【Financial Case】
Li Nan is 30 years old and works at a foreign company. He has 300,000 yuan in personal savings, owns a car but no house. His monthly salary is 12,000 yuan, with regular monthly expenses of 1,500 yuan, and he receives an annual double salary. In the high-pressure work environment of the foreign company, he often works overtime. His only hobby is to participate in outdoor activities during holidays and company annual leave, going backpacking with fellow “backpackers.” Typically, he takes two to three short trips and one long trip per year, spending about 20,000 yuan on travel annually on average. Li Nan plans to buy a home within the next two to three years, saving enough for a down payment; maintaining his annual travel quality unaffected; and setting up an insurance plan for himself to add protection.
【Financial Advice】
Keep Adequate Demand Deposits
Since Li Nan’s daily expenses are not large, it is advised to keep around 20,000 yuan in cash and demand deposits. This amount can cover six months of family daily expenses and allow participation in some spontaneously organized short-distance outdoor activities with fellow backpackers. The remaining funds can be used for investment.
Although Li Nan’s age, salary income, and personality are suited for riskier investment choices, his home-buying plan in the next 2–3 years means he should not take too much risk. Li Nan should choose stable investment decisions to ensure the implementation of his home-buying plan.
Regarding investment decisions, out of the current 300,000 yuan in savings, keep 20,000 yuan. For the remaining 280,000 yuan, it is advised to allocate 60% to low-risk fixed-income products such as RMB wealth management bond funds or bank wealth management products to achieve relatively stable returns and allow the assets to appreciate safely and securely. The other 40% can go to medium-risk investments such as hybrid funds and securities collective wealth management products. This approach can effectively improve the efficiency of fund management even without much time to monitor the capital markets.
Regular Investment for Forced Savings
If Li Nan wants to buy a small-sized home for marriage, estimating that housing prices will remain at current levels over the next two years, finding a small home near the middle ring for marriage would cost around 1.6 million to 1.8 million yuan. Based on a 30% down payment ratio, Li Nan would need to prepare about 500,000 yuan for the down payment to smoothly purchase the home. Li Nan earns 156,000 yuan per year, with regular consumption plus travel expenses totaling around 40,000 yuan per year. That leaves about 116,000 yuan in annual savings, or over 300,000 yuan in three years.
The 280,000 yuan in wealth management products, combined with over 110,000 yuan in annual savings over the next three years, should be sufficient to reach the 500,000 yuan down payment goal in three years. For Li Nan, apart from converting deposits into wealth management products to increase yield, he also needs to set aside a fixed amount of his salary each month while improving the return on this amount to meet his goal.
It is recommended that Li Nan split his monthly surplus of 10,000 yuan in half: put 5,000 yuan into bank fixed deposits, and invest the other 5,000 yuan through regular contributions—either 1,250 yuan per week or 5,000 yuan per month—into a fund. This installment-based approach smooths out the risks associated with fund investments and acts as a method of forced savings. This single investment is expected to grow to about 200,000 yuan in less than three years.
Get Protection-Type Insurance
Traveling, especially self-guided tours like driving or outdoor adventures, requires safety precautions. Li Nan should prioritize coverage for accident risks. Traveling and outdoor sports come with relatively higher chances of accidents, and accident insurance typically offers lower premiums and higher coverage amounts compared to other types of insurance.
Given his home-buying plan, Li Nan's cash flow is not very abundant. In this case, consumption-type accident protection insurance is more suitable for his current financial setup than life insurance with savings or wealth management features. Li Nan only needs to spend a small amount on this type of insurance each year to gain relatively high and comprehensive coverage.
Additionally, Li Nan can make use of certain financial add-on services. For example, some bank credit cards come with complimentary short-term accident insurance upon issuance, purchasing flight tickets may include travel accident insurance, and some wealth management products may offer bundled protection-type insurance or discounted access. These are also aspects Li Nan can consider and utilize—he can align his reasonable financial habits with acquiring the protection he needs.