Ivan Kennedy, Managing Director at OBI Wealth Management provides a round-up of content from this year’s Managing Wealth event.
Now up and running for 15 years, this high level financial planning event is designed to help advisers to acquaint themselves with the technical expertise on offer to better serve high net worth individuals. These are the key takeaways from the three presentations.
Tax and the Modern Family
The first speaker was Úna Ryan, Tax Partner with Grant Thornton on the subject of ‘Tax and the Modern Family’. She highlighted how family dynamics have evolved in recent years, with an increase in divorce rates and the number of civil partnerships and same sex marriages.
Blended families are also more commonplace now, often with children from previous relationships. With different tax treatments applying to stepchildren versus biological children, the importance of comprehensive succession planning has never been clearer.
These changes have clear implications for preparing for efficient transfer of wealth and business assets to the next generation; creating a will and trusts to manage and protect assets. To do so, there is a clear need to obtain professional legal, tax and financial planning advice to create a suitable succession plan.
This is important as there are CGT, CAT and stamp duty implications – the latter applying on gifts only. CGT retirement relief may apply on disposal of a business or farming assets by individuals over age 55. But ‘other than a child’, a threshold of €750,000 up to age 69 and €500,000 thereafter may apply. For a blood child, full relief may apply to a potential cap of €10m for those aged 55 to 69, reduced to €3m for those aged 70 and over.
Revised entrepreneur relief may apply with CGT at 10% on the first €1m on disposal of qualifying assets. Principal private residence relief may apply via CGT exemption where one disposes of a PPR but with occupancy caveats. Disponers may also apply for relief from CGT on the gifting of a site no larger than 1 acre and the value does not exceed €500,000. However, this may erode the Group A IHT threshold.
Tax reliefs available to beneficiaries may apply in certain circumstances; CAT business property relief where up to 90% reduction for CAT purposes. There may be a CGT / CAT credit where both arise on the same event, so an offset may apply.
For agricultural relief a 90% relief may apply on agricultural land. Dwelling house exemption may apply to inheritance of a home but with caveats. Heritage Property exemption which has become much more commonplace recently, may also apply. This is where the property is of national, scientific, historic or artistic interest, with caveats such as house registered with Fáilte Ireland and open to the public for a certain period each year.
CAT Group thresholds are quite nuanced between parents and blood children versus stepchildren and foster children etc. Favourite niece/nephew relief can also apply to a Group A €400,000 rate on business and farm assets. Loans exceeding €335,000 are within scope of Revenue report, where no interest is paid between family members/relatives.
On cohabiting partners and tax implications, there are no real tax reliefs available generally. Separated spouses have CGT implications for gifts, but no CAT implication unless given under the order of a court.
Trusts are coming back into vogue such as Bare Trusts, Fixed Trusts and Discretionary Trusts. Care needs to be taken; professional advice should be sought.
Behavioural Finance and Australian Insights
The second speaker was Dr Paul Moran CFP® from Melbourne about understanding the intersection of behavioural finance and its integration into the financial planning process. Dr Paul is the principal of Moran Partners Financial Planning and has decades of financial planning experience having studied and lectured on behavioural finance.
Drawing on the work of Adam Smith, and later expanded by Tversky and Kahneman through prospect theory, it was found that people despair of losses much more than they experience the joy of gains. This can lead to loss aversion. However, those facing almost certain losses can become risk-seeking. This behaviour can manifest as FOMO, say with house prices or in speculative actions such as Crypto investing or Reddit-driven trades like Gamestop, or even sports betting etc. How does this relate to portfolio recommendations? First, understand that this feeling is unavoidable. So have answers, exploit an opportunity, be sure of your ‘value add’, inform clients fully about staying the course as some may have been loss-averse conditioned.
Turning to the Australian experience, Dr Paul outlined their compulsory (not auto-enrolled) superannuation system introduced in 1992. Initially at employer 3% contribution – now at 12%, and heading towards 15% – it was originally introduced to manage inflation. It now has over AUD $4 trillion in assets. The pension tax treatment is a little different to Ireland however and their state pension is means tested.
Following the 2007-2009 GFC, reforms led to the 2013 ban on commissions on pension and investment products, along with mandated caps on life risk products. Onerous educational and significantly enhanced professional conduct of business standards were followed. Adviser numbers dropped from 28,000 to just 15,000, making access to financial advice in Australia more difficult.
Advisers were now required to justify their fees and clearly demonstrate their ‘value add’, which led to a marked increase in professionalism – though not all within the industry welcomed these changes. Certainly, it has led to increased financial adviser trust by the Australian public.
Now ‘goal based’ advice is the norm, incorporating modelling, analysis and annual reviews etc. Dr Paul’s mission is to turn client chaos into calm, like a paramedic, which he once was. Why goals based? Goals are forward looking versus products which tend to be backward looking i.e., using past performance as a guide. Clients are prepared to pay a premium for ‘forward looking’ advice, Regulators tend to look for ‘justification’ of recommendations and want to see ‘best interest duty’ applied.
What do financial goals look like? They could be significant future expenditures that are not part of regular expenses; require specific amount at a particular time, should be prioritised and ideally supported by a reasons statement. Or, activities that have a future focus and need to be planned for, estate planning, work or family change etc.
Often clients don’t understand or have trouble articulating goals so keep in mind clients hire us to assist them in reaching their desired future outcomes. Break actions down and show how each works. Ask yourself, why am I making this recommendation, and can I justify it? AI can have a place in helping with the process.
Let’s Put it All Together
- Behavioural elements of financial planning will keep us in a job
- We should consider business strategies to help manage client biases
- Moving away from product-focused advice to goals-based advice reduces the risk that regulators start to ‘over-reach’
- Opportunities and risks around auto-enrolment for pensions
- AI is a tool that has a long way to go to replace the core functions of financial advisers and planners
Investing in the Current Economic Environment
The final speaker of the morning was the ever-engaging Kevin McConnell of GEM Strategic who has covered this part of Managing Wealth for well over a decade now. His presentation entitled ‘Investing in the Current Economic Environment’ also introduced the concept of the ‘Prime Retirement Index©’ study.
There is much market tumult with Trump at present, oversized threats, especially with the EU, compromise likely, however, EU exports more to the US than China. 46% of EU pharma/chemical exports originate in Ireland, and while we could live with a 15% tariff, even that would lead to slower Irish economic growth.
On services, the US has a trade surplus with EU and Ireland, however, retaliatory digital taxes could also cause adverse effect in Ireland. A key test of the market in 2025/2026 is Trump v The Bond Market. If US 10-year bond yields rise to 5% or above, it will cause the US stock market correction. Since US equities make up c. 70% of global equity indices, therefore stock market and currency diversification is increasingly important now in the ‘sell America’ trade.
Tariffs at a 10% rate will be a shock to the S&P500. If even more, at say 21%, there will be a big push towards increased inflation. Trump regime may back off from the worst excesses of it i.e. tariff rates of around 10% to 15%. US sentiment is crushed with ‘built in’ recession expectations there now. In Europe, there have been 3 ECB rate cuts of 0.25% already in 2025.
Diversification Key (Again in 2025!)
Key Areas to Watch:
- Net outflow from US Equities / Seek international fund exposure with lower US exposure
- Beware of dollar weakness
- European bond exposure for “safe assets”
- Diversify against volatility
- Expect the unexpected with Trump
Wealth demographics and economy: the Irish economic backdrop is very strong right now, c. 90,000 new jobs in the economy and wage growth in 2024. However, tariff regime will result in job losses. Debt to GDP ratio now at 35% in 2025, so a very good position to face a crisis.
Ireland is now inside the top 10 globally in terms of credit ratings. On high earners, there are now four times the number of €100,000+ earners than in 2013 which means there are 730,000 of these in the economy now. The average household net worth is €650,000, ahead of most of the EU. However, in financial assets pensions amount to less than deposits, and Ireland is the 3rd worst in OECD in replacement rate for any, and especially, high earnings.
Kevin advocated for a shift from the current tax relieved system to a lifetime allowance model and emphasised that the private pension system needs to grow from €130bn to €500bn or risk underfunding by 75% at pension age. People need 11 x earnings pot by age 65, to replace c. 50% of income, so the average earner of €50,000 needs €550,000 by age 65.
This was followed by Kevin’s introduction of the Prime Retirement Index©. This helpful research shows at a glance, the clear savings targets one should obtain at particular age points: 1x salary at age 35, 3x at age 45, 7x at age 55 and 11x at age 65.
Kevin also reminded us that tax relief on pension contributions functions as a tax deferral rather than a permanent concession. Thanks to compound growth and income tax in later years, for every €1.00 in tax deferred through contributions made before the age of 37, approximately €2.75 is recouped in tax revenue upon drawdown in retirement.
Conclusion: Thriving Through Change
The 2025 Managing Wealth Seminar reinforced a key message for advisers: thriving through change means staying ahead of evolving client needs, market shifts, and personal circumstances. Whether it’s navigating complex family structures, behavioural biases, or long-term financial goals, the adviser’s role is more crucial than ever.
By combining technical expertise with empathy and forward-thinking strategies, today’s advisers are better equipped to guide clients with confidence – turning uncertainty into opportunity.
The above article is re-produced from the LIA Advantage Magazine July 2025 edition with permission from the author. Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of FPSB Ireland DAC. This article is for information purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Formal advice is advised in advance of taking any action.
