All my life I have been lower-class, low income. I struggled a lot with money, which has been a source of stress for far too long. Now, last year I got a well-paying job in IT. I live in Poland, but what I make places me in the top 2% of the population. Online calculators say it's equivalent the salary of 80k annually in the US, but I don't think you can compare it like that. After all my expenses (cooking my own food, telephone bills, public transport pass, property taxes, going out money, dates, etc.) I'm left with 3-4/5 of the sum.
To give you an idea of how much I make, here is average prices:
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Poland
Depending on my overtime, I make around 7-7,5k a month after taxes. The median here is around 2,1k.
I live alone, am in my late 20s. No children. No partner. Living alone in a family-owned flat (no rent, except for bills and property taxes). I have no car, and no student loans. And in my country you get free health insurance which covers almost everything. No credit card debt. No savings to speak of and no emergency money.
Since I got the job, for the last 8 months, I focused on:
- paying back my debt, mostly unpaid bills from ages ago that grew on me, as I was really bad with my finances, and had very shitty income beforehand,
- buying some basic stuff, as I really didn't have much: tools, cooking utensinls, bedding, good clothes, etc.,
- renovating the flat
- investing in hobby equipment that I really needed to be happy :)
Now, all of this is almost done, the debt is going to be paid fully in 2-3 months, I have a set of nice clothes, hobbies are covered for a long time. The flat is now liveable, but could put a lot of extra work and money into it if I wanted. I feel I'll be a clean slate, and would need to actively sort out my finances in a goal oriented way and start saving. What should I save money for? How much should I put away? How to do it? Should I make a budget? Should I invest?
More specifically:
How should I structure my fincances? How much emergency money should I have? Is it a good idea to invest it in any way? Or should I think about it once I build up my savings?
Should I get a flat on my own? The situation with the flat is that it belongs to my family, I can live here indefinitely, but it will never be legally mine, and is too small to start a family, it's a studio. But then again I don't see myself starting a family anytime soon. Flat prices in my hometown are somewhat insane. I would need a down payment of full 10x salaries minimum, plus the monthly mortgage payment would be around 1/5.
Should I get a car? A car would be nice, but my city has a pretty good public transportation system, so it would only increase my standard of living - I have no children to transport, partner to pick up, etc. It's not necessary, would be just a luxury, but would be cool :)
Should I start saving to open a business? My biggest dream is opening my own company, but I feel like saving money from a pay-check, and not a loan, would take ages and is such a high risk that I don't know if I should think about it right now, as I am just starting to build my savings, etc. Maybe when I'm more financially secure? What do you think?
As I said I grew up in a lower-class household, so I really have no upbringing and experience handling money and finances except for making ends meet, so I would really appreciate your help! Also how does one learn how to deal with it so late in life? Thanks.
Submitted August 04, 2018 at 08:22AM by BarneyDin https://ift.tt/2Mjcznd
