Hopkins Financial Consultants Blog

New Mobile site

Mark Hopkins — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:19:39 +0000

We've just made our website mobile friendly so now anyone visiting www.hopkins-financial.ie on their mobile will now see a mobile version of our website! If anyone has any suggestions of information they'd like to see or something they'd like to be able to do with the site, please let us know!

Our New Mobile Site

Mortgage Interest Rates on the Rise

Mark Hopkins — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:42:02 +0000

The European Central Bank (ECB) have moved their key interest rate again in July - for the second time this year. The rate now stands at 1.5%. The increases will not impact you if you have a fixed rate mortgage. However, if you have a tracker mortgage (which adds a certain guaranteed % onto the ECB rate), you may be getting nervous as the rate has stayed flat at 1% since May 2009. For the first time in almost three years you may need to consider how an increase in rates will affect you and decide what action, if any, you need to take.

Clarifying Employer Contributions to a PRSA

Mark Hopkins — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:28:03 +0000

The purpose of this post is to clarify how employer contributions to an employee’s Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) are to be treated for Benefit-in-kind, Income Tax, PRSI and Universal Social Charge (USC) purposes

New Financial Calculators

Mark Hopkins — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:47:45 +0000

We've added some new functions to our site which will be useful when you are thinking about your pension, investment and life assurance planning.

The Life Assurance Calculator helps you decide how much cover you need and gives you an estimate of the cost involved.

The Pension Calculator lets you work out where you are heading with your current pension and gives you an idea of what you need to change to hit your retirement income goals.

The Attitude to Risk Tool can help you decide the type of risk you are willing to accept before you decide to save or invest.

We hope you find them useful, if you have any feedback or queries, please get in touch.

Trustee Training Sessions

Mark Hopkins — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:50:40 +0000

We're continuing to conduct our Trustee Training with company directors and individual trustees all over the country.

Last week was the turn of Grainne Lawless and the other directors in Power Home Products to do their training. By completing our course the company has now met their training obligations under the Pension Act.

"I took a lot from the course and found it really informative - particularly on the duties and responsibilities of trustees. Hopkins Financial are clearly very knowledgeable and backed it up with lots of real world examples to help our understanding."

If you would like to find out if the Pension Trustee training requirement applies to you, you can find out more here or call us on 1890 88 20 61.

Company Directors Employing a Spouse

Mark Hopkins — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:22:58 +0000

It is possible for a Company Director to cut Income tax and Corporation tax by employing their spouse in their company and funding their pension.

Benchmark / Sunday Times home insurance survey

Mark Hopkins — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:39:00 +0000

The Sunday Times Home section published a great survey this weekend which really hammered home the message to shop around for your home insurance.

Out of the 28 Dublin areas surveyed, Benchmark had the cheapest quote in 19 areas.

If you would like a Benchmark home insurance quote, fill in our quote form and we'll send you their best price.

Life Expectancy Calculator

Mark Hopkins — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:49:39 +0000

Ever think about your lifestyle and how it effects how long you will live for?

This cool calculator will give you an idea of your life expectancy based on the answers you give.

What I like about it is that for each question, it gives you an indication as to why they are asking it. For example,

Question: Do you have high blood pressure? Yes or No

Reason: risk factor of stroke and cardiovascular disease

Have a go yourself at: http://www.mercerwealthsolutions.com.au/planningtools/life-expectancy/

€500,000 or €2,000 per month – how much would you like to leave your family?

Mark Hopkins — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:52:47 +0000

The life assurance industry isn’t well known for its innovation. A lot of the products can appear very similar and aside from cost, don’t differ much between the different life assurance companies. However, New Ireland seem to have broken the mould with their new Life Choice range of financial protection. As parents, and particularly when our kids are young, we have a responsibility to provide for our children – this means taking action and putting a plan in place to secure their future if the worst happens. Click here to read a case study about the process involved in ensuring you provide for the financial security of your family.

Where’s best to save for a rainy day?

Mark Hopkins — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:35:31 +0000

One of the key lessons we learn in a recession is the value of having a rainy day fund to help with those unforeseen situations. Even when times are hard, it’s important to squirrel away something no matter how small. €20 a week for 5 years builds up to €5,200 – without even earning any interest or investment growth! So if you’re thinking about putting something aside regularly, or if you’ve already started saving, we've highlighted some things to think about.