Getting setup

[fouraces]

Morning

Hope you are all well and warm?

Im looking for advice/suggestions on a few things.

Backstory

Wife,son and I recently moved from South Africa --> Ireland. To do so we sold up everything and burned every shred of savings we had ( may not present as the smartest move but we had to do what we had to do to get our little one the best chance at a good life and the rand is R22 to e1)

Our ages are as follows ( Not sure if this matters? )

Wife = 31

Me = 32

Son = 3.5

Wife and I are both permanently employed ( Shes employed by an Irish employer I am employed by my existing employer but they are setting up an office here )

Questions

1 - PRSI - We see on her payslip she has a PRSI contribution, from what iv googled this is social insurance but does this count/contribute to some sort of "state" provided retirement?

2 - Can you recommend a life cover provider, naturally ours is no longer valid so we are starting afresh.

3 - Can you recommend a retirement annuity that we can contribute to, we are starting from scratch so its going to be a tough one to get going again but we will pay in w/e we can and hope for the best

4 - Medical care, looking to get medical care at least for the little one and the wife as a "top up"

Really appreciate your input

All the best

 

[ronaldjose180]

@fouraces Welcome!

I'll try to add a few things here to help as much as possible.

1. Yes, PRSI does contribute to state retirement and a number of other things such as a free dental check per year, ability to claim medical expense relief through tax returns. The state pension is not great so would recommend setting up a private one. Sometimes companies do this as part of their package.
2. There are a few around. I would recommend looking at bonkers.ie to help you compare them. Same for electric, gas, insurances etc.
3. Bonkers again is a good comparison tool. Some off the top of my head are Zurich, Invesco, Irish life.
4. Again, bonkers is a good comparison tool. Also, the HIA website (health insurance authority) gives good advice and has a comparison tool.

For all other needs the website "citizens information" can really help answer other queries.

Good luck. It's great to have you here.

 

[fouraces]

@ronaldjose180 You are a legend! Thank you Il check out bonkers

 

[lalalady11]

@fouraces PRSI also gives you a free eye test every 2 years & contribution to glasses every 2 years.

PRSI is also the measure for state benefit entitlements. Each week is what used to be called 'getting your stamps'. Different benefits require different numbers of stamps built up to qualify.

 

[rubyredsun]

@ronaldjose180

Sometimes companies do this as part of their package.

OP, when your employer is setting up their new entity in Ireland, push for private pension to be included in your package. It's a fairly common perk in Ireland for employers to match your pension contributions, i.e. you pay 5%, they pay 5%. It's effectively an increase in your salary.

Also push for private medical insurance, it's a relatively common perk in certain types of employment.

Incidentally, I'm seeing a lot of South Africans making the move recently. All are welcome! Hope you three can all settle in well, particularly your child

 

[davemalyon]

@fouraces Citizens Information is an excellent resource https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/

 

[jesusfreak34988]

@fouraces Apart from what others have mentioned, if not already done, make sure you register with a local GP as soon as possible.

Many GPs are stretched and have stopped taking new registrations. A couple of my colleagues are struggling to get themselves registered after moving to our town.

 

[neala]

@jesusfreak34988 And make sure you register the child for the under 8 free GP card.

 

[lancslad91]

@fouraces You might also consider booking an appointment with a financial adviser, who can give you info on a bunch of different companies and also different options for pensions, health, protection etc…

Many financial advisers don’t charge anything for a consultation as they get commission from the companies if you decide to purchase something

Could save you some time

 

[fouraces]

@lancslad91 Awesome, Il look into it! Do you have any recommendations? lol

 

[lancslad91]

@fouraces It’ll depend where you are in Ireland, since it’s probably easiest to talk to somebody face to face in your local area

So I’d just Google your location and financial adviser Ireland and see what comes up

 

[fgbfjb]

@fouraces Sent you a DM with a recommendation