Oliver Maher is a director at United Advisers Marine. Disclaimer: UA/BFMI is a member of Nexus Global and an appointed Representative of Blacktower Financial Management (International) Limited (BFMI). BFMI is licensed and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (FSC). UA/BFMI are not tax advisers and clients should always seek independent tax advice for their individual circumstances. +34 871 115 928; www.unitedadvisersmarine.com
As superyacht crew, you know better than anyone just how busy the upcoming summer season is going to be, especially if you’re working on board a charter yacht. Regardless of your position on board, you’ll be busy preparing the yacht, getting ready to welcome guests, and working overtime to ensure everything is running as smoothly as can be. But while you’re working 20-hour days during the season, what’s happening to your finances? Have you got your savings in order or made decisions on things like investments to meet your financial goals? What are your 2020 financial objectives?
We know just how hectic yacht crew get during a charter season. You’re 100 percent focused on keeping yacht owners and guests happy. And rightly so; after all, that’s what you get paid to do. But when you’re working so hard, have you thought about how you can make that money work even harder in the long term? Looking to the future, have you considered what you will do with your unspent salary while on charter or, better yet, your large end-of-season bonus?
We’ve met a number of crew who unfortunately had their hard-earned cash sitting in bank accounts or under their mattress making zero percent because they didn’t take the time to look at their personal finances before their yacht was ready to lift anchor. They figured that everything was fine.
Unfortunately, those same crew may receive quite the shock when, at the end of the season, they realize they’d missed a valuable opportunity to make their savings work harder. Imagine how much happier they would have been coming back to shore and being faced with greater savings just because they made a simple bank account switch.
Working in this industry, with high wages and reduced living costs gives you the perfect opportunity to save. The quieter shipyard period ahead of the summer cruising season is the perfect opportunity to get your finances in order before you’re busy with guests and meeting their demands. Your charter season will no doubt be stressful enough without having to worry about savings accounts, interest rates, and returns on investment. That’s why now is the best time to get your savings in order. You have the time and headspace to think carefully about how you want your money to work hard to achieve all your financial goals. Good, solid financial planning can help.
This article originally ran in the May 2020 issue of Dockwalk.