What is next for a 30 year old saving $36K a year?

On our road to financial security and financial freedom, if we are good savers, half the battle is won. If we make above average income and are able to save way more money than the average person, we could have won more than half the battle.

Y:
I have been highly focusing on saving money all these while, i seems to forget to grow the money.

Now that i am going to have a new home, albeit a small one. I do not want to want to put myself in a stage that i have to be consistently worrying about money. This is why i see that master AK has planned well and hope to point me in a better direction.

AK:
If you are a good saver and I think you are, that is half the battle won. like emoticon

As an investor, you have to think what kind of investor you want to be or most suitable to be. I will blog a bit about our conversation and a bit more later today.


For now, since you are a good saver, concentrate on doing it well. $3K a month means $36K a year or $360K in a decade. That is no small change.

Y:
I just wanna live and spend more time with my family, so i decided to work really hard for a number of years and save as much as i can when im still young. And right now, i think i am at the stage where i need to utilize the money i save to prepare for the next stage of my family.
 read your post of CPF SA account, so i plan to fill the SA account up when i still have the ability to do so.

just that, i am still figuring out all the STI ETF debate and reits dividend suitable for a short term investment. Personally, given i am such a "saver"-minded, i find it hard sometimes to let go of the money to invest. So i am still learning to take risk and go for whats best for me.

understand the risk of giving very specific advice as most likely Master AK will get blamed if things doesn't go as planned. I take your conversation as a sharing session, so that i can improve along the way. Thank you for taking your time to listen to me, Master AK!




Lots of money stashed away? That is a good problem!

AK:
OK, now I understand your situation and your mentality better. smile emoticon

If you are risk averse, then, risk free rates are what you should be going after. The only attractive risk free rates now are the ones we get from the CPF.


If you believe in saving money for retirement and if you believe in annuities, then, the CPF-SA is where you want to lock your money.


However, if you are not sure if you might need the money for a second property or to fund your children's tertiary education in future, then, you might want to do a voluntary contribution (VC) to your OA, SA and MA. There is no income tax relief for doing this unlike a CPF-SA top up but you will still get to enjoy pretty good risk free rates. wink emoticon


When it comes to investing, there is always some risk involved. You must be able to stomach market volatility. If you don't think you are the type, then, it might be a good idea to avoid.


If you want to try anyway, then, getting into an STI ETF through the services offered by POSB or OCBC and then putting in money regularly is probably less stressful an option.

Each one of us is different but we should be prudent and we should find our own way, a way that does the job and gives us peace of mind.

Related posts:
1. 30 years old with $150K liquid assets.
2. Greater financial well being is not beyond most of us.
3. Tea with Matthew Seah: OCBC BCIP.
4. Why should we buy a big and expensive home?
5. Get the most out of ASSI for financial security.

30 years old with $150K in liquid assets.

The Chinese have a saying that "one type of rice feeds hundred types of people". All of us are different and in many ways too.

So, I am somewhat wary of giving anyone specific advice as to what they should do in their plans for the future, especially when it has to do with growing their wealth.

I share general ideas regarding how to be prudent when it comes to personal finance matters as well as some ideas that have to do with investing in stocks and, sometimes, real estate. They are scattered throughout my blog.

I would say that before we set out on our journey, have our goals in mind. What do we want to achieve? Then, we must choose the route which we think is the most suitable for us.

To expand on the analogy, there could be a very short route available but it could be quite treacherous. Do we have the equipment and skills to take that path? There could be another route, longer but less of a thrill. Would that be a better choice?

Some might remember a blog post in which I shared my plan to retire by 45. Some might also remember how the plan was tweaked. In reality, I am sure it was tweaked more than once too.

Set goals and, with that, have plans but don't be too rigid. The only constant in life is change.

Y

Suppose you have such assets @ age 30 present:
-130k savings -20k stocks (50% bank, 50% REITS) -
less than 5k in CPF-OA, less than 5k in CPF-SA
-average monthly 3k savings (after all expenses)
How should one plan for short and long term investment goals?
short term - 1k savings to dividend stocks? long term - 1k saving per month to CPF SA account self top-up?
Would like to know how best to plan for the next 25 years! ty ty!

sorry master AK! trouble you to shed some light on investing. grin emoticon

 

Assi AK

Hi Y,

This is a difficult question to answer because it would depend on each individual's circumstances and what they want.
 

I cannot answer in specifics but I have blogged about what fresh grads or young working adults might want to look at first. The blog posts are found in the right side bar of my blog.

 

I would say that prudent personal finance comes before investing and with plenty of savings, you seem to have done that well. smile emoticon

 

Then, we have to consider your personality. That would help determine if you might want to invest mostly for income or mostly for growth, for example.

Basically, understand yourself and understand your motivations and you will know where your money should go. This will help you avoid regrets. Peace of mind is priceless. smile emoticon

Assi AK

What I have done in my blog is to share my journey which includes sharing my motivations and my methods.

I invest mostly for income. I have done fairly well. However, this is not to say that this is the method for everyone. I am not dogmatic.

You are welcome to read my blog and see if what I do gels with what you would like to have. If it does, then, you could possibly do something similar. Cherry pick. wink emoticon

All the best on your journey. smile
 

So, spend some time to think of what you want in your life if you have not done so yet and see if what you are doing now will help you achieve your goals.

We probably can't get it absolutely right but having a plan and being realistic enough to recognise the need to change along the way will help us get it approximately right.

Honestly, that is good enough.

Related posts:
1. Have a plan, your own plan.
2. To retire by age 45, have a plan. (My goal, my plan.)
3. Blog posts in "Reads for undergrads and fresh grads" in the right side bar.
4. A conversation on the CPF and investing in stocks.
5. How to grow my wealth as I approach 40 years of age?