#FinancialDilemma #LifeChoices #MoneyManagement
Hey everyone! 😊
I find myself in a bit of a pickle, and I could really use your thoughts. So here’s the scoop: I’m a 28-year-old single techie, making around $135k a year. I’ve got $125k saved up with ING, and I’m currently sharing a three-bedroom house with my buddies. Life seems pretty good, right? But here’s the catch: I’m feeling totally confused about what to do next. 🤔
Part of me is itching to dive in and enjoy this money. After all, who doesn’t want to have a little fun? 😎 But then, I glance at the economic situation and wonder if saving for a house might be the smarter play. It’s like a tug-of-war in my mind, and honestly, I’m starting to worry that no matter what path I choose, I might end up regretting it.
Why do I feel this way? Here are a few thoughts:
- Pressure of Choices: The pressure to make the “right” decision can be overwhelming, especially with big spendings like homes or investments.
- Fear of Missing Out: Seeing friends or others enjoy their earnings might leave you feeling like you’re missing out on life.
- Lack of Knowledge: Not knowing where or how to invest your money can make you hesitate to take action.
Here’s where I’m struggling: I haven’t invested in stocks or any other avenues because I genuinely don’t know where to start. 😬 Also, I feel like I’ve forgotten how to enjoy life lately—just having fun seems like a distant memory.
✨Possible Solutions:
- Dabble in small investments to start learning about the stock market—maybe even use apps that allow you to invest with just a little cash.
- Create a balanced budget where you allocate funds for both fun and savings. That way, you can enjoy your earnings without feeling guilty! 💸
- Consider talking to a financial advisor. They can help you formulate a plan tailored specifically to your goals.
I’m really curious: If you were in my shoes, how would you navigate this confusion? Have any of you dealt with similar feelings? Please share your tips or stories! Let’s figure this out together! 🤝
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings! Looking forward to hearing what you think!
Go to South East Asia
Don’t take this as financial advice, but it’s probably time to start looking into investing? 125k is a lot to sit in the bank. You don’t need to go all in on investing that money at the cost of lowering your living standards, but perhaps put a little bit of that money into super or ETFs?
Investment is a long game, it wouldn’t hurt to start early.
28 135k a year 125k saving. At your age, you’re just a baby my dude. With that money, deposit and try to pay off your own house then keep saving and enjoy the rest of your life in Asia countries.
Max out your super, if you haven’t been maxing it out you can pay more into it to “catch up” for the years prior you didn’t max it out. Definitely do that. Go on an international holiday (I suggest Japan),enjoy it now because it’s hard once you have a family. Then I would focus on saving for a house deposit.
Go and speak to a Fin adviser
At this point, max out your super contributions. You can withdraw the salary sacrificed amount under First home buyer scheme when you are ready to buy a house.
Starting up in investing with stocks is like gambling, you will be better off with index funds. Betashares direct or Vanguard personal investor are good options. Just pick 2 etfs/funds and set up monthly contributions.
Be clear with your goals.
Know what you want financially later in life and you will know how much you need to save and how much you can spend on your lifestyle.
I found that investing was a good break from the tension of saving and spending on myself. I knew that there was a way for my money to grow that wasn’t dependant on my financial sacrifice.
It’s better if you talk to a professional instead of asking here. That being said whatever you do in life you’ll always wonder “what if?”. You’re 28, live your life, make a few mistakes, do a bit of everything. Money is a tool to get the life you want, don’t be too fixated at accumulating wealth.
Go travel. Come back after a month or two and see how things are going.
Money comes and goes. You earn well. Tech is up and down but you can always buy something modest like an apartment and even if you get made redundant the repayments won’t be back breaking.
People shit on apartments but you’re a single dude – and even with a partner – your home is just a place where you put your head down and rest. It’ll feel great knowing it’s yours.
I would prioritise securing a home by saving through the First Home Super Scheme, but remember to enjoy yourself along the way. There are experiences you’ll appreciate more in your 20s than in your 40s and beyond. Life is all about finding the right balance.
Don’t confuse spending money with having fun… very different things. The only happiness which money can buy is travel, if I were you I’d be intentional about allocating some to an annual holiday somewhere nice (I suggest Cambodia and Vietnam with your mates). Doesn’t have to be expensive, you just have to commit and plan it.
If you feel your life is lacking in other ways, maybe time to address that more directly.
Give it a few years and you’ll probably have a mrs and be wanting a kid or two, save money steadily for a house then. It’ll come sooner than you think. Hopefully your mrs has a few bucks and you can make 20% on a $1m house. Don’t sweat the financials, you’re doing really well.
At 28 it’s a hard call to make.
It hinges on what u as a person wants to do.
Travel is something I’d recommend, but so is buying a property. However, if you’re enjoying living with your mates, then I could understand not doing this.
At 28 – you have a whole lifetime of experiences to have yet, some of my best memories are from my late 20s footloose and fancy free.
My suggestion is just leave it in a high interest bank account, and spend some time figuring out what you – not your parents, or partner, of redit says but you want to do.
Then simply do that!
Not financial advice, but ETFs like IVV provide great long-term returns. Not one to put all of your savings into but certainly worth it if you’re looking for your money to work a bit harder for you.
go travel somewhere, you might regret not doing that enough when you got kids
I’d suggest putting your money into super and letting it grow, then buying a house with the first home super saver scheme. Most superannuations offer free financial advice over the phone if you book it in, you could plan to try time the marker when you deposit a big chunk, or slowly average it out with salary sacrifice.
If you know anyone smart enough to help you then self managed super funds are a great option too, you just can’t live in your investment if it’s a house.
Just my take but I would lock in atleast 1 investment first either ETF or property then take it from there. Also it depends on your personal life or life goals, are you looking for a partner to settle down eith? Are you looking to travel the world? Work overseas? Settle by yourself in Aus?
Your financial direction should be aligned with your life goals and personal situation but bottom line id feel better if I had a portion of my savings in an investment like property or ETF then the rest I can have freedom to use it for what else I want.
Nobody ever regretted owing their own home when they get to retirement age.
I’m in the same boat and similar age (29) with 124k net worth excluding super.
The only difference is half of my money is invested in broad index ETFs.
I have decided to go 50/50 for home deposit savings and shares (mainly ETFs) to target both goals of buying a house and creating an income stream.
dear op, it’s 50 / 50.
use half the money to save, invest and make it grow.
the other half for bills, regular expenses and travel. you need to have fun in your life.
Split the difference.
Invest like 90k.
Put buying a house on a 5 year roadmap instead of immediate (if you want one)
Find a remote job and travel & work or go for a 3 month sabbatical and live it up overseas on 25k with a 10k emergency reserve.
I wish i had done more with my 20s. Dont be me
Imho I’m trying to save as much as possible, buying an house nowadays it looks tremendous.
For your Young age I would keep saving and invest part of it. Then buy a house down the way when the times are better.
If you think it’s time to buy, I would be looking in some properties in Asia.
If you haven’t travelled, do the crazy type travelling thing now while your still young and it’s not weird,backpacking South America, central America etc, it won’t be the same when your older and those are some of the best memories of my life now in my 40s.
You need goals. Write them down. Otherwise you will drift through life.
Putting so much into your super is financially awesome if you are willing to wait another 40 years before you can access it. I would personally be putting my money into diversified low cost ETFs such as A200. Only put in money that you are willing to leave for a considerable amount of time as the major benefits will come beyond the next 10-20 years. However, unlike your super you can pull that money out quite easily at any time if your life circumstances require it. Depending on where in Australia you are and what type of place you want to live at – you can also look at property soon
I would start looking at buying a place.
It feels weird when your mates are crying poor. And you got 100k in the bank. Set a goal.
Idk man it’s hard I guess when your friends are still partying and you are past it
Buy a house and have your mates pay you rent to help pay it off quickly
Maybe look at an investment property, something that could be your forever home, in 5-10yrs. Rent will off set loan payments.
Buy a house
Pump super
Invest in ETFs
During all of that, make sure you travel and enjoy life.
Someone else has prob said it but go buy the barefoot investor and follow the steps.
The only thing id suggest changing is his investment advice (the version I read suggested AFI), id suggest buying etfs instead.
Go read http://www.passiveinvestingaustralia.com and create your investing policy.
Go on a small holiday. Go to a broker and see what pre approval you can get
Buy the property.
It is worth it and a good step to financial freedom.
Very scary at first doing it on your own but once you get the ball rolling it’s not that bad. At 38 you will be so glad you did it.
Maybe have some fun or go travel with some of it, say 5-7k, then consider buying a house your mates would rent with you. Better to pay your mortgage off than the current owner. And you might well be living there cost free if you can house 3 or 4 blokes plus you.
On a side note, you’re getting 5.5% on your first $100k then like 0.3% on every dollar after ($25k currently). I’d be looking at ubank or other to better manage this savings. Unfortunately you’d have to take a one month hit on not accumulating more savings or look to send money to another account on the first of the month and put it back by the end to get that full interest benefit
Buy property in your parents name so it’s protected in divorce.
I don’t want to be another one of those “travel bro” posts but in all seriousness if you are single with no kids, now is the time to do it and it will help break the mundane routine if grinding away at work year after year. In the endless pursuit of “getting ahead” you can loose all sense of looking after yourself, mentally.
Go and have fun while you are in your 20’s. Take 6 months off and find new perspective. You are doing very well for 28. I had bugger all to my name at that age.
I am now early 40s and while I make plenty of money, I don’t have the time or energy to do anything in between work and kids.
I’d definitely look into investing if you don’t want to go for a house just yet. Otherwise yeah go for a house
If you put 100K lumpsum into a high yield ETF, dollar cost average 1K a month, in the next 17 yrs, you’ll have a little over a million dollars. Whether you decide to keep renting or buying a property, at least you can live off that 1 mill.
Start learning how to invest. Learn the magic of compounding and measured risk-taking. You need excitement in your life? Go make some money. You’ll sleep well at night when you know your dollar is working hard while you’re at it.
Why not buy a house and have your mates move in with you to help cover the mortgage?
Stick it in an ETF like Vanguard at least or a high interest saving account. You want to make sure that cash is at least maintaining its value against inflation.
This is such a typical post on AusFinance.
1. Cut your expenses further if you can and save as much as possible.
2. Invest a lot of money into index funds and try to get the highest interest rate possible on your savings (ING pays pretty decent rates but you might get slightlybetter from UBank)
3. You need to have clear measurable goals. I would aim for *minimum* $1M in stocks alone. Yes 1M. It’s a lot, I know. We live in tougher times than before and this is what it takes to be financially secure.
Buy a home. That plus super are the two best guarantees against eating cat food in old age.
Wait until a market event like a crash or correction & then take advantage.