Guides

The Central Bank loan-to-income limits, how lenders apply them, and what they mean for your price range.

A plain explanation of compound interest, why it accelerates, and why it matters for anyone saving or borrowing.

The three questions every percentage problem reduces to, and how to answer each one without a formula sheet.

The Central Bank deposit rules for first-time buyers, movers and buy-to-let — and what they mean for your budget.

Ireland’s VAT rates as published by Revenue — the standard 23%, the reduced rates, and what “as of” really means.

What a mortgage repayment is made of, why early payments are mostly interest, and how the balance actually falls.

The full leap-year rule — including the century exception most people never meet — and why the calendar needs it.

Inflation is the rate at which prices rise and money’s buying power falls — how it is measured and why it compounds.

Why paying a little extra each month removes a surprising amount of interest, and what to check before you start.

Stamp duty, legal fees, valuation and the other costs that arrive on top of the deposit.

The four moving parts — principal, rate, frequency and time — and how each one changes what you end up with.

Value-added tax explained: charged at every stage, reclaimed by businesses, and finally paid by the consumer.

How percentage increase and decrease work, why the direction matters, and why a fall needs a bigger rise to undo it.

How to get back to the price before a percentage was added — and why subtracting the percentage gives the wrong answer.

A mental shortcut for how long money takes to double — how it works, how accurate it is, and where it breaks down.

What switching lender involves, when it saves money, and the costs and checks along the way.

How decades of compounding do most of the work in a pension, and why starting earlier beats contributing more.

Adding VAT multiplies; removing it divides. Why subtracting the rate from a gross price is always wrong.

Inclusive or exclusive, calendar days or working days — the counting choices that change the answer by a day or more.

A longer term lowers the monthly payment and raises the total cost. The trade-off, in honest numbers.

Compounding applies to what you owe as well as what you save — credit cards, loans and how to read APR.

A holiday on a Tuesday means one leave day buys four days off. How bridge days work and how to spot the best ones.

What FV = P(1 + r/n)^(nt) actually says, term by term, with a worked calculation you can follow.

Inflation is compound interest pointed at prices: the same loop, running against your money instead of for it.

A rate rising "by 2%" and "by 2 percentage points" are different claims — how to read each and why headlines blur them.

Why the growth you see is not the growth you get, and how to think about returns after inflation.

Why the target is low-but-not-zero, what 2% quietly does over decades, and what happens when inflation misses it.

How ISO week numbers are assigned, why some years have 53 weeks, and why 30 December can belong to next year.

Which builds more: steady monthly saving or a one-off lump sum? The honest maths on both.

Why February is short and the rest are a jumble: the Roman calendar politics still printed on every wall calendar.

The same number in three costumes: converting between fractions, decimals and percentages in both directions.

Interest is usually taxable, and tax paid along the way compounds too. How to think about returns after tax, with Ireland’s DIRT as a worked case.

What UTC is, how time zones offset from it, and why two places can be on different dates at the same moment.

Businesses collect it, reclaim it and hand it on — the whole chain lands on the final consumer. How and why.

The misunderstandings that quietly cost savers money — and how to avoid each one.