Dear subscriber,

I speak to many people who have attained financial independence as part of covering the personal finance beat at The National News.

Although they come from different professional backgrounds, what binds them together is their savings and investment methodologies.

Almost all of them reiterate why one should never let money sit idle in the bank when, at the minimum, they can earn interest by moving it to a high-yield savings account in the current high interest rate environment.

While most grow their wealth by investing in the stock market, others prefer to earn recurring income from their real estate investments.

A majority of people who have attained financial freedom believe in passive investing and do not invest directly in company stocks, rather they opt to invest in low-cost exchange-traded funds. However, they remain invested in the market for the long term and ignore short-term volatility.

In this week's My Salary feature, I spoke to life and leadership coach Stephen Kishore, who has attained financial freedom. He adopts the dollar cost averaging method of constantly investing his savings to ride out the short-term market dips.

Personal finance experts also highlight the need to have at least six months' worth of expenses set aside in an emergency fund, preferably in a high-yield savings account.

If you work in the technology industry in the UAE, recruitment consultants believe you could be in for a salary increase this year, which if used judiciously, could further boost your investment portfolio.

Some of the most in-demand IT roles in the UAE today are cyber security specialist, cloud architect, DevOps engineer, software developer and project manager.

The Emirates' growing reputation as a tech and innovation hub has led to salaries increasing rapidly in this sector.

Don't forget to scroll down to check out our readers' money-saving tip – this week, we look at why you should not keep all your extra money in a high-yield savings account. Get in touch with us at pf@thenationalnews.com to share your best tips.

My Dubai Salary: ‘I earn up to Dh2 million annually from my investments’

Stephen Kishore pivoted from working in the corporate world in 2021 to become a life and leadership coach and also runs a business transformation advisory for organisations.

Mr Kishore, who is in his 50s, has achieved financial independence and earns a considerable income annually from his investments.

In his corporate career, Mr Kishore, who holds an executive MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, specialised in helping organisations achieve business excellence, manage customer experience and change management. He holds two master’s degrees.

Read the full story by Deepthi Nair …

The most sought-after UAE technology jobs and how much they pay

As organisations in the UAE intensify investments into digital transformation and innovation, demand has surged for skilled professionals in many technology-related roles, recruitment specialists say.

While most organisations in the GCC region require technology professionals in some capacity, those in the financial technology, health care, consultancy, e-commerce and manufacturing sectors are at the forefront of digital transformation and technological innovation, Hays says in its GCC 2024 Salary Guide.

At present, start-ups, local and emerging organisations are more active hiring at a regional level compared with the global tech companies, the research found.

Read the full story by Deepthi Nair …

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Money & Me

Money-saving tip #55

Generally, it is advised to park your money in a high-yield savings account if you don’t need to use the funds immediately.

But don’t let money sit in a savings account when you have credit card debt accumulating interest.

Set aside enough savings to cover an emergency, use the rest of the money to pay down debt, particularly if it’s high-interest debt.

Remember that a high-yield savings account is no substitute for long-term investing.

Unless you’re setting aside hundreds of thousands of dollars, you are not likely to earn enough from your high-yield savings account to retire comfortably.

Have you got a great money-saving tip? Email it to us at pf@thenationalnews.com for a chance to be featured.

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