Clare Byrne

You know, retiring in their 60s, let's say, that's 30 odd years if you're in your 30s to be able to invest and grow your wealth.

But you can also continue to work and people are continuing to work even into their 70s and 80s, which is fantastic.

So they can even retire their pensions, let's say, for example, in their 60s and still be working and still be contributing to another pension and availing of higher tax reliefs.

So again, your essentials, you know, if you have a mortgage, mortgage protection, but even if you don't have a mortgage and you're renting, you should still have some sort of life cover, particularly if you're in a relationship.

Because if you were to die unexpectedly, then what would happen to the person remaining?

How would they afford the rent that you're contributing or paying part of?

So definitely have your life cover in place, your mortgage protection, income protection is the most essential cover.

I've spoken about it before to you, you know, in terms of protecting your income.

It's your most valuable asset.

You need to make sure that that's number one priority and then specified illness cover as well.

So in the event of being diagnosed with a specified illness, you know, an unfortunate event like that kind of unexpected cover.

You're diagnosed with cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc., that you have a lump sum there, a tax free lump sum to be able to recover, get your treatment and focus then, you know, again on your financial well-being.

And unfortunately, we are seeing the age of illnesses decrease over time.

So more people in their 30s, 40s are being diagnosed with illnesses now.

So particularly breast cancer for women, heart attacks for men.

So it's really, really important that you have that cover in place to make sure then that in those eventualities that you have financial income.

Yeah, that you have the support there.

Yeah, well, look, it's again about the financial planning, you know, so if their interest rates are rising, it depends if they're on a variable rate, if they're on a tracker interest rate.

If they're on a fixed rate, their repayment won't change unless they're coming off their fixed rate.

So again, it's having that buffer fund there to be able to dip into if you need to, your emergency cash, your life events fund.