Stephanie Barry Woods never thought she would have the life she lives now.
The Cork native is currently based in Bali but has spent the past nine years globetrotting with her husband Tim.
When the rainy season begins in Indonesia, they decamp to the home they bought in Italy during the pandemic and use that as their European base.
“We don’t really know our next trip a lot of the time, but we’ll just go on Sky Scanner or see something pop up on Instagram and say ‘this seems really cool, let’s go there.‘”
But the life of a travel influencer and digital nomad requires forensic attention to financial planning, pivoting during times of uncertainty and long term strategising in lieu of a pensionable job with health insurance and other benefits.
And Stephanie never thought she would have the money to fund such a grand plan, owing to the fact she was not very good at managing her cash.
“I was terrible! I was really good at living on a tenner for that last week of the month but I never had anything extra. When [Tim and I] met, we had these big dreams about what we wanted to do but we had no idea how to manage any extra money... How do you save? How do you become smart with where you put your money? That took us a good few months to figure out.”
And while the internet is abuzz with people embarking on no-spend weeks months or even years (where they cut out any and every non-essential expenditure) Steph was adamant she didn’t want to put the kibosh on nights out with her friends. After all she was planning to leave them, so the time they had together was precious.
“Not enjoying myself is not an option for saving, for me. That cannot be it. It cannot be the only way to save money."
So how exactly did she do it?
In 2025, saving in Ireland can feel impossible.
Many of us are on wages or salaries that haven’t kept up with the cost of living.
Compounded by sky high rents and increasing mortgage repayments, there can be little to nothing left over at the end of the month to put aside.
But even ten euro a week is worth putting into a savings account, according to Irish Times Pricewatch editor Conor Pope.
In episode one of Better With Money, he outlined the importance of ‘paying yourself first’ and how even being forty euro better off at the end of the month is worth celebrating.
In this episode of Better With Money, we hear all about the Barry Woods’ savings masterplan and how they managed to clear £40,000 in debt and go on to save £100,000 in an expensive city like London.
If you’re in the fortunate position of being able to save a portion of your wages every month, Conor Pope rejoins the conversation to explain deposit accounts and where you might choose to put your money.
Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Declan Conlon and Aideen Finnegan.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Stephanie’s savings plans.
- Bonkers and Switcher both compare credit card balance transfer options.
- The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has a regular savings account comparison tool.
- FinTechs such as Revolut, Bunq and N26 provide competition to Irish pillar banks.
- Raisin allows you to save money in dozens of EU banks that may offer higher interest rates
