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Farewell from Ray McNicholas

At the end of 2023 I officially left Everlake and Financial Services. I am keen not to use the word ‘retired’, as I plan to keep working for at least another ten years! It’s the...

Forecasting the Financial Future

Come January, I traditionally mock the Financial Journalist’s annual requests for forecasts of the year ahead by Financial Advisors. There are many suitable responses to this annual charade, some of my personal favourites include: “Pundits...

A Financial Review of 2023

A year ago, we were reflecting on the challenging year of 2022 for investors. Reflecting on the last twelve months, the story is more positive. The expectation that inflation was coming under control and the...

Extracting Wealth From Your Business

Extracting wealth from a business is a subject that frequently exercises the minds of the owners, as they weigh up the pros and cons of the various routes available to them. While specialist tax advice...

Reduce Your Tax Bill When Exiting Your Business

When exiting your business, it’s critical to get specialist tax advice. A tax advisor will examine the circumstances relating to your specific situation. They can also help you to make maximum use of any reliefs...

Boosting Your Retirement Income

Business owners sometimes come to us as retirement is starting to emerge over the hill. They’re concerned that they haven’t enough put aside for their later years. This might be because they didn’t plan far...

Losing a Key Person in Your Business

Challenges for Business Owners As a company owner or partner, you’re constantly juggling various aspects of your business to ensure its success. From day-to-day operations to financial management and customer satisfaction, the challenges are endless....

Moving to Ireland? But Where Do You Plan to Die?

At Everlake, we’ve built up a niche expertise in helping senior executives who move to Ireland from overseas. We help them with the broad range of financial and taxation issues, identify the optimal financial solutions...

Should You Consider Purchasing Irish Government Bonds?

Given the measly interest rates on offer by Irish banks, alternatives to deposit accounts always warrant consideration. Although we are starting to see signs of improving rates for savers, there are other alternatives available for...

Tax Return Pitfalls & Opportunities

It’s coming up to that time of year again – tax returns need to be completed and everyone is looking for ways to reduce their bill. While most people view this as a chore, we...

Understanding Domicile

In the realm of financial planning and taxation, the term ‘domicile’ often surfaces for individuals who were not born in Ireland. But what does it really mean, and why is it so significant? Let’s delve...

Navigating Defined Benefit Schemes

Introduction Navigating the world of pensions can be complex, especially when it comes to defined benefit schemes. Let’s delve into a recent consultation we had, which sheds light on the intricacies of making informed retirement...

Sustainable Investing – a Global View

Some of the Everlake team attended the PortfolioMetrix LEAD Symposium in Cape Town this May. The event brought together some of the world’s top financial advisors to share ideas and challenge the norms in pursuit...

Investing is Simple, but Not Easy

Some of the Everlake team attended the PortfolioMetrix LEAD Symposium in Cape Town this May. The event brought together some of the world’s top financial advisors to share ideas and challenge the norms in pursuit...

Lessons in Leadership

Some of the Everlake team attended the PortfolioMetrix LEAD Symposium in Cape Town this May. The event brought together some of the world’s top financial advisors to share ideas and challenge the norms in pursuit...

You’re Too Late!

Ethics in Irish Financial Services We invited a good friend of Everlake’s, Dan Candura CFP, to give a keynote speech on the subject of ethics at an event for the Society of Financial Planners a...

The Irish Pensions Market & PRSAs

The Irish pensions market experienced a period of significant regulatory change in early 2023. While the long-term outlook is positive for clients, the financial services industry spent the end of 2022 and early 2023 reorganising...

Taxation of Overseas Investments

Back in 2013, following a rise in exit tax, we took the opportunity to switch our client’s portfolios. The increased exit tax rate, from 36% to 41%, meant that a move from ‘gross roll up’...

Why is There so Little Estate Planning in Ireland?

Why is there so little Estate Planning in Ireland? We were engaged by a couple in their mid-50s recently for Financial Planning advice. Firstly, we ensured that their family would be protected come what may....

Important Tools for Your Estate Planning

We’ve given our theory on why estate planning is not very common in Ireland and explained what estate planning actually is. It is NOT simply setting up a Section 72 life assurance policy! There is...

The Ladybird Guide to Estate Planning

In a previous blog post, we set out our thoughts on why structured estate planning is not that common in Ireland, and some reasons why people may mistakenly assume they don’t have a need for...

Electric Vehicles as Part of Financial Planning?

We’ll all be going electric when it comes to driving soon… With the announcement in February this year that the EU is banning sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, the shift to...

Will Sustainable Investing Affect my Returns & Increase my Costs?

At Everlake we believe investment returns are explained by the following investment decisions: asset allocation, diversification, and investment approach. 1.      Asset Allocation Asset allocation is how much of your portfolio is invested in different investment...

How Sustainable Investing Aims to Make a Difference

Sustainable investment funds employ three key strategies. These strategies are inter-related and underpin our sustainable investment philosophy at Everlake. In its simplest form, sustainable investing attempts to enact change in three main ways: Avoid &...

History of Impact Investing

Our colleagues at Worthstone illustrate the evolution to the sustainable and impact investing that we know today in this fantastic video. Despite sustainability becoming a strong factor in investing decisions only recently, sustainable investing has...

Measuring Investment Impact with Worthstone

Despite its aim to improve transparency in the market, the introduction of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) has further muddied the waters of ESG or sustainable investing this year. Demand for sustainable investing is...

What’s More Important – Impact or Return?

We’ve shared our thoughts about sustainable investing being only one part of the answer to the world’s sustainability challenges. The answer to these challenges lies with each individual and the actions that we collectively take....

Alternative Investments Motivated by Sustainability Values

When investors go online to research sustainable investing opportunities, or indeed have a conversation with most financial advisors, they are usually introduced to the world of ESG investment funds. The theme of sustainable or ESG...

Meet Jacki Conway

Jacki joined Everlake as Chief Operating Officer in April 2021. After 19 years in a variety of roles with IBM, spanning Financial Analysis and Strategic Planning, Jacki changed her career direction. In 2005 she joined...

Investing in More Sustainable Fashion Options

We’ve recently been considering the various elements of sustainability that we can implement into our daily lives, in addition to investing our money in sustainable funds. As part of a family’s annual outgoings, a large...

Investing in a Bike

We’ve recently been considering the various elements of sustainability that we can implement in our day to day lives, in addition to investing our money in sustainable funds, read more here. Sustainable investments can be...

Your Most Valuable Sustainable Investment

We seem to have struck a chord with a number of people recently when we wrote our thoughts on Sustainable Investing and how we see it as only one element of overall sustainability. Many investors...

Everlake Investment Portfolios & 2022 Performance Review

At Everlake, we always seek to ensure that your values are reflected as fully as possible in the financial planning and investment approach that we recommend. We offer our clients a range of investment portfolio...

Creating Everlake

Managing your financial affairs can be a confusing and time consuming business, so much so that many of us put off making important decisions about our family finances. As a business owner and Chief Financial...

Inter-Generational Financial Planning

Many young people in Ireland today find that saving money into a pension or even buying a house is not a realistic proposition without the assistance of their parents. Much of the wealth in Ireland...

How Do I Prepare for Retirement?

One of the greatest financial worries, for many of us, is preparing for the transition from the world of work to retirement. The word retirement can evoke a sense of dread in some people –...

Beware The State Pension Trap

A potential tax/benefits trap exists that Irish Financial Planners should consider when recommending a personal investment portfolio (as distinct from a pension or ARF). I don’t profess to be an expert in Social Welfare benefits...

Are Sustainable & Impact Portfolios Worth The Price?

“When the facts change, I change my mind…” is generally attributed to the economist John Maynard Keynes (although he may not have actually said it), and it perfectly sums up our position on global capital...

Do You Own Investments In The USA?

Do you have shares in a company listed in the USA or a US ETF? Do you have more than $60,000? Are you married or in a Civil Partnership? If you answered yes to all...

Looking for Advice on Investing in Ireland

Assuming you have no mortgage debt and are already making full use of your pension allowances, what is the most tax efficient option for an investor in Ireland today? Is it beneficial to buy an...

Should I Pay Down Debt or Invest My Savings?

This is one of the most common questions we are asked and as in many things, the answer is “it depends”. Emotional Benefits As William Shakespeare said; “neither a borrower nor a lender be“. There...

Is It Pension Season For Everyone?

Traditional retirement planning isn’t the correct fit for everyone. There are broadly three cohorts of people, each requiring a different approach to planning for their future. Those on lower salaries should always prioritise buying a...

Right Time to Start a Pension?

Most articles of this nature, around the world, will talk about starting your pension early and the benefits of compound interest. Whilst that’s mathematically true, it’s not the right answer for everyone. I think we...

Meet John McNicholas

John headed up the family business, Ethical Financial, originally established by his father Ray in 1997. In 2020 Ethical Financial merged with Global Wealth, before rebranding in 2022 to become Everlake. He’s been advising business...

Pension FAQs

Some of the most common questions we’re asked about pensions…

Meet Marc Westlake – Our Managing Director

Our Managing Director Marc has worked as an Independent Financial Planning Consultant since 1994. Today he is a specialist in Portfolio Management, Pensions and Tax & Estate Planning. Marc has a Bachelors Degree in Economics,...

Values-Based Investing

Ensure your values are reflected as fully as possible in the financial planning & investment approach

Building & Preserving Your Wealth

Money means different things to different people. As Financial Planners we don’t believe that, for most people at least, simply being rich is the end goal. As one of our clients put it; “surely the...

Keeping Calm in the Face of a Market Fall

Much of this information may look familiar – you are right! We maintain the same long-term mindset and principles of long-term investing regardless of the recent ‘crisis du jour’.

What is Socially Responsible Investing?

We are fortunate at Everlake to have deep experience and expertise in helping people to invest in line with their own preferences and convictions.

Maximum AVC Contributions

What is the Maximum AVC Contribution I Can Make? Contrary to popular belief, there actually isn’t a maximum contribution you can pay. There is however a maximum contribution that qualifies for tax relief in any...

How Safe is My Pension?

With the media often full of stories of what can go wrong with financial products and the dubious reputation of some Financial Brokers, its hardly surprising that one of the questions we are frequently asked...

In Search of the Perfect Investment Portfolio

Case Study March 2012 to 31st March 2021 These clients first invested in March 2012 and we have been meticulously recording their performance net of all fees and transaction costs they have incurred. Their objective...

Advice Worth €1m

Bottom line, swapping an individual stock for a diversified portfolio reduces risk AND improves expected return.

Should I Overpay my Mortgage or Pay into a Pension?

The answer to this question, like with almost all financial advice, is ‘it depends’. Let’s look at the different things to consider… Emotional Benefits As William Shakespeare said; “neither a borrower nor a lender be.“...

When the Cheapest Option Isn’t Always the Best

Gerald Ratner joined his family’s jewelry business in 1966 and built it up into an incredibly successful high street chain during the 1980s. People loved Ratners stores because they offered affordable products to the man...

What Price Principles?

A new EU regulation came into effect on March 10th which requires all Irish financial advisers to consider ‘sustainable investing’. The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) effective on the 10th of March 2021 was introduced...

How Much is Enough in Retirement?

When we sit down to carry out retirement planning with a client, one of the questions we end up tossing around a lot is, “How much is enough in retirement?” This usually provokes some interesting...

When do you Start Planning your Retirement Decisions?

We got a call recently from a client of another financial advice firm, wanting to talk about her upcoming retirement. It appeared she was second-guessing the advice that she was being given and wanted a...

5 Taxation Considerations When Moving to Ireland

With Brexit coming over the hill, a significant number of UK companies are seeking to relocate part of their operations to Ireland in order to retain easy access to the EU markets. With that, we’re...

Pensions & Rental Property

One of the key features of self-administered pensions is the ability to identify and buy specific property. But, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. While this advice may be at odds to much...

How will you reward employees in this new world order?

So here’s a (good) problem that has emerged from the enormous changes in work practices since the Covid pandemic hit. Employers previously were able to recruit and retain by creating a superior working environment –...

Taxation Basics: Marginal vs Average Tax Rates

We frequently read the misguided view that people who are going to be paying 40% tax in retirement should not bother paying into a pension through additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) since they won’t receive any...

Where Do You Call Home?

How does your domicile impact your financial plan? Where you call home is a crucial question when it comes to financial planning. Before I moved to Ireland in 2008, I had a financial planning client...

How do I Save Money on my Life Insurance?

Good advisors put life insurance policies in place. Excellent advisors put the right policies in place and are there at the hour of need – when there’s a claim. Whenever I talk to financial advisors...

Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be

Good advice does not need to be complicated to have a dramatic impact on an individual’s financial position and save them thousands. As an example, let’s look at a client who had €130,000 in bank...

Occupational Pensions

Defined Contribution vs Defined Benefit Pensions In a defined contribution scheme, the amount of money the pension is worth on retirement depends on how much you have contributed and how your investments have performed. The...

I Don’t Believe in Pensions

I’ve heard this statement or something similar from many people over the years and very often it is because of an experience that they have witnessed of a friend or relative who “lost their savings...

Do You Have Family Living in the UK?

Those who are living in Ireland but have family in the UK who would like to make use of exemptions that apply when passing assets between generations should obtain advice around Estate Planning arrangements. “In...

Time in the Market, not Timing the Market

When Should I Invest? The answer is always now because investors are rewarded for time IN the market not timing the market. Psychologists tell us that as investors we are more concerned about losses than...

How Much Does a Financial Advisor Cost in Ireland?

Introduction In our experience most people don’t really know what they are paying for their investments and pensions. The advice cost is very often “bundled in” to an Insurance Contract making getting to the bottom...

Do You Need to Review Your ARF Strategy?

Managing an ARF has almost nothing to do with an ESMA risk score If you are an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF) investor and your financial adviser asked you to complete a risk profile questionnaire and...

Why Don’t People Take or Act Upon Financial Advice?

Advice That Sticks In her excellent book Advice That Sticks, Moira Somers takes aim at the problem of financial non-adherence aka people failing to follow sound advice. A neuropsychologist and financial change expert, Moira examines...

Could you benefit from a second opinion?

If your broker is focused on the big brand, allocation rates and past performance, get in touch immediately. It could save you a fortune. This is a real case study, using screen shots of actual...

Have You Heard of Direct Indexing?

From time to time we are approached by clients with complex circumstances that require a bit of lateral thinking on our part. US Citizens living in Ireland are a particular challenge. Steve and David are...

What is Lifestyle Financial Planning?

“I actually chose my accountant because he said to me – you have to make a fundamental decision. You have to choose whether you organise your money around your life or your life around your...

Financial Planners Have Great Responsibility

“Management is down your throat all the time. They want you to hit your numbers and it doesn’t matter how” – Bank Assurance Financial advisor as reported to CBC 1. I believe that Financial Planning...

Coronavirus Update

Coronavirus “I’m worried about my investments because of Coronavirus”. With markets having fallen dramatically recently, investing can sometimes feel like a roller coaster ride that can make even the most experienced want to run for...

UK to Ireland Pension Transfers

It’s said that “cobblers children are the least well shod“. So, not wanting to end up with no shoes, and since I’m a Chartered Financial Planner, I decided to give myself an early birthday present...