If you have cash in a deposit account earning next to nothing, some of it could be working harder. We help you figure out how much to keep accessible and where to put the rest.
“What should I do with money that is sitting in a deposit account?”
The honest answer is: Keep some of it where you can get it quickly and put the rest to work.
Most people know this. The reason they have not done it is not laziness. It is that the options feel complicated, the tax rules are confusing and nobody has sat down and explained it clearly. That is what we do.
We help with lump sum investments, regular savings from as little as €100 a month and everything in between. There is no minimum lump sum to get started, and we match the investment to your timeline, your goals and your comfort with risk. You do not need a lump sum. Regular savings start from €100 a month. The point is starting, not starting big.
Both. They do different jobs.
Savings are for the money you might need at short notice. An emergency fund, a wedding, a car, a deposit you are building towards. A good rule of thumb is to keep roughly six months’ worth of expenses somewhere accessible. Beyond that, cash sitting in a current account or a low-interest deposit is losing value to inflation every year.
Investments are for money you will not need for at least five years. Over that kind of timeframe, a well-chosen fund has historically outperformed cash by a significant margin, even accounting for the bumps along the way.
The government has recognised this too. The new Personal Investment Account, expected to launch in July 2027, is designed to make it easier for Irish savers to invest with a more favourable tax treatment than the current exit tax regime. Budget 2027 confirmed that exit tax on investment funds will fall from 38% to 35% from January 2027.
These are steps in the right direction. But for most people, the best step is the first one: Moving some of their cash into something that has a chance of growing.
People ask this in every market. The answer is almost always the same: Time in the market beats timing the market.
If you had waited for the “perfect” moment to invest at any point in the last 30 years, you would still be waiting. Markets are volatile in the short term and broadly upward over the long term. The cost of staying in cash, year after year, is not dramatic. It is quiet. Your money does not crash. It just slowly buys less.
That said, we are not going to tell you to throw everything into a fund and hope for the best. A sensible plan starts with understanding how much risk you are comfortable with, how long you can leave the money invested and what you actually need the money to do.
Lower risk: 100% capital-protected bonds guarantee your original investment back at the end of the term, regardless of market performance. The returns are typically lower, but your money is secure. For people who are genuinely risk-averse, these are real options, not a consolation prize.
Medium risk: A diversified fund spread across equities, bonds and property, managed by a professional fund manager. You accept some ups and downs in exchange for stronger growth potential over five to ten years.
Higher risk: Equity-heavy funds that target higher long-term growth. More volatile in the short term, better suited to people with a longer timeframe and the stomach for temporary dips.
We do not pick a risk level for you. We explain what each one looks like in practice, what the worst-case scenario is and what a realistic return looks like over your timeframe. Then you decide.
This is a fair question, and we hear it more often now than we used to.
The short answer: Judgement. Context. And someone to talk to when things get uncomfortable.
There are apps that will let you invest cheaply. Some of them are good. But managing your money is not just about finding the cheapest platform and picking a fund. It is about knowing whether that fund still suits you three years from now. It is about not panicking when markets drop 15 per cent in a month. It is about someone asking whether you have life insurance in place, or whether your pension is on track, or whether that inheritance should go straight onto the mortgage or somewhere else entirely.
An app does not ask those questions. AI does not know your children are starting school next year or that you are thinking of going part-time. A financial advisor does, because they have had the conversation.
The fee for advice is real, and we are transparent about it. We explain exactly what it costs before you commit. But the question is not whether advice costs money. It is whether the advice is worth more than the fee. For most people, it is, and the value shows up most clearly in the moments when you need someone to talk to, not a dashboard to stare at.
The same principles apply to surplus company cash. If your business has money sitting in a current account that it will not need for three to five years, there may be more tax-efficient ways to put it to work.
The details depend on your company’s structure, its tax position and what the money is earmarked for. A conversation with your accountant and a broker together will tell you what is possible.
Book a free 15-minute call. We will give you a clear picture of your options, explain the costs and help you decide what makes sense for your situation. No jargon, no pressure.
A 15 minute call, at no charge. No jargon, no pressure, just a straight answer on whether we can help.
