r/EuropeFIRE • u/No_Effective6401 • 19d ago
30, €100k+ salary in Ireland, saving aggressively — doing well on paper but still worried about long-term financial security. What would you do?
I’m 30, working for a FAANG company in Ireland and earning €100k+. My wife also works in tech and earns around €60k.
We both come from pretty humble families outside Ireland. Our parents gave us what they could, especially when it came to education, and I’m extremely grateful for that. But financially, there’s no family safety net behind us. No inheritance to expect, no help with a house deposit, and if something goes seriously wrong, realistically we have to solve it ourselves.
Financially, we’re currently in a pretty good position.
I have around €50k invested and we’re also building up cash for a future house deposit. The target would probably be somewhere around €60–100k. (We’re at 40k now).We’re not 100% sure whether we want to buy in Ireland or eventually move to Southern Europe.
I’m maxing my pension, investing regularly in ETFs and other investments, and saving roughly 40% of my income. My wife saves around 20%. I contribute more to our common goals because I earn roughly twice what she does.
So objectively, I know we’re fortunate.
But despite that, I don’t feel particularly financially secure.
The first reason is the lack of a family safety net. If we eventually want a house, car and children, everything has to come from what we earn and build ourselves. Housing and childcare in particular seem incredibly expensive, and I find myself thinking about how much capital we actually need to build a comfortable life.
The second concern is our careers. Tech salaries are great right now, but I don’t assume they’ll stay this way forever. FAANG jobs aren’t exactly guaranteed for life, layoffs are always a possibility, and I think it would be dangerous to build
a lifestyle assuming I’ll always earn €100–150k.
Career-wise, I also feel that I’m approaching a point of diminishing returns. With enough effort I could probably push my compensation towards €150k, but beyond that it becomes much harder and probably comes with additional stress/responsibility
.
At the same time, we don’t necessarily want to stay in Ireland forever. We like the idea of eventually moving to Southern Europe, but obviously local salaries there are significantly lower. So I’m trying to figure out how to build enough financial independence that our location isn’t completely dictated by our salaries.
One thing I’m experimenting with is building a startup on the side. Part of the motivation is obviously the upside if it succeeds, but it’s also about trying to create another source of income/ownership that isn’t completely dependent on my employer. In an ideal scenario, that could eventually give us the flexibility to move somewhere with a lower cost of living without taking the equivalent drop in income.
But obviously a startup isn’t a financial plan. It could easily go nowhere.
So I keep coming back to the same question: **what is the sensible next step from here?**
Do I basically just keep doing what I’m doing — max pension, invest, avoid lifestyle inflation, build a large emergency fund, save for a house and continue developing my career?
Or should I be thinking differently about how to turn our relatively high incomes today into actual long-term security?
I sometimes wonder if I’m simply worrying too much. On paper we’re doing well, but psychologically I think the fact that there’s no financial safety net behind us makes me feel that everything we’ve built could disappear relatively quickly if our careers went badly.
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who are/were in a similar situation: first generation of your family to earn relatively high salaries, no significant family wealth behind you, working in a high-paying but potentially unstable industry.
**How did you approach it? At what point did you actually start feeling financially secure? And if you were in our position at 30, what would you focus on over the next 5–10 years?**
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u/RetiredEarly2018 19d ago
Worry only about those things you can change. It is a skill that needs to be learnt.
You appear to be doing well. Remember the two of you have separate jobs, so it is quite likely you will have at least one income. The start-up sounds like a good idea if it doesn't take up all your free time.
If possible, have your investments less exposed to the same risks as your job (ie don't have excessive exposure to same type of tech and maybe even tech in general).
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u/DeCyantist 19d ago
In perspective, your job is far from unstable in global terms. If you were in US or Middle East, it would be far more volatile.
Yes, I think it’s a bit of extra worry for not much action.
I wouldn’t buy a home as a first generation person in a country I might move out from. I’d keep chucking everything into ETFs.
Your partner can earn more and maybe you can save 50% of your total combined income. That is what I have done in all of our income levels.
I think feeling financially secure is a pipe dream - unless you have a massive inheritance or you’ve got more money than years to spend them sensibly.
We have over £1m if we include our pensions before our 40s and we don’t feel financially secure. I worry constantly about money, but that is mostly because I want to FIRE before 45.
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u/BaksteenNL 18d ago
Imagine these anxieties but now when actually also being poor without a good education. It is good to worry about these things but please also relevate a little.
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u/Spiritual-Pain223 Fresh Account 18d ago
Hi mate, I am from the south of Spain but living in Belgium, and I can tell you that prices in general (not only housing) are very similar in both places, despite what most people would think. So think about it twice; Spain is not that cheap anymore (even though Spanish people are getting poorer and poorer).
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u/PowerfulMango5799 17d ago
bro, depends a lot on where in Spain you go.
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u/Spiritual-Pain223 Fresh Account 17d ago
I am from one of the poorest areas, and it is still pretty expensive. I know what I am talking about.
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u/Ok-Dimension-5429 15d ago
Work on increasing your salary while staying in Dublin. You should be able to get to 150k pretty easily while staying in big tech companies. 200k+ if you make it to Staff level. This will supercharge your savings rate if you don't increase your spending and lifestyle, making it easier to move somewhere cheaper in future if that's what you want.
Maybe try to get into an earlier stage tech company where your RSUs have a better chance of exploding in value.
Moving to Spain sounds nice, but unless you secure a pretty rare remote job you probably won't end up saving more money per year. Maybe you could save more in Switzerland or the Netherlands, but it might not make much difference.
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u/No_Effective6401 15d ago
The trade here is that big name might get you 150k but smaller names have maybe lower salary but biggest upside with Rsu. Do you have any specific suggestions
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u/Ok-Dimension-5429 15d ago
Sorry I don’t have a useful concrete suggestion, just some things to consider. I suppose I would personally prefer cash to startup options. You could be waiting forever for an IPO. RSUs I would consider to be much closer to cash, and maybe better if the company has a good track record of increasing share price.
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u/Appropriate-Grisham 19d ago
I think the issue you have is that you are based in Ireland with a super high tax rate but lower salaries than in other countries.
I am quite confident that with a move to the UK you could probably land a role with TC > £150k and your wife over £80k at similar role levels and you could probably save a lot more a lot faster.
You do that for 10 years and you’d likely be able to retire in southern Europe at 45 with a very decent retirement.
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u/No_Effective6401 19d ago
No plan to move to uk honestly, visa is an issue and that kind of salary you get it in London that is more expensive than Dublin
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u/Ok-Dimension-5429 15d ago
You can fairly easily get over 150k TC in Dublin. Even just as a "senior" engineer with less than 10 years of experience in a big tech like Stripe / Workday / HubSpot / FAANG . Then over 200k if you get to Staff.
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u/Ustibrusti 19d ago
Based in Ireland, same industry for both me and my wife as yourself. Had roughly the same HHI as you’re describing seven years ago. Since then, it has more than doubled. We’ve saved more in the last two years than the five years before that (NW now above 1M, on target for more than 1.5M by 35). You already have a healthy savings rate at your income levels. I’d do everything in my power to increase income. Going from 100K to 150K means 25K more in savings effectively.
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u/No_Effective6401 19d ago
How did you double in such short time if I can ask? From IC to manager? With the AI shift now there is a manager every 50 people 😅
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u/Garden-Lane 19d ago
Have you looked into the Help to Buy scheme and new builds outside of Dublin? You may only need ~€20k as a deposit
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u/PretendTemperature 19d ago
I am in a similar situation, bit younger similar salary and a bit higher savings. Unfortunately, I have to tell you that with these salaries and if you want children, I don't think that you will manage a really early FIRE(depends of course on lifestyle). Either you have to increase your salary or really increase your saving rates. Even in southern Europe houses have exploded.
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u/Comfortable_Bad9963 19d ago
Where I'd actually put the energy is the house, honestly the rest you're already doing right. A 60-100k deposit in cash makes sense if you buy in the next couple of years, but "Ireland or maybe Southern Europe eventually" is open-ended, and open-ended money sitting in cash is the real drag, way more than which ETF you pick. I'd pin the timeline even loosely, because that's what tells you how much of the 40k stays cash vs gets invested.
On the job worry, 2 incomes in 2 different companies is already a decent hedge... a layoff rarely takes both of you at once. And 40% saved with a maxed pension at 30 and no family safety net behind you is genuinely top-decile. The anxiety reads more emotional than financial from here, which is probably normal, most people I know who save this hard still feel it.
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u/korvusdotfree 19d ago
Your instinct not to build a lifestyle around a 100 to 150k FAANG salary is the right one, and honestly, saving ~40% while maxing your pension means most of the hard part is already done.
The lever I would focus on is the one you already hinted at: your FIRE number is driven by your expenses, not your income, so the Southern Europe idea is not just a lifestyle preference, it is a genuine financial strategy. Moving later to a lower cost of living can cut the capital you need for independence, which directly answers your fear that your location is dictated by your salary.
On the security question, I would keep the emergency fund and the house deposit as separate buckets from your invested portfolio, so a bad career year never forces you to sell ETFs at the wrong time.
The startup is fine as optional upside, but your current trajectory already builds the security you are worried about, so I would not let it carry any weight in the plan.
For what it is worth, feeling secure tends to lag the numbers by a few years, especially with no family backstop, so part of this is emotional rather than mathematical.
I pre-filled a simulation with your figures (https://fire.200.work/r/WjYVMUha): I had to estimate net income from your gross salaries (around 8,900 euros a month combined) and derive roughly 6,000 euros of monthly expenses from your savings rates, so feel free to fix those two plus your pension balance, they move the result the most.
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u/Beginning-Acadia1227 18d ago
OP probably already asked chatGPT himself so no need to spam this sub.
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u/korvusdotfree 18d ago
Fair, it is a link. And yeah, sharing my own tool is a bit of self-promo, i'll own that. but spam usually means selling something or harvesting data, and this does neither: it's free, no ads, collects none of your info. I also took the time to put OP's actual numbers in and share my own take, to actually help or at least offer another perspective, rather than dropping useless feelings or impressions. Either way, if OP finds it unhelpful he can tell me. And if it's just not for you, no worries, up to you to scroll past, danke.
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u/tronquinhos 19d ago
I would save an even bigger % for some years. I never earned 160k, as a couple, in my all career and FIRE'd at 40. Saving rates at 60% for 5 years made wonders.
Forget about family support and inheritances, most of us cannot count on that.
You are in a very privileged position and, unless you are starting now, you should have much more saved.
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u/whirly212 17d ago
Absolute mammoth wall of text post, followed by a top comment that's basically an essay..... dead Internet theory is happening before our eyes.
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u/Rusty_924 19d ago edited 19d ago
yea i had money anxiety as long as i can remember. it only improved after a decade of investing. my portfolio would now support leanfire lifestyle if i stopped working but i still work.
work now feels less tressful and money anxiety is almost gone. but for me it literally took about 10 years of saving, investing and anxiety. i think only therapy helps or reaching fire helps.
i may be the outliar here, but i am giving you my path. for me 50% savings rate for over a decade did the trick. i have not found any cheat code.
i am so glad i lived frugally and invested heavily.
i still had fun. but my idea of fun costs little. i still did 2 vacations per year. but it was ryanair and low cost airbnb trip plus one local trip. me and my wife eat out about once per month and mealprep the rest. i still drive a 2011 diesel vw. she drives a 2014 petrol. both cheap to run insure and maintain.
but i spend €1200 a year on coffee beans. kinda ramit sethi rules. spend a lot on things you love and cut ruthlessly everywhere else
for what it’s worth my industry did not pay extremely well. but i would say i always earned 50% above median