# What should I be concerned about....



## HMCE (21 Feb 2010)

I am 42yrs I am resident in Spain in a remote village only Spanish speaking people. I live here with my Spanish Wife and two children(4.5 yrs and 11 months), I travel back and forth to either the UK or Ireland on IT contract work if I can get it... Currently I am out of work and have been sine December 2008. I enjoy being with my Family, but I'm finding it hard to find contract work.

I have a 4 bed house in the Village with no mortgage, property worth approx 150,000 Euro and we have an 3 bed apartment just outside Madrid center in a place called Alcala de Henares. This apartment is rented out at 750 Euro a month, the Apartment was worth 213,000 in 2004 when we bought it, it would be difficult to get that for it now, but I consider it a long term investment. There is an outstanding 46,000 Euro mortgage on it but after all expenses it makes a profit of approx 220 a month.

We have about 48,000 here in Spain and that's for my wife should she need it, she is a permanent Primary school teacher here in the village, on a salary of approx 30,000 p.a.

I have further investments in Ireland by way of Deposit Accounts, 26,000 Euro in Anglo Irish and a GBP account with 8,000. I also recently setup a Bank of Scotland GBP Deposit account and lodged 80,000 GBP there at 4.5% over 18 months fixed.

I have 6,000 in a BOI account so I can get by if I go to Ireland on visits and work.

I have an Abbey National Account in London with approx 2600 GBP.... to get by when I go there for work.

I have a pension of 53,000 with Canada Life, I don't contribute to it any more... as it lost money last year my total contributions were 60K and it dropped to 46K as you can see it is now back to 53K

I want to get back to IT work but I feel I am financially comfortable,.....

Does anybody have any advice for me, should I be worried, I have 18 years IT experience and have been contracting since 1996.

Any advice financially or otherwise would be most appreciated, on what you would do in my position... how should I be concerned about the future immediately and going forward

Thank you


----------



## D8Lady (21 Feb 2010)

Consider elancing - working from home on IT projects.
 you bid for the work, build up your reputation and rates. 
You could exploit time difference - you could be working on IT contract while US is asleep or India just finishing their working day.

You use your skills and get to stay in sunny Spain.


----------



## HMCE (21 Feb 2010)

Thankyou D8Lady, and as to my situation in life financially and investment wise should I be looking at any area in particular


----------



## PaddyBloggit (21 Feb 2010)

HMCE said:


> ...... should I be looking at any area in particular



Depends on your expertise and on what you can offer.


----------



## donee (21 Feb 2010)

HMCE i think you just made that post to annoy us on AAM (joke). I mean, you live in spain, have'nt worked in over a year, your wife works as a teacher, on the face of it you've no immeadiate money worries. Now maybe its me but in Ireland we've almost half a million unemployed, not all but quite a few people up to the gills in debt and to top it all last night in D4 it was snowing.I think YOU should be giving us advice to get your work/life balance...Cheers donee


----------



## mtk (21 Feb 2010)

i think you are in a good position
1) Popoerty exposure : Obviously you are exposed to the spanish property market but so long as you dont need to sell the apartmnet no problem re captial loss
In regards to the rent you receive is there any risk they would fall further . I have no knowldege of spanish rental market so I cannot comment 
2) Cash flow : Are you able to live on your wife's income? If so then you are also in a great position
3) Work: Usually dropping your price in the short term can secure work ....


----------



## Frank (22 Feb 2010)

+1 Jealous punter in Ireland under more pressure and freezing to boot.

Sounds like you are in pretty good nick.
You might not get the new porsche and yact but sure there's always next year.

Enjoy the time with the kids and have a few more siesta's and cervecas sorry for poor spanish spelling.


----------



## UFC (23 Feb 2010)

You're actually in the position I want to be in in 10 years.

To summarise your post:
Own a home worth 150k mortgage free
Own an investment property which makes a profit of €220 per month
Wife has 48k in savings
You have 122k in savings and a pension of 50k or so.

As someone who spends a bit of time in Spain, I would believe you can easily live on your wife's salary. The problem is you are a bit bored and want to start working again.

Why don't you set up a web business? This doesn't have to be an online store, it could be some sort of web application like wordpress or drupal. I know that's what I intend on doing when I'm in your position!


----------



## txirimiri (23 Feb 2010)

Hi there, I'm also living in Spain. You sound like you are in a very comfortable position financially at present and for the forseeable future. Three things strike me re the long term.

1) You are only 42 and hopefully have a very long life ahead of you! While you are clearly in a great position now, the already pretty meagre public pension provisions in Spain will in my opinion get significantly worse in the medium term, as Spain is facing a pretty catastrophic demographic time bomb (birth rate nowhere near replacement level). You should plan on the basis that you and your wife will need to ensure you have sufficient private provision for a comfortable retirement, as there will simply not be enough people of working age in Spain in 25 - 35 years time to support the public pension system. I would imagine that means trying to think about how you might diversify your current earning potential, so as not to be too long out of the jobs market and be in a position where you are still working for the foreseeable future?

2) In terms of day to day living expenses, I would also plan on the basis that your wife's salary will at best stay static and at worst drop significantly over the next 5 years or so. Zapatero has not yet had the balls to cut or freeze public service salaries, but he will have to do so soon or else the deficit situation will spiral completely out of control. I reckon there is a lot of pain yet to come in the Spanish economy and the public service is first in line. 

3) Your children are obviously too young at this stage to know whether they might want to pursue third level education, but I think it is also worth thinking about the financial implications if they do. In my view, the Sp 3rd level system needs radical reform and I suspect that such reform may lead to a fee structure for public universities. Might be worth factoring this into your financial planning. 

The property in Alcala sounds like a great investment decision by the way, hard to see you ever having trouble getting tenants there given the size and prestige of the University. Would it be worth thinking about watching the property market carefully and buying another similar property with some of the money you have in savings accounts (or leveraging some of that money if there is a tax advantage in doing so) when the market looks as though it is bottoming out?


----------



## HMCE (24 Feb 2010)

Thank you all for your comments, I feel that what you have said txirimiri reflects a very clear understanding of the reason why I posted this thread, and I value your advice more than you realise. I am trying to fund a property purchase in my own country Ireland as I have no property in my own country. I was one of those who sat on the fence for so long (even when I had the funds I felt it was overinflated) and am glad I did now..... but I hope to have a property there some day in my life and soon. The problem I have at the moment is while I have some funding to contribute, I feel that cash is king. Therefore I am relunctant in drilling a large hole in my cashflow situation and causing financial pressures down the line. But if I got back to another contract in IT I would be making good progress on this front. Times for me remind me very much of the 80s, in fact it would seem a bit harder now, given the knowledge requirements enforced on all ages..... Nobody is safe as houses any more


----------



## HMCE (17 May 2010)

I have decided now to return to look for work in Dublin, I know times are difficult, but I need to try.I am finding it stressful being in Spain and not working, it's not something I am accustomed to and do not want to be in a position of not being able to work for here on at only 42 years of age. I live in hope of getting a contract in Dublin, and that's if I can get there with this volcanic ash. I leave tomorrow in the evening on a 19:25 flight.... Here's hoping I'll find work


----------



## maryanne40 (18 May 2010)

Best of luck with everything.....

I can sort of understand where you are coming from.....though initially I was so envious of you....

Keep us posted.


----------

