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An Rud Eile's avatar

I imagine that almost all employees of multinationals in Ireland are automaticlly enrolled in their pensions after their probation which is a big part of bringing people into pensions. There are even some defined benefits pensions still hanging around - MSD but most are defined contribution at this point - especially for new joiners. Employers also offer pension matching - 5% personal contribution gives 10% employer contribution which is a big encourgement. Some offer more, some less.

Given that Irelands ridiculous deemed disposal tax rules on ETFs - 41% applied on gains every 8 years - contributing to a pension is the most tax efficient way to compound gains for later life by accessing index funds with lower fees than investment trusts or trying to stock pick.

If you want to get a flavour of what some young people are asking about pensions then take a look at the subreddit irish personal finance. https://www.reddit.com/r/irishpersonalfinance/

This gets a lot of traction as does the idea of FIRE (Financial Independence retire early) with this other podcast given a flavour of the possible approaches and barriers: https://www.firepodcast.ie/

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Tony McDermott's avatar

Hey lads. Language is important here. Are you talking about the number of houses or residential units (apartments / flats (a la FO’T))?

Tom Parlon can flip his language at will. The motivation of “owners” is so important especially when talking about people’s HOMES. Are the houses you refer to buildings with a front & back door and two or more bedrooms ? Are they designed to be owner-occupied or build to rent. The intended duration of occupation / ownership is a key factor in this analysis.

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Jim Power & Chris Johns's avatar

The CSO reports residential units, which includes apartments, single housing and developments.

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Tony McDermott's avatar

Thanks for reply. However the title of the podcast specifically references Houses

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Jim Power & Chris Johns's avatar

Yes. It is absolutely correct say we are not building enough houses. . In 2021, single houses accounted for 22.9 per cent of total residential units completed, which is down from 29.6 per cent in 2017 and 68.8 per cent in 2011.

Scheme houses in 2021 accounted for 52.1 per cent in units completed, which is down from 55 per cent in 2017 and up from 19.4 per cent in 2011.

Apartments accounted for 25 per cent of total completions in 2021, which is the highest percentage since the CSO series commenced in 2011. 2021 was the first time that apartments were greater than single house completions.

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Deirdre Mooney's avatar

Hi Jim & Chris - maybe you could give your opinion on the rather ludicrous (my view!) wording of Leo’s bill on remote working rights!

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Jim Power & Chris Johns's avatar

Deirdre, apologies for tardy response. Ludicrous sums it up well. We are going to cover that issue soon. Thanks.

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