LebGeeks

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#1 April 28 2019

rcm005
Member

Personal finance in Lebanon

Do you have any tips and ways to save money and have a passive income in Lebanon?

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#2 May 14 2019

Guitaret
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

What I did starting back from 2010 was saving part of my salary into a saving account.
The trick about saving is: Spend what is left after saving and not save what is left after spending.
Luckily for me was the high-interest rate offered by Lebanese banks that led me into having a good monthly passive return now after 9 years of saving.

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#3 May 14 2019

rcm005
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Guitaret wrote:

What I did starting back from 2010 was saving part of my salary into a saving account.
The trick about saving is: Spend what is left after saving and not save what is left after spending.
Luckily for me was the high-interest rate offered by Lebanese banks that led me into having a good monthly passive return now after 9 years of saving.

How much where you saving ? And whats the return ? May I ask

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#4 May 14 2019

Guitaret
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Back in 2010 I used to put aside 100$ per month and when my salary increased I saved more and I did not improve my lifestyle (this is the secret) as I use to still drive my old car (for example). I reached the savings of 1600$ per month (as I still work for the same company, my salary trend remained healthy).
Adding the interest profit I gained over the years to my monthly income, my saving account is giving me 850$ monthly.

On a related matter (but not directly to your main question), this month I changed my investment model and converted all my cash into real-estate. Now I don't have monthly cash income but the property I purchased will hold its value + interest (and more) when I resell it in the next few years.
Please bear in mind that the last part is a personal choice of investment, you can do other things with your cash or even keep the monthly return.

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#5 May 14 2019

rcm005
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Guitaret wrote:

Back in 2010 I used to put aside 100$ per month and when my salary increased I saved more and I did not improve my lifestyle (this is the secret) as I use to still drive my old car (for example). I reached the savings of 1600$ per month (as I still work for the same company, my salary trend remained healthy).
Adding the interest profit I gained over the years to my monthly income, my saving account is giving me 850$ monthly.

On a related matter (but not directly to your main question), this month I changed my investment model and converted all my cash into real-estate. Now I don't have monthly cash income but the property I purchased will hold its value + interest (and more) when I resell it in the next few years.
Please bear in mind that the last part is a personal choice of investment, you can do other things with your cash or even keep the monthly return.

when you say . I reached the savings of 1600$ per month you mean you started saving 1600$ a month ?

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#6 May 14 2019

Guitaret
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

This is correct, from 2016-2019 I was saving 1600$ except for 2 summers.

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#7 May 14 2019

Aly
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Thanks for sharing Guitaret, I am also in the process of doing the same since a while now (except the real estate thing), I assume you did the saving in Lebanese pounds right ? Since the interest rate is way higher vs US dollar.

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#8 May 15 2019

sero
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Guitaret wrote:

On a related matter (but not directly to your main question), this month I changed my investment model and converted all my cash into real-estate. Now I don't have monthly cash income but the property I purchased will hold its value + interest (and more) when I resell it in the next few years.
Please bear in mind that the last part is a personal choice of investment, you can do other things with your cash or even keep the monthly return.

I think your saving story was awesome! 850$ interest is really really good.
However i think your last investment in real estate was a bad idea, especially now. Real estate (Apartments and Land) in Lebanon is in a very bad shape. Since no one is buying sellers are lowering prices, big companies are going bankrupt and not delivering their apartments. I read numerous financial real estate analyses papers all saying the real estate is crashing and prices will be 70% discounted.

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#9 May 15 2019

Guitaret
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Aly wrote:

Thanks for sharing Guitaret, I am also in the process of doing the same since a while now (except the real estate thing), I assume you did the saving in Lebanese pounds right ? Since the interest rate is way higher vs US dollar.

Sure thing Aly, and the saving was in LL currency.


sero wrote:

I think your saving story was awesome! 850$ interest is really really good.
However i think your last investment in real estate was a bad idea, especially now. Real estate (Apartments and Land) in Lebanon is in a very bad shape. Since no one is buying sellers are lowering prices, big companies are going bankrupt and not delivering their apartments. I read numerous financial real estate analyses papers all saying the real estate is crashing and prices will be 70% discounted..

Hey sero, I am glad I could help in by sharing my story.
Regarding my last decision you have to understand that when you are dealing with a large sum of cash (relatively) you have to think alternatives. I do admit that I was scared of a sudden bank policy that will hold my cash (like it happened recently in Cyprus & Greece) or some government decision to haircut or hold up upper brackets on saving accounts as you all know our government is in a desperate need of quick cash. However, my personal opinion on the real estate upcoming future is that it will go down further but we are very close to the bottom of it. I do not think it will collapse as described by some for many fundamental reasons but this is out of the scope of this discussion. I believe I got a good deal on a property (not an apartment) and I took it.
As for personal preference, my ONLY alternative was to wire it outside and leave the country but I honestly could not make this decision and the reasons are out of the scope of this discussion as well.

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#10 May 15 2019

sero
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Yeah I see your point.
I just remembered that i heard talks a few weeks ago that PM Hariri is discussing with Riad Salemeh the possibility to possess 15% of all accounts in Lebanese banks for 3 years (15% of your bank account will be taken and then returned after 3 years). Hence many people started moving cash from banks and keeping them in safes in their homes.

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#11 May 15 2019

duke-of-bytes
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Guitaret wrote:

Back in 2010 I used to put aside 100$ per month and when my salary increased I saved more and I did not improve my lifestyle (this is the secret) as I use to still drive my old car (for example). I reached the savings of 1600$ per month (as I still work for the same company, my salary trend remained healthy).
Adding the interest profit I gained over the years to my monthly income, my saving account is giving me 850$ monthly.

On a related matter (but not directly to your main question), this month I changed my investment model and converted all my cash into real-estate. Now I don't have monthly cash income but the property I purchased will hold its value + interest (and more) when I resell it in the next few years.
Please bear in mind that the last part is a personal choice of investment, you can do other things with your cash or even keep the monthly return.

850$ per month means more than 100 000$ in todays value..

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#12 May 15 2019

Tech Guru
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

I buy banks products.

Fixed untouchable investment remediable after 3 years. Healty cash flow with good interest return .

I trade Stocks , invest in futures / options for commodities (gold , silver , oil , & grain)

I build Systems , I created a group on facebook from few members reaching now 2.5k. Every thing tech related , which build me a sound customer base without having an on run operating expenses of opening a shop / warehouse / recruit people.

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#13 May 17 2019

MAS
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Tech Guru wrote:

I buy banks products.

Fixed untouchable investment remediable after 3 years. Healty cash flow with good interest return .

I trade Stocks , invest in futures / options for commodities (gold , silver , oil , & grain)

I build Systems , I created a group on facebook from few members reaching now 2.5k. Every thing tech related , which build me a sound customer base without having an on run operating expenses of opening a shop / warehouse / recruit people.

i am curious to know which tool you use to trade stocks / commodities , and do you face any bank issues when withdrawing ?

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#14 May 17 2019

Joe
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Back in 2010 I used to put aside 100$ per month and when my salary increased I saved more and I did not improve my lifestyle (this is the secret) as I use to still drive my old car (for example). I reached the savings of 1600$ per month (as I still work for the same company, my salary trend remained healthy).
Adding the interest profit I gained over the years to my monthly income, my saving account is giving me 850$ monthly.

I did some back of the enveloppe math and it looks like the numbers seem to (almost) add up. With a 12% interest rate on LBP, a 850 usd/month interest should be around 80k usd. If you've been saving for 9 years, that's about 9k usd savings per year, and if you set aside 1600$ / months, this should add up nicely.

This is a really cool story about how savings can add up over time and give you a small war chest to give you security. Thanks for sharing Guitaret!

On the other hand, I wonder how you managed to set 1600$ aside each month. Given how expensive almost everything is in this country, I bet it must take great sacrifice on your part.

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#15 May 17 2019

Guitaret
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Joe wrote:

I did some back of the enveloppe math and it looks like the numbers seem to (almost) add up. With a 12% interest rate on LBP, a 850 usd/month interest should be around 80k usd. If you've been saving for 9 years, that's about 9k usd savings per year, and if you set aside 1600$ / months, this should add up nicely.

This is a really cool story about how savings can add up over time and give you a small war chest to give you security. Thanks for sharing Guitaret!

On the other hand, I wonder how you managed to set 1600$ aside each month. Given how expensive almost everything is in this country, I bet it must take great sacrifice on your part.

Hey Joe,

This is funny/odd that I am sharing my finance in details but I do have high respect to the members here and so here it is:

The interest was lower than that because I took the monthly maturity plan (I guess I wanted the quick option of cashing out) and the final capital was higher (120k).

Managing my finance:

The hardest part is keeping yourself modest and don't start buying stuff just because your income increased.
I am single but I do help in with the expenses at home.
Monthly (please note that this is an average):
In the last 3 years, my income is 3000$, = 2800$ after taxes.
Helping out with bills at home 500$: food (humans + cats), house repairs/accessories, cleaning, water/electricity/internet/phones bills
Car (old but well maintained 4 cylinder BMW):230$ (120$ on gas & 110$ on repairs & insurance/taxes)
Going out + clothes + gadgets + medical (very minor because I do not get sick very often): 500$
The remaining will be around 1600$.

Few times a year I pay some expensive bills. ex: 1000$ TV, 1000$ Treadmill, 5000$ helping out with our summer mountain house...

I have to be honest that recently I was worried about the cash I collected and sometimes I envied my friends who spend all their earnings and are worry free (in which they tried to help me by offering me to transfer them my bank credit of course). Having cash in the bank did not make me feel like I am financially safe, to be honest, and the worst part is that the worry took part of my time/effort that I could have used in self-development or helping other people.

Last edited by Guitaret (May 17 2019)

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#16 May 17 2019

sero
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

so as a summary: "I am single " is your success story....... thanks for the advice!
--kidding:P

Its very cool that you managed to save such amount while keeping your "old" car as it is. You have great discipline and patience

Last edited by sero (May 17 2019)

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#17 May 17 2019

Guitaret
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

sero wrote:

so as a summary: "I am single " is your success story....... thanks for the advice!
--kidding:P

Its very cool that you managed to save such amount while keeping your "old" car as it is. You have great discipline and patience

Appreciate it.

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#18 May 23 2019

NuclearVision
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

What's the worst/best thing that could happen at this stage if one takes a large Loan in LBP save it as USD and LBP hit the ground?

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#19 May 23 2019

sero
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

James wrote:

What's the worst/best thing that could happen at this stage if one takes a large Loan in LBP save it as USD and LBP hit the ground?

Good luck finding a bank that'll convert your LBP money to USD.

So:
You'll pay the loan's interest (really high these days)
You lose a lot while converting your LBP to USD (I doubt any bank will convert LBP to USD these days)
Best: LBP crashes, you convert your USD to LBP, pay your loan and your interest/conversion loss, live happily ever after with the rest of the money
Bad: LBP stays the same, you lose the loan's interest and conversion loss
Worst: you take the loan, no one accepts to convert your money, LBP crashes, you lose everything

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#20 May 23 2019

NuclearVision
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

2 family members converted fair amounts of LBP to USD by switching banks (bring your money to us and we'll do it), and they didn't even have to ask twice for it.
Wouldn't the passive income make up for the interest ot at least a considerable portion. of it

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#21 May 23 2019

nosense
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Is there a way to find the interest rate offered by banks on USD ? what is the best interests offered by banks right now ?

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#22 May 23 2019

Aly
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

aliessayli2 wrote:

Is there a way to find the interest rate offered by banks on USD ? what is the best interests offered by banks right now ?

Last time i checked it was between 4 to 6 percent, it depends on the period, amount and maturity.
For more accurate info you should visit your bank, but if you don't have at least 50k $ don't bother.

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#23 May 23 2019

nosense
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Aly wrote:

but if you don't have at least 50k $ don't bother.

do you mind explaining why ?

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#24 May 24 2019

sero
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

Aly wrote:

Last time i checked it was between 4 to 6 percent, it depends on the period, amount and maturity.
For more accurate info you should visit your bank, but if you don't have at least 50k $ don't bother.

Bank Audi had an offer a week ago: 6% interest starting only 3k $ over 3 years. I am not sure if this offer is still valid.

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#25 May 24 2019

Aly
Member

Re: Personal finance in Lebanon

aliessayli2 wrote:
Aly wrote:

but if you don't have at least 50k $ don't bother.

do you mind explaining why ?

Here's an example from SGBL (back in Sep 2018):
19ku4m.jpg

It seems the minimum amount is 50k $ or 50M LBP for term deposits, I have seen and heard this from multiple banks as if this is some kind of norm ... You can try your luck though.

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