20% for 20 years

What could saving 20% of your crew salary over 20 years look like?

We all know how important it is to save money, but have you ever thought of setting a specific goal for your long-term savings?

After all, your personal saving choices are some of the most important factors in building your financial security.

Just as we have fitness or other personal goals, it’s important to have a savings goal, and there’s no better time than the start of a new year to review your savings plan.

A good place to start is by looking at how much you could put away every month from your crew salary.

What if you could save 20% of your salary over the next 20 years?

That may sound like a chunk of money that you need to be putting aside every month, but it is achievable, and we’ve done the maths to show you just how much you could save.

What does 20% of an average crew salary look like?

To give you an idea of how much you could potentially save over a 20-year period, we’ve taken the midpoint of average superyacht salaries for main crew positions.

Let’s start with what 20% of average captain and crew monthly salaries looks like:

How much in extra savings does that add up to over 20 years?

This is where the maths is pretty straightforward. The table below shows how much you could contribute to your personal savings by putting aside 20% of your monthly pay.

Source: Providence Life Limited

The figures are pretty attractive, right? What’s even more attractive is in the third column, which shows how much in total you could have in your piggy bank assuming an annual growth rate of 5%.

With the figures above, we’ve taken 5% as a conservative estimate. However, keep in mind that, depending on your own savings account, the returns could be much higher, for example 7% or even as high as 10%.

Source: Providence Life Limited

But like we’ve already said, your savings potential depends on your own personal circumstances (how much of your salary you can put away each month) and the level of risk you’re willing to take when it comes to your savings.

The goal is for positive performance over the long term

Remember that returns on long-term savings can go up as well as down, but what you can expect is a positive performance over the long term.

The longer you leave your money untouched, the greater it can grow, because compound interest grows exponentially over time.

save what you can

If you can’t save 20% of your CREW salary just yet don’t worry. We realise that not everyone has the ability to save the same percentage of their income every month. After all, personal circumstances are exactly that, personal. Just remember that saving something is better than nothing.

Review your savings on a regular basis

It’s likely that your financial position will change over the next 20 years. Perhaps you will change your position within yachting, your salary will change, or your outgoing expenses will be different because of your personal circumstances.

Whatever your situation, make sure you regularly review your savings goal and determine just how much of your crew salary you can put aside every month.

Need help?

If you’re not sure how to even start a savings plan, have a look at our beginner’s guide to saving more of your salary.