authorised advisors or your pre-ferred pension adviser.

5 Operate a charge card as op-posed to a credit card

You are probably aware thatcredit card balances are

normally charged between 17% and24% depending on the credit cardcompany. By switching to a chargecard (eg American Express, Diners…)your monthly balances are debitedto your bank current account andeven if you decide to leave it onyour overdraft – if you have permis-sion of course – the interest rate isbetween 10% and 12%… a consider-able saving. If you can pay off thebalance every month, so much thebetter. Swapping your balance to acredit card company at 0% for thefirst nine months might also help forbreathing space. Cheapest card onthe market is Bank of Scotland Ire-land at 9.5% interest rate.

John Lowe, Fellow of the Institute of Bankers, is Managing

Director of Providence Finance Services Ltd Stillorgan & Drumcon-

dra and author of the best-sellerThe Money Doctor Finance Annual2008 (Gill & MacMillan) log on tothe web sites or itunes for podcasts

“How to Get Rich This Week” fornewsletter tel +353 1 278 5555,

email [email protected] [email protected]

Dublin Wicklow Cork London

01 825 8288 [email protected] www.shomera.ie

Premium InvestmentA Shomera can help you realise the full potential of your home.

By investing in the area around your house, you add premium

living space to your property. Rarely, do you have the opportunity

to get so much pleasure and enjoyment out of something that

is also such a worthwhile investment.

Contact us to find out more

and should yougo fixed or on to atracker rate and alsoworth consideration, ifyour lender is uncompeti-tive, should you switch toanother lender? Changing toan interest-only mortgage mayalso help the cash flows initiallyand consolidating your debts maybe prudent if you have over-ex-tended yourself and have an assetlike your home, or spare equity inyour home, to offer as security.


The slowdown in the Irish prop-erty market has made many

think twice about moving to a newhouse. At the same time, however,

demand for more living space hasshot up. Demand for builders wentthrough the roof last year as peoplespent their mature SSIA savings on

extensions and home repairs. Thiswas, according to Sean Copeland,sales and marketing manager ofShomera – a company which buildsextensions and extra living spaces –a wise investment.

‘There’s no doubt that adding aquality extension to your home in-creases its value,’ he says. ‘We’ve had

clients who were able to commanda higher asking price for their homebecause it had either an extension ora Shomera room.’

Estate agents agree that an exten-sion, or added living space, can addvalue to people’s homes. PatrickCasey, director of Casey Properties,estimates that extensions can costaround €280 per square foot. It canbe, however, a very worthwhile en-deavour. ‘An extension can give oneproperty an edge over another,’ heexplains. They are a long-term in-vestment that can be to the owner’sadvantage in a sale. Some home-owners may also choose to changetheir door and window fixtures, in-stall double glazing, or sand andpolish floors. These all serve to in-crease the value of the home.’

Most people finance an extensionor renovation by remortgaging. Ac-cording to Casey, banks and build-ing societies often consider the

added value which an extensionadds to a house when they are pro-viding the funds.

‘We use our homes more and morethese days,’ says Copeland. ‘Peoplecommute longer distances to workand they don’t want to go home aftera long day and then head back intothe city to socialise. They often wantto entertain at home. A growing num-ber don’t commute at all, but workfrom home. Sitting at the kitchen tableon a laptop isn’t an option for peoplewith families, or simply for peoplewho want to keep their work and liv-ing space separate. Others are lookingto have a room for working out andkeeping fit, while some want a dedi-cated room for their hobby, whetherthat’s art, music, or something else.There’s been a major lifestyle shift inthe past few years, and this had led toour mindsets towards our homeschanging. People are prepared to makethat extra investment.’

Room to manoeuvreBuying a house is the biggest single investment mostpeople will ever make. It is our home, our place ofrefuge, and of course, a financial venture.

Deep in tropical Australia, thebowerbird invests all his time

collecting jewels for his bower, orgarden. Flowers, leaves, shells,sticks, twigs, berries, and even dis-carded plastic or glass are arrangedtogether to make his stand outagainst all the others. Visiting fe-males assess his garden to decidewhether he is a worthy mate.

For the bowerbird, the pay off isthe possibility to mate. In Ireland,many people are paying equal at-tention to their garden – althoughusually not for mating purposes. In-vesting time and energy into a gar-den not only provides a beautifulrecreational space; it can also addserious value to the price of a home.

Property prices fell by 6% nation-ally in 2007, and many experts ex-pect house prices to fall by a further5% this year. Selling a house has be-come much more difficult than itwas over the past several years. Theanswer, according to Leo Toole ofMeadow Gardens, may be to im-prove your house both inside andoutside.

‘People are going out less than be-

fore and entertaining at home isgrowing in popularity,’ he says. ‘It’salso become more important to havea safe space for children to play in.Because of this, most potentialhomeowners want to have an aes-thetically pleasing garden.’

The benefits of a well-main-tained and attractive garden areobvious. Like a female bowerbird,if a potential buyer is choosing be-tween a home with a shabby, over-grown, delipidated garden full ofrubbish and one three doors downwith a beautifully maintained gar-den full of shrubs and flowers,they’ll always plump for the moreattractive option.

‘If you do need to sell, the goldenrule of “location, location, location”is still valid, but in a buyers marketsyou’ll be expected to stand out fromthe crowd,’ says Toole. ‘By now ev-eryone knows how to make the in-side shine through interiorrenovation The last great frontier tomake your house stand out is thegarden. Tasteful well maintainedlandscaping and planting coupledwith a sense of style will leave an

impression and may well get the saleor the extra €5,000-€10,000 overthe line.’

According to Toole, a number oftrends have emerged in landscapegardening over recent years: ‘Deck-ing and patio areas, mixed plantingwith a variety of shrubs, trees andgrasses, and continental andMediterranean influences have be-come popular. People want to makefull use of all their space. With justa little imagination, it’s very simpleto incorporate your outdoor spaceinto your everyday life.’

Adorning your nestMaking your garden beautiful can enhance your life –and help with that sale. Peter McGuire reports.

Meadow Garden Designers: adding value to your homethrough new standards in garden design & landscaping.

It’s a long way from being anecclesiastical sculptor in Flo-

rence to an RHS medal at theTatton Park Garden Show, butthis is the path that Ciaran Kir-wan (right) of Meadow GardenDesigners has followed. As oneof only a handful of RHS medalwinners in Ireland, Ciaran hasexperimented and developed hisdesign skills as a ceramics maker,a sculptor, an art teacher andlandscape designer.

Today, Ciaran is heading a com-pany whose goal is to deliver con-temporary and sophisticateddesign while allowing clients toenjoy a seamless and friendly cus-tomer experience.

“Increasingly people wanttheir gardens to be part of theirliving space. They want theirgarden to reflect their personal-ity” says Ciaran who has been

designing bespoke gardens forover ten years. “We find that alot of our clients are looking toadd value to their propertieswhile also having a new spacethey can live in. Clients regularlylook to create an exterior spacethat complements the interior oftheir home. These elements areproven to enhance the value ofthe biggest sale they will make”

“There has never been a bettertime to invest in your home. Infact, improving your home and

garden today enhances your salespotential in the future, and youcan at least appreciate your homein the meantime.”

Meadow offers a full range ofdesign & landscaping services.“The reaction to our services hasbeen fantastic”. Ciaran explains:“When I meet clients, I try to in-terpret their interests and tastes.These inspire my concept designsand are gradually refined intofinal agreed drawings and land-scaping plans”

“Customer service is key for usat Meadow. We target to deliveryour job within 12 weeks throughour team of qualified professionalsacross all gardening disciplines.We hope that Meadow becomessynonymous with quality & value”

Meadow is building up a port-folio of impressive projects. Ciarancontinues: “We recently completed

BEFORE

AFTER

a large job in Wicklow where wecontoured an unused sloping spaceinto a cascading garden with patio,hot tub and barbeque areas. Plant-ing alone had 100 types of trees,shrubs & plants.”

Meadow has entered a gardendesign in the upcoming Bloom

2008 garden show in the PhoenixPark, where Ciaran hopes to addto his achievements. Ciaran willalso be presenting in the GardenForum at the Spring House & Gar-den Show from March 7th to 9th.You can view some of Meadow’sdesigns at www.meadow.ie

Top: Meadow’s recent project in Wicklow – before work began.

Bottom: The end result

Whether you like it or not, when itcomes to making money, the better

your contacts and the better yourteam, the better your opportunities,

success and money you’ll make.

Sorry, but that’s life. If thisisn’t what you want to hear,

what are you willing to do aboutit? Well, fortunately, there areplenty of options which we’ll getto in a moment.

First, let’s consider money . Wehear people say “Money is notimportant to me”, “There’s moreto life than money” and then wehear misquotes from the bible:“Money’s the root of all evil”, thecamel and the eye of the needle,blessed are the poor, etc.

Yet, many of us spend the besthours of the best weeks of thebest years of our lives workingfor money. If you ask people“why do you go to work?” aconsiderable number will reply

“Because I need to earn money”.Many people are facing longer

and longer daily commutes towork and more and more youngparents are seeing less and lessof their children. It seems to usthen, that money is importantand here is what we have found:

If you make money importantand respect it, money will even-tually become less important andwill respect and work for you.

The ICES Group was formed overfive years ago aiming to empowerpeople to take control of their fi-nancial future. Starting with our-selves, we looked to the people whowere able to build wealth throughinvesting and with the resultinggain in control of time and money,

were able to set their own agenda.The first stumbling block was the re-alisation at the top of this piece…wedidn’t know these people! Over thepast years, we have however cometo know many of these people, andcan confirm that “it’s not what youknow, it’s who you know” is actu-ally a good thing. Equally as impor-tant is who knows you.

Now, over to you, how are youwith money? Have you enough?Can you make decisions withoutmoney being the deciding fac-tor? Do you think about howyou will look after yourself inthe future and into retirement?Do you worry about money? Isit the source of arguments withyour spouse or partner?

It was mentioned above thatthere are plenty options, well ba-sically it comes down to whetheror not you are going to take re-sponsibility for your own finan-cial future.

It’s not what you know,it’s who you know…

The people who leave the re-sponsibility to someone else willface an uncertain future, pen-sions may not perform, the gov-ernment will have difficultyproviding for the ageing popula-tion and marriage break up canabandon a spouse who gave allof the financial control to theother side during the marriage.

ICES has been created forthose who have or intend to takecontrol of their finances. We fa-cilitate meetings for like mindedpeople and suitable for people atdifferent levels of investmentexperience and success. Meet-ings normally include a talk byan investor on their experiences

to date and plans for the future,followed by discussion on possi-ble deals and investment Q&A.

There are other spin off eventsand social activities all with theintention of increasing yourcontacts and your net worth.

We include all asset classes:• Property• Paper (Stocks / Equities)• Business

* Offer valid until 31 March 2008. The ICES Group is an education company specialising in the subject of money. The ICES Group does not provide specific financial advice to any individual. We suggest that you sourceyour own advice prior to any financial decision. Irish Complementary Education Systems Ltd trading as The ICES Group

Welcome to a learning forum for investors, run by investors

�

SEE FOR YOURSELFCut this page out and presentit at one of our events.*

Web:www.theicesgroup.comPhone: 1850 930 307

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