Financial success from your yachting career
By Peter Brooke
This article is published on: 27th November 2014
RULE: Conceptually plan out different financial pots.
This is a really good way to plan your future in yachting. There is no need to have different accounts for these “pots”, although it may help.
Pot 1 – Emergency fund – we all know how volatile the yachting industry can be in terms of job security. It is important that if you suddenly find yourself without a job you can at least survive for a few months, get yourself to one of the main yachting centres and afford accommodation while looking for work. I recommend having at least 3 months’ salary in a bank account at any time.
Pot 2 – Education – in order to progress your career it is vital to consider the costs of education. Hopefully you will be on a yacht where Continual Professional Development (CPD) is part of the culture but there will still be courses that you need to fund yourself. Start to plan when you will need the money for the next course and how much it will be… then divide the amount by the number of months until the course, and save that amount EVERY month into an account. Remember there may be additional travel or accommodation costs too.
Pot 3 – Exit – you have now saved an emergency fund and are putting money aside for the next course…. now consider what you plan to do when you leave yachting? Are you going to start a business? Return home? Retire? You should now look to save at least 25% of your income for this purpose. It is very easy to go through a yachting career and end up with very little saved for when you want to leave. There is no provision made by your boss for your long term future, it is down to you to save.
Remember if you worked on land you’d lose at least 25% to social charges and tax anyway. As these are longer term savings you can now consider making investments to try and grow your money more. Make sure as your income grows, your savings and investment amounts grow too.
Pot 4 – Property – if one of the investments that you want to make for your long term future is into property, then you need to start planning what you need to put aside every month to be able to save enough for a deposit and legal fees/taxes. In France, for example, a yacht crew will now need at least 28% of the property purchase price to be able to borrow… saving this amount takes discipline and planning.
Pot 5 – Expenditure – all of the above requires a habit of saving and bit of effort to form the best plan… the single best way to successfully save for your future is to be strict with your own expenditure. Look at all of the above and then give yourself a set amount each month that you can spend on having fun and travelling. Do this well and the more difficult disciplines above will be easy. Saying no to another night out is the hardest part!!
This article is for information only and should not be considered as advice.