How much savings do you have and what age are you?

The Mighty Quinn

douglashyde wrote: »

Big long paragraphs about how well dougie is doing

This is why financial planning and management should be taught at schools. Abandon half the mathematics course and replace it with useful practical maths on risk and investment, on how to develop budgets and all that.

By the time most of us cop on to what Douglas is saying here, we've missed the boat on "getting in early".

Fair play Douglas, well done.

douglashyde

The Mighty Quinn wrote: »

This is why financial planning and management should be taught at schools. Abandon half the mathematics course and replace it with useful practical maths on risk and investment, on how to develop budgets and all that.

agree, even basic level financial planning should be taught in schools.

I was fortunate to develop a obsessive behavior in 20s about financial planning - reading books like '4 hour work week' 'rich dad, poor dad' , 'tactics of the rich (irish book out of print now)' and following bloggers like 'Mr Money Mustache' << all to be recommended btw.

There's obviously different levels to this, but there's a great show on RTE creatively called 'how to be good with money' - very very basic, but interesting watch and could be useful for some.

ILikeBoats

douglashyde wrote: »

Equity: 280K (gold, bitcoin = 45%, personal stock = 40%, corporate stock = 15%)

Out of interest, how does one invest in gold in Ireland?

douglashyde

ILikeBoats wrote: »

Out of interest, how does one invest in gold in Ireland?

I use a company called goldmoney.com < it's high fee but they earmark actual gold in a vault to you. In theory, it's a hedge against QE/printing money and a potential rise in inflation.

CBear1993

You say you invested in FB, Tesla, Shopify etc.

You must be working in financial sector/stocks to know what's going to be a grower and what isn't?

For people who don't follow or work in this area , where would you even begin to start following or consuming market content? Or considering investing in?

Jim2007

CBear1993 wrote: »

You must be working in financial sector/stocks to know what's going to be a grower and what isn't?

If you are involved at a level that would give you access to such information, you are almost always restricted from trading in such stocks.... in my case that covered wife, grown up children, parents and parents-in-law as well.

CBear1993 wrote: »

For people who don't follow or work in this area , where would you even begin to start following or consuming market content? Or considering investing in?

The starting point is how much time you have available and are willing to put into it. The reality is that most people don't have the time and as a result they will have some hits and misses and if they are looking they'll end up with the same money they started out with after say 30 years.... if you look at the research on US self directed pensions, it is very disappointing with the average net wealth amounting to about $22,000 per household.

If you want to educate yourself BetterInvesting.org, offer a fairly reasonable approach to investing, that hopefully will prevent you from making the more serious mistakes. Of course you will need to adjust the methodology to suit you in Ireland/Europe.

quokula

CBear1993 wrote: »

You say you invested in FB, Tesla, Shopify etc.

You must be working in financial sector/stocks to know what's going to be a grower and what isn't?

For people who don't follow or work in this area , where would you even begin to start following or consuming market content? Or considering investing in?

It's worth looking up survivorship bias.

While you can improve your odds with lots of studious research, the reality is that for every case you hear of someone making a fortune getting in early with a fast growth company, there will be thousands of cases of people getting in early with startups that went bust, but they tend not to share their stories quite so much, and often the only real difference between success and failure is a bit of pot luck.

Not trying to play down the other poster's achievements, but don't assume that if you do some research you'll magically find a way to make big money quickly. Don't risk more than you can afford.

Lockheed

20. 5k saved from working and covid. 1.5k going in september for semester 1 of college education. Completely lost as to how i should save or invest it. I want to make some kind of interest but its so overwhelming i have no idea where to start

maherhonda

29, 22K saved.

Probably going to move back to parents for a year and save 2K a month towards mortgage even though I only need 15K for a deposit.

sweet_trip

I'm 28 and I have €42,000 saved with a mortgage approval but I can do sweet fúck all with it because there's near a house to be found within my price range that I can afford with a mortgage approval of €130,000 no matter how big of a deposit I have.


Really has destoyed my mental health. Been trying to get a house in my county for 2 years now and I keep getting outbid by couples. Bare in mind my absolute limit is about 170,000. and houses within that price range are very rare in the current climate.


If I could move abroad I would but I've no degree.

douglashyde

CBear1993 wrote: »

You say you invested in FB, Tesla, Shopify etc.

You must be working in financial sector/stocks to know what's going to be a grower and what isn't?

For people who don't follow or work in this area , where would you even begin to start following or consuming market content? Or considering investing in?

tl;dr: Invest in yourself first, don't invest in markets.

I should clarify here. The majority of savings/wealth I've built has been through self employment and PAYE work, not through equity growth.

Second, my investment spread is mostly in Gold/BTC, then equity. The fact is, if you invested in any half decent companies in the past 5 years you would have made gains- the market's have been on a 10 year bull run. This has been truer for tech stock and some (including me) would argue this sector is starting to seriously overheat. See here.

Third, these tech stocks are only part of my portfolio, over the past 5 years I have been opportunistic with investing - I have been lucky with timing and lucky the market was bullish.

As mentioned in my first post, I would not recommend day trading - focus on low risk/high reward investments in yourself.

My broader plan is to invest more into more stable assets like bonds/ETFs/maybe property if we see a significant reduction in prices over the next couple of years.

To finally answer your question, I work in one of the big tech firms and while it didn't give me insider info (this would be illegal), it did make me see how disruptive tech is and how the world is changing fast.

My favorite sources of market info is: Tim Ferriss (his guests are incredible) & David McWilliam Podcast, FT.com is the only newspaper worth reading and is worth the fee, and for my sins; reddit. I hear great things about The Currency, which I really need to start reading.

maherhonda

sweet_trip wrote: »

I'm 28 and I have €42,000 saved with a mortgage approval but I can do sweet fúck all with it because there's near a house to be found within my price range that I can afford with a mortgage approval of €130,000 no matter how big of a deposit I have.


Really has destoyed my mental health. Been trying to get a house in my county for 2 years now and I keep getting outbid by couples. Bare in mind my absolute limit is about 170,000. and houses within that price range are very rare in the current climate.


If I could move abroad I would but I've no degree.

You try a council mortgage?

douglashyde

quokula wrote: »

It's worth looking up survivorship bias.

While you can improve your odds with lots of studious research, the reality is that for every case you hear of someone making a fortune getting in early with a fast growth company, there will be thousands of cases of people getting in early with startups that went bust, but they tend not to share their stories quite so much, and often the only real difference between success and failure is a bit of pot luck.

Not trying to play down the other poster's achievements, but don't assume that if you do some research you'll magically find a way to make big money quickly. Don't risk more than you can afford.

agree. that's why I said 'fail small and try again and again and again.

I did develop a compulsive behavior for building mini businesses - I would honestly say I've tried 30-40 ideas over a 10 year cycle - with 6 of them working. As my wealth has grown, I can risk more.

For all the crap Ireland gets; for entrepreneurs or those seeking high tech employment (software/manufacturing) it's one of the best countries to be in the world (abiet ****ty income tax bands and housing situation).

Sheep Shagger

Jim2007 wrote: »

How do you manage your money? Do you have a budget and do you stick to it? In my experience people tend to do better when they work with a budget. They know where their money is going and what is coming up in the next week or two.

But to be fair, a 20 something can't be compared to a 40 year old with 2 kids (for example).

No amount of budgeting can change that, it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Jim2007

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

No amount of budgeting can change that, it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Budgeting won't change the amount you receive each month/week but will let you know where your money is going and where you can cut back.

Viscount Aggro

Check out Mr Money Mustache, or Early Retirement Extreme... for the honours students.
I only got my sh*t together aged 40. Ten years on, Ive high six figures, in cash or near cash securities.
I have a very high savings rate.

CBear1993

maherhonda wrote: »

29, 22K saved.

Probably going to move back to parents for a year and save 2K a month towards mortgage even though I only need 15K for a deposit.

I’m guessing you’re single, moving back in with the parents?

Sheep Shagger

Jim2007 wrote: »

Budgeting won't change the amount you receive each month/week but will let you know where your money is going and where you can cut back.

Of course, and kids will eat in to that.

sweet_trip

maherhonda wrote: »

You try a council mortgage?

I looked into them but from what I understand I won't be approved one unless the banks have declined a mortgage approval and I'm struggling somewhat financially. I have a full time permanent job and a big chunk of savings + mortgage ready to go so I don't think it'd be much good to me.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

Mid 30s. €120,000 saved up from working in the last 3 years, for a deposit. Have mortgage approval. Will buy on my own, but not any time soon though as the prices are still a joke IMO. So ill continue pumping cash into the savings for now.

sweet_trip

Go Home Paddy Cat!! wrote: »

Mid 30s. €120,000 saved up from working, in the last 3 years, for a deposit. Have mortgage approval. Will buy on my own, but not any time soon though as the prices are still a joke IMO.

€120,000 + mortgage approval seems like a lot! You could buy a nice sized house for that with land out in the country.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

sweet_trip wrote: »

€120,000 + mortgage approval seems like a lot! You could buy a nice sized house for that with land out in the country.

You know, the idea of living in the country seems idyllic to me albeit I have no family or friends out there. They are all in Dublin!

Sheep Shagger

Go Home Paddy Cat!! wrote: »

Mid 30s. €120,000 saved up from working in the last 3 years, for a deposit. Have mortgage approval. Will buy on my own, but not any time soon though as the prices are still a joke IMO. So ill continue pumping cash into the savings for now.

You saved €40k pa for last 3 years in your mid 30s. Must be some salary to be able save that even if living at home and eating beans on toast three times a day for 36 months...

sweet_trip

Go Home Paddy Cat!! wrote: »

You know, the idea of living in the country seems idyllic to me albeit I have no family or friends out there. They are all in Dublin!

I suppose it boils down to if you're willing to drive 30-45 minutes each way to see people. Although I don't know how far 30 minutes would get you from Dublin in terms of prices.



What kind of prices are you looking at in terms of buying in Dublin?

sweet_trip

Obese Child wrote: »

20 and on the dole. Have it spent on smokes and the bookies within hours along with the childers allowance.

You joke but I was on the dole for several years in my late teens/early 20's and I managed to save up about 8000, bought a ****box car, could afford nice electronics and a holiday to asia/the states every year.



It's a miserable existence but I lived with my parents and had no real expenses.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

You saved €40k pa for last 3 years in your mid 30s. Must be some salary to be able save that even if living at home and eating beans on toast three times a day for 36 months...

Im single, no dependents and moved home to save. I never took out a loan in my life, so if I don't have the money for something, I don't buy it. Would have loved to have upgraded the car but couldn't justify it.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

sweet_trip wrote: »

I suppose it boils down to if you're willing to drive 30-45 minutes each way to see people. Although I don't know how far 30 minutes would get you from Dublin in terms of prices.



What kind of prices are you looking at in terms of buying in Dublin?

Well the plan is to save more and use that towards buying. Looking in and around €400k.

onrail

douglashyde wrote: »

tl;dr: Invest in yourself first, don't invest in markets.
.

I often see the advice of ‘invest in yourself first’

Is such an investment not extremely risky? For instance, I could spent 25k plus a year of lost earnings, a significant chunk of my wealth, on an MBA. But ultimately, what is the guarantee that there would be a suitable (well paying) position and payoff at the end of it?

sweet_trip

Go Home Paddy Cat!! wrote: »

Well the plan is to save more and use that towards buying. Looking in and around €400k. Maybe a bit higher. Prices still too high.

I'm in a similar boat to you. Never had a loan or anything. Single, live with parents. Would loved to have upgraded the car but just not viable as it would stop me from buying a house.



a 400k house would get you an absolute mansion in the countryside. If I could afford that I'd feel like a millionaire.


I feel like there's a lot of 20-30 something year olds in Ireland in a similar boat. Good jobs, lots of savings, nice income, but we're royally fúcked over by the state of the housing market. It makes me despair honestly.


When my parents were our age the share of wealth and affordability of housing was so much better even if they were earning considerably less or not having as high quality of life as we do now. It's a really messed up situation.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

sweet_trip wrote: »

I'm in a similar boat to you. Never had a loan or anything. Single, live with parents. Would loved to have upgraded the car but just not viable as it would stop me from buying a house.



a 400k house would get you an absolute mansion in the countryside. If I could afford that I'd feel like a millionaire.


I feel like there's a lot of 20-30 something year olds in Ireland in a similar boat. Good jobs, lots of savings, nice income, but we're royally fúcked over by the state of the housing market. It makes me despair honestly.


When my parents were our age the share of wealth and affordability of housing was so much better even if they were earning considerably less or not having as high quality of life as we do now. It's a really messed up situation.

Good points! Yeah and people sitting on savings waiting to buy may mean that prices won't drop as much as we all hope. But then if there's some scintilla of decentralisation as a result of people working from home, it might help prices drop, at least in Dublin. Hard to know really. But yeah, our parents generation had it easier and unfortunately pulled the ladder up behind them.