Growing saving, unsure what to do.

RichardAnd

I normally don't make posts asking for advice as I tend to trust my own acumen with regards to financial matters. However, recent events have spooked me somewhat I think it's time to revise my situation.

I've always been an astute saver. Even today, I say between 50 and 60% of all my earnings and needless to say, this has built up over the years into a sizeable. Now, most of this is sitting in a post office account and once I put something in there, it never comes out again. This was fine up until the pension levy as now, I have a real fear that my private wealth will be purloined by our cash strapped state. Thus, I am now considering my options with regards to protecting my money.

The natural choice seems to be purchasing gold or silver. Now I'm well aware that this is another bubble but as gold metals have real value, unlike houses, this could be a sound way to save some money. What puts me off this idea is that if I buy 10k worth of gold bullion and the gold bubble pops, I will stand to loose some money and I'm not sure how much.

The second option is moving my assets into a non Irish bank. However, I am not sure how to do this and further, I don't know how safe it is.

I'd appreciate any advice on this matter and I'm sure other have similar concerns so this could be a thread in which to discuss this very serious issue.

later12

OP I really think you are better off taking advice from a financial adviser whose qualifications and trust-worth is more apparent than on the internet.

Personal opinion would be that if I were in your situation I would actually leave my money in Ireland. Personally I don't have huge saving but what I have in savings is not going anywhere. If I were even to be a little more paranoid, I would still be confident in investing into a British savings account in GB£, guaranteed under British law.

RichardAnd wrote: »

gold metals have real value

Really? What is it?

Black Swan

MOD COMMENT:
Moving to investments and markets from Irish Economy.

ixus

At the moment, I think you have plenty of time to assess your options. It's important not to rush into anything. Your financial discipline to date suggests that you will do the right thing.

Precious metals are quite volatile at the moment. Could you handle that volatiltiy in your saving/investment portfolio? Is your main focus preservation of wealth? Or, is this your entire focus?

If you can't handle losing any of your savings then you need to stick to bank deposits within the euro. To this end, I would investigate spreading your savings across Dutch/German/French banks. They have their own problems but are less at risk of the events that you discuss.

Check our askaboutmoney and thepropertypin, places that will have discussion on foreign deposit accounts.

I don't have much to hand at the moment.

Ixus

Hal Emmerich

here

RichardAnd

ixus wrote: »

At the moment, I think you have plenty of time to assess your options. It's important not to rush into anything. Your financial discipline to date suggests that you will do the right thing.

Precious metals are quite volatile at the moment. Could you handle that volatiltiy in your saving/investment portfolio? Is your main focus preservation of wealth? Or, is this your entire focus?

If you can't handle losing any of your savings then you need to stick to bank deposits within the euro. To this end, I would investigate spreading your savings across Dutch/German/French banks. They have their own problems but are less at risk of the events that you discuss.

Check our askaboutmoney and thepropertypin, places that will have discussion on foreign deposit accounts.

I don't have much to hand at the moment.

Ixus

Thank you all for the replies.

To answer your question Ixus, I'm not an investor and I've no wish to be. Rather my intention as you say yourself, preservation of wealth. I would be open to investment in certain areas but I simply don't have the business knowledge required thus, I would only be gambling with my money.

I'm going to look into an account in a non-irish bank and thanks to Hal for that link.

kdowling

ixus wrote: »

To this end, I would investigate spreading your savings across Dutch/German/French banks.

why are Dutch/German/French banks recommended over british banks.
would a british bank not be safer in the event of the euro collapsing?

ixus

kdowling wrote: »

why are Dutch/German/French banks recommended over british banks.
would a british bank not be safer in the event of the euro collapsing?

The OP's fear is of the state confiscating some of his savings in some form or another being taxation or whatever. Placing funds in the UK leaves him open to fx exposure which I don't believe he wants due to the extreme volatility at the moment.

I would suggest that, in the event of a euro collapse, German, French and Dutch currency would be easily as strong as the British pound. Then again, I don't know exactly how each and every bank is exposed to various event risks. No longer an area I follow in great detail.

If I was to discount fx exposure, I'd say go Swiss ahead of the British pound. Maybe even investigate Uruguay, they have a similar banking system to the Swiss and are probably the politically safest country in South America and developing at realistic pace.

kdowling

ixus wrote: »

Placing funds in the UK leaves him open to fx exposure which I don't believe he wants due to the extreme volatility at the moment.

thanks for the reply ixus.
I have an account in a bank in belfast that i was thinking of transfering my savings to.
i'm not very up to date with foreign exchange rates etc. Could you give me an example of worse case senario what would happen to my €100,000 invested in a uk bank in terms of fx exposure?

Thanks in advance.

BrianD3

Won't having an offshore bank account result in a PAYE worker having to make a self assessed tax return each year? Now that's not big deal and many people do it but there may be things that need to be considered. For instance if you are making a tax return, deposit interest that you make in Ireland may be subject to PRSI as well as DIRT.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2011/0404/1224293731335.html

Also, IME, a PAYE worker who is making returns seems to be more likely to be selected for a tax audit than one who isn't.

hmmm

RichardAnd wrote: »

The natural choice seems to be purchasing gold or silver. Now I'm well aware that this is another bubble but as gold metals have real value, unlike houses, this could be a sound way to save some money.

That's a ferocious assumption. Gold has a minor industrial value, but otherwise it has as much real value as seashells, as will become apparent when the gold bubble pops. Silver has a significant industrial value but tax disadvantages.

If you have significant savings you should talk to a financial advisor. It would be a shame to make one false move and wipe out years of saving.

HowFinancial

I'm with Ixus & Hmmm - talk to a financial advisor or two, and talk to your bank while you're at it.