In October, I came up with a new strategy for my money now that my situation has drastically changed.
To review, I was first going to move most of my liquid US cash to NZ cash to take advantage of our higher interest rates here. Also, that $$ is earmarked for moving back to the US and a Roth fund...but that is about 5 years away. My situation has changed, therefore my goals have changed. Gotta be fluid, y'all!
I've scheduled my money to move to a US bank account where I can easily transfer it to my NZ bank account. From there, it'll be moved to my NZ savings account and earning a lot more interest. So I'll be ~$8,900 USD poorer and about ~$11.2K NZD richer.
My sidebar goals will now reflect that change in goals. No longer will I have a move back to US fund or Roth fund as a US move is far, far away. I'm filling my Europe trip fund to $13K first--only about $5K more to go in that. The rest will find a home somewhere--I'm still thinking about that, and where to allocate the other 'move to US' funds I have.
So I'll have $13K NZD to use to travel to Europe one day. $13K NZD is about $10K USD. I'll have to work within that budget to see a few places in Europe one day. There is a slight possibility that I will be going to Prague and Germany in 2015 for work, but I don't count that as the proper Europe trip. I will probably have to wait until I finish the PhD to properly tour Europe like I want to. (Of course, I'll have to save up some $$ for the Prague/Germany trip separately so that I can visit with a few folks over there.) I will need to price out some things for the BIG trip like I want it. This post is giving me some ideas. I will have to do a separate post wherein I ask for advice after some proper research later on!! :)
Secondly, I will increase my Kiwisaver allocations to 8%. They make this ridiculously hard for some reason. So much paperwork! So much proof of identity! I have filled out the paperwork but need to get something notarized...so this may take a while before I have the time or inclination to follow through with this plan. Good intentions, though.
Third, I'll review all my retirement fund allocations and move things around. I don't think my strategy I'm using right now is very smart.
Honestly, other than the down payment on a house and decent retirement savings, I will have saved for everything I want right now, long-term. I'll see what the next few months brings, but I want to save some to each goal every month if possible. What those numbers are will depend on how much fun I'm having, and how careful I am.
It will be a balance, because short term, I want to travel on a whim when opportunities arise. I want to go camping and rent a car and go hiking whenever I want. I want freedom. I want security. I want to take care of myself through my exercise classes. I want to expand my horizons with drawing and painting and other kinds of classes. I want to be comfortable and be able to buy cute things for my house. Basically, I do not want to lower my standard of living even though I am making less money during the PhD.
Medium term, I'll eventually move back to the US. And I WILL get a dog. When that nears, I'll start saving up for that again. For now, I want to focus on being in NZ--dogless, houseless, but full of travel and fun.
What the above tells me is that I need to focus more on my retirement savings, and DREAM BIGGER. Europe, check, house down payment--working on it, retirement--needs attention but I am also working on that. What are my other goals? What do I want my life to look like? Do I need to make my Europe fund bigger? Aim for travel to more places? Save up for a class or skill I want to learn? Get massages or my nails done every week or make more dr appointments or learn a foreign language or get a life coach? Buy more clothes? Eat more meals out? Take more local trips? All of this?! (Yes)
Every time I review my finances, I find something else I need to tweak, but I also see how far I've come from that 28 year old who was in debt and decided to do something about it. At that time, I thought about all of the things I wanted to accomplish and they felt so impossible and far off! And now here I am, making her dreams come true. Awesome stuff.
