To ask those of you in Ireland?, what to do with child benefits?

[movingtoireland]

Name change and posting here for traffic? We are moving to Ireland with dh's job. He is a higher tax rate payer in U.K. and in Ireland (over 100k) I will be working too eventually but I'll wait for the dc to get settled into school etc. We have 2 sets of twins (aged 9 and 6) which means we will get €1080 in child benefits. I would like to invest this for them? What child investments are available in Ireland?? Should I contact a financial advisor?

There is a pretty good post office savings account you can open directly connected with child benefit so the money just goes directly into the post office account.
The long term return is pretty good.

Oooh @gabsdot45 thank you. I never even thought of a post office account. I will look into that!! Thanks again

Wow in Ireland do higher rate tax payers get child benefit? We don’t get it in UK. Hi

Don’t know where the “hi” came from!

Tou sure its not 840 you get?

I also came on to say a post office account. And yes @MissyB1 child benefit is not means tested here.

@MissyB1

Wow in Ireland do higher rate tax payers get child benefit? We don’t get it in UK. Hi

Yes of course you do. We're not really into penalising people for having children.

@MissyB1 yes...I only found out yesterday when dh's distant cousin was chatting about some stuff with me and she said be sure to get the ball rolling quickly as it can take a while. I was gobsmacked we also get extra on each payment as we have twins. It's normally 140 per child but we'll get 210 per child. Which has made me realize I have miscalculated and we will receive €840 but that's still amazing!!

@StaceysmomandIhavegotitgoinon we have cross posted yes you are right I miscalculated it's 840! Which is still amazing 🤩

That’s great. I wonder how much money they actually saved in the UK by bringing in means testing.

Cost of living here is far more expensive too so just be mindful that you might need that to survive on yourselves.

For another poster no means test here.

Don’t get me started on the dreadfully unfair system in England.

They’ll let couple A earn £50k each and give them full child benefit

But they’ll penalise couple B if one earns £60k and the other is a stay at home parent.

And of that £60k, it could be a salary and
Bonus of £50k with a £10k BIK from a company car.

Utterly effing ridiculous. Designed by those that are on far higher wages.

In a nutshell you lose 10% of child benefit for every £1k earned between £50 and £60k.

@StaceysmomandIhavegotitgoinon thank you. I know a few things are more expensive for sure. We have accommodation sorted and I have looked into car insurance which isn't as expensive as I thought (think I over estimated on that one!) we had quite a high council tax rate here which we won't have in Ireland so it's one less outgoing. I have been talking a lot with dh's cousin and comparing food prices and it seems similar enough. It helps we are moving from SE U.K. and not to Dublin (which seems v expensive) so it evens out a bit!

@Longsight2019
I know and Dh and I are couple B - very annoying!

@Longsight2019 I know!! It's ridiculous!!

It totally swings in roundabout Vs UK as in Ireland there's just 15 ecce hours free not 30 hours like the UK which must help massively. Adults and kids over 6 years old pay 50/60 euros to see a GP plus pay perscriptions.

@Abitlost2 we could never claim the 30 free hours due to our income. I had a friend who does but she still pays a certain amount for food and "admin expenses" or something like that. Isn't the ECCE completely free for all??

@Abitlost2 we will have private healthcare with dh's workplace. I have been looking at the policy and it covers 75% of GP fees which is great!

[quote movingtoireland]@Abitlost2 we could never claim the 30 free hours due to our income. I had a friend who does but she still pays a certain amount for food and "admin expenses" or something like that. Isn't the ECCE completely free for all??[/quote]
Yes, if you're using a crèche, for example, they'll have montessori in the morning and will offset the ECCE against it. They do the calcs, claims etc and then charge you the balance. In practice, the parents just have slightly lowered crèche fees for the two years. It's very welcome though.

@PleasantBirthday that's nice to know thank you. Although I'm not having anymore myself (two sets of twins was enough and I was considered high risk so I had my tubes tied after my 2nd set. My eldest are going into 3rd class and my youngest are going into senior infants.

Mine is in senior infants now, they have a lovely time in school. Hopefully yours will enjoy it!

@PleasantBirthday ah thank you, we are all very excited to be honest!! We needed a change and it all seems to be looking like it will work out for us in Ireland

Oh I thought it was 30 free hours ecce in the UK, it 15 here not 30. The secondary schools are off 3 months here not 6 weeks like in UK ( this could work great for some , we like travelling so it works but lots of parents find it way too long). The preschool one of my DC's goes to finishes at 11.30 and they don't do add on hours so total pain this year tbh for us. I actually think the quality could be better here re GPS as we have never had any issues seeing them , I can get an appointment anytime i want same day but its 50 euros everytime....

Schools are very good here also , I feel secondary are a lot better than in the UK ( I used to teach in the UK ) but maybe that's just my experience.

Ah yes sorry OP I was thinking Dublin prices. It is crazy the rents etc in Dublin.

Best of luck with the move :)