Are you looking for ways to manage your finances better? I have many friends in Ireland and Portugal, where I am/was a tax resident, who ask me quite a few questions regarding personal finances. As the usual finance post starts: this is not financial advice and this reflects my own personal views on the topic. Most of my knowledge comes from two subreddit r/irishpersonalfinance/ for Ireland (check their flowchart), and r/literaciafinanceira for Portugal (check their wiki). This blog post is focused on Ireland, but I might consider doing one for Portugal in the future.

In the personal finance world, a lot of people focus on how much they can save. However, that is limited by the amout they earn. Instead, the personal finance expert Ramit Sethi recommends that you focus on maximizing your income since there is no hard ceiling to how much you can earn. One of the best ways you can increase your income without getting paid more is to reduce your tax liability, so that you pay exactly the amount of taxes you owe and not more. In Ireland, as a PAYE (pay as you earn) taxpayer, you can achieve that by doing the following:

Maximize your Pension

tax brackets

tax credits

health insurance, health expenses, rent, etc - check

public transport ticket / cycle to work

ESPP

sell right after