Hi Guys
New to the forum and need some advice / opinions please. I am from the UK, single, currently reside abroad (Australia, permanent resident) am 36 years old and earn (the equivalent) of £35k per year. I have just move to the area I live in and am in a new job i.e. finance not an immediate option but will be soon.
I have significant savings in the UK (circa £400k) and around $100k in Australia. All of this is currently in the bank sitting earning minimal interest (UK 0.75%, AUS 2.8%, some in Peer 2 Peer at 4%). This has been my position for the last year and is frustrating - lots of cash, but doing not very much and not providing me with any cashflow to prop up my low earnings. I am hesitant to bring that money to Australia due the attrocious exchange rates since Brexit and i've basically been sitting on it waiting to see what would happen.
In order to do something with the UK cash I was considering buying a property outright in my hometown (all UK funds). Growth has been very strong there over the years and it seemed like a good bet that would initially provide me with cash flow (circa 3%) from the rent, with the option to mortgage further down the line if I wanted to free up cash (although AUS / UK mortgages not supposedly easy to arrange). It also gives me the option to return home if I ever want to and keep a strong family connection over there. I was then looking to use that cashflow to supplement my income in a property purchase over here, where I would look to pay the mortgage down fast.
I have instructed on a property and will be due to exchange soon, however I have a major case of cold feet. The property market has ground to a halt and I can see a huge possibility that prices will drop. If they do things will also be very slow to recover with Brexit etc in the background. Not exactly the time to be all in on property. Saying that growth might just be next to nothing for the next couple of years and then start to slowly recover so...
If i don't continue with the purchase, what else could i do? UK / US shares at an all time high doesn't exactly seem like a very safe bet either and I have little experience when it comes to investing.
My goals are to achieve cash flow initially, combined with growth in a relatively safe environment. I am pretty young so I am prepared to take risk to grow the money.
It seems my options are
1. Buy house all in, benefit from the cash flow, take risk in volatile market, possibly see not much growth / a loss over short term
2. Pull out, loose circa £2k and look at a simple(ish) plan to invest i.e.something like Vanguard Life Strategy 60:40 or possibly 80:20
3. Keep all £ in cash at 0.75% and wait and see what happens (budget end of Nov + Brexit / government in Jan)
4. Wear bad exchange rate (1.72), bring money to Aus (economy arguable more stable, housing market doing better) and either buy home plus some shares or a couple of rental properties (can get finance easier here)
I know this is very much a case of 'first world problem' but it is doing my nut in and I could do with some outside opinions / ideas. Any opinions or advice is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance
JayBee