Age: 37
Spouse’s/Partner's age: NA
Annual gross income from employment or profession: Currently €26k per annum although due to stop soonish as hopefully leaving the job and country
Annual gross income of spouse: NA
Monthly take-home pay: About €1900 per month
Type of employment: Private Sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving. I saved about €1300 per month in 2020
Rough estimate of value of home: No home/mortgage
Amount outstanding on your mortgage:
What interest rate are you paying?
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No credit Card
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: I have approximately just over €30k in savings. This is scattered in bank accounts in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand as I had work visas in the 2 latter countries. I kept those accounts open as they cost me nothing and pre-covid they offered reasonable interest rates for savings accounts, especially compared to here, alas like the rest of the world they are basically 0% now. The breakdown is about €18k in Irish accounts. About €12k is in NZ account and €2k is in Australian Account. No stocks/bonds etc
Do you have a pension scheme? No
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: No children and no intention of having any
Life insurance: None – Have health insurance through current job but that’s obviously stopping soon.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
So I have always kept money wholly liquid and fortunately I’ve never had debt. When I was able to get 2-3%+ in savings I was fine enough with that rightly or wrongly. As we are now in a world of virtually 0% and possibly negative interest rates. I’m just trying to see is there a more optimal way to manage my finances.
The reason I keep my finances so liquid is that in the past I travelled extensively, back when that was a thing. Whenever I am working I always save as always been fairly frugal. The only time my outgoings is greater than income is when I have no income because of travel. I have twice gone 2 years + without working a day. That naturally eats into savings albeit slower than you might think. (If you are wondering how I afford that working and saving in rich countries while traveling in poor countries is the very rough idea)
This year I am due to move to Canada on a 2 year work visa. I was supposed to move last year but for obvious reason that didn’t happen. I would hope and expect in the first 6 months of this year I will do that (although of course nothing is certain). I don’t expect to stay beyond the 2 years but I wouldn’t 100% rule out I’d try to stay longer.
My biggest concern is I currently have no long term investments like a pension etc. Owing property is not a particular goal of mine and it’s not like that’s a feasible prospect anytime soon in anyway. I don’t think I have the information/knowledge to be going on Robin Hood/ETrade etc and trying to beat the stock market. A ETF seems like it could be the best vehicle but don’t really know first thing about how to access one or what one to look for. Is it a matter of making do with a low interest world until I ‘settle down’ and have some sense of stability?
Any critiques, suggestions welcome.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: NA
Annual gross income from employment or profession: Currently €26k per annum although due to stop soonish as hopefully leaving the job and country
Annual gross income of spouse: NA
Monthly take-home pay: About €1900 per month
Type of employment: Private Sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? Saving. I saved about €1300 per month in 2020
Rough estimate of value of home: No home/mortgage
Amount outstanding on your mortgage:
What interest rate are you paying?
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No credit Card
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: I have approximately just over €30k in savings. This is scattered in bank accounts in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand as I had work visas in the 2 latter countries. I kept those accounts open as they cost me nothing and pre-covid they offered reasonable interest rates for savings accounts, especially compared to here, alas like the rest of the world they are basically 0% now. The breakdown is about €18k in Irish accounts. About €12k is in NZ account and €2k is in Australian Account. No stocks/bonds etc
Do you have a pension scheme? No
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: No children and no intention of having any
Life insurance: None – Have health insurance through current job but that’s obviously stopping soon.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
So I have always kept money wholly liquid and fortunately I’ve never had debt. When I was able to get 2-3%+ in savings I was fine enough with that rightly or wrongly. As we are now in a world of virtually 0% and possibly negative interest rates. I’m just trying to see is there a more optimal way to manage my finances.
The reason I keep my finances so liquid is that in the past I travelled extensively, back when that was a thing. Whenever I am working I always save as always been fairly frugal. The only time my outgoings is greater than income is when I have no income because of travel. I have twice gone 2 years + without working a day. That naturally eats into savings albeit slower than you might think. (If you are wondering how I afford that working and saving in rich countries while traveling in poor countries is the very rough idea)
This year I am due to move to Canada on a 2 year work visa. I was supposed to move last year but for obvious reason that didn’t happen. I would hope and expect in the first 6 months of this year I will do that (although of course nothing is certain). I don’t expect to stay beyond the 2 years but I wouldn’t 100% rule out I’d try to stay longer.
My biggest concern is I currently have no long term investments like a pension etc. Owing property is not a particular goal of mine and it’s not like that’s a feasible prospect anytime soon in anyway. I don’t think I have the information/knowledge to be going on Robin Hood/ETrade etc and trying to beat the stock market. A ETF seems like it could be the best vehicle but don’t really know first thing about how to access one or what one to look for. Is it a matter of making do with a low interest world until I ‘settle down’ and have some sense of stability?
Any critiques, suggestions welcome.