16 great investing resources in Ireland

1. Paddy Delaney of Informed decisions runs an excellent podcast breaking down the world of investments. Here’s an episode where he explores advisor fees and how much they impact on your return. Having paid exorbitant fees to one of the big pillar banks with a pension I bought through them, I wish I had listened to this podcast a couple of years ago.

2. I only came across MrsMoneyHacker’s site recently but she does some really excellent irish investing analysis. Here she compares ETFs versus stocks. Personally I'm a big fan of them over individual stocks as I’m fairly cautious when it comes to investments but for anyone weighing up the two options this is a useful article where she also highlights some of the downsides such as the inability to carry over losses like with CGT for ETF’s and the somewhat onerous tax obligations with them.

3. I’m a big fan of De Giro, their rates are the cheapest in the market by a country mile when buying stocks, ETF’s etc. For example if you are buying €1k worth of Bank of Ireland (just as an example, i wouldn’t go near them right now!) shares you would pay €2.50 commission through De Giro versus €25 through Goodbody. You can see comparisons across all providers here.

4. Mrs Smart Money (no relation or connection!) talks here about how you can cut expenses from your life including no spend days and how it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will suffer in terms of your quality of life and in some cases her family's quality of life seemed to improve.

5. Bonkers.ie is a very useful site for comparing various fees. Here for example you can compare life insurance options. They also enable you to compare across broadband, phone, TV, insurance, gas, electricity and mortgages. If you have a little more time at home during the coronavirus why not shop around for some reductions in these.

6. Moneycube have a useful tool here to help you visualise how much an investment could be worth based on various returns and growth scenarios. It brings to life the beauty of compound interest!

7. Baggot: subscribe to their newsletter to avail of insights on investing, market updates and Peter Brown and his colleagues at Baggot Investments Partners take on current opportunities and challenges in the market now.

8. Charlie Weston in the independent is excellent at calling out banks and insurance companies in terms of excessive fees and charges. In this article he examines bank fees and determines that German fintech bank N26 which has a license to operate here aside from quite expensive ATM charges (after the first five free withdrawals) is one of the best options in the market. N26 has no monthly charge, free transactions and no foreign exchange fees if you are using a non euro currency.

9. John Lowe aka the Money Doctor has an excellent A to Z of financial terms on his site here entitled the jargon buster. From CFD to whole of life policy he breaks all these terms down into clear English. He also writes a weekly column for the star and keep an eye out for his popular seminars.

10. David McWilliams is Ireland's favourite source for all explaining all things financial. The economist has undoubtedly a gift for breaking down complex economic problems and challenges into laymans terms often through some quite unique anecdotes from the wizard of oz to breakfast rolls. You can subscribe to his patreon here.

11. The Currency : this business subscription site produces excellent pieces analysing the economy and specific companies. Here Sean Keyes explores why Bank of Ireland is struggling with a share price in the doldrums and in their podcast here Stephen Kinsella looks at what form the recovery may take.

12. CBRE Research and Reports: the property giant CBRE produces regular reports on property in Ireland which are free to download here. What sectors are facing more significant challenges? Will there be a bounce once social distancing is relaxed? Their reports are a very useful resource for anyone who might be thinking of purchasing property or investing in any of the listed property companies and has questions like these.

13. Daft Reports: staying on the topic of property, the quarterly daft reports are a useful guide for rents which combined with their properties on site can help an investor determine the best ROI based on properties type and area.

14. Taxback: Doing a tax return is up there with a visit to the dentist in terms of people's idea of a fun activity. However there's a number of items people often omit to claim for on their tax return. Taxback.com do most of the hard for you on this. I haven't personally used them but they profess to generate on average customers a €1076 tax refund. Not bad when you consider they don't charge a fee if there's no refund.

15. CurrencyFair: I really don't know why you'd give the banks any more than you have to and with CurrencyFair you don't have to! Transferring €10k into a British sterling bank account you would save on average almost €250 compared to a typical bank.

16. Tax Calculator: While I assume this is a rough guide and is based on standard tax rates but not including exceptionall's such as tax back on certain medical expenses, this Salary After Tax site is very useful for giving you a guide to your annual likely after tax salary and monthly wage.

As always i'm not a professional advisor or investor so please do your own research before making any decisions! if you are interested in sharing insights and discussing investment ideas, I have created a facebook group to share insights and ideas on investing which you can join here.