One Year After I Stop Tracking My Expenses Daily

Its been more than a year since I stopped tracking my expenses on a daily basis. When I first started out my financial journey, I wanted to find out how much I was spending on each specific item so that I can streamline it accordingly. However, after a few years doing that, it became quite pointless and it also restricted my life too much as when I spent a little more for any day, I would feel the pinch. So, I decided to gave it up and just keep track once a month instead.

I wanted to know how did I fare after I lessen my tight on my spending so I reviewed the numbers and plotted out some charts:

Unfortunately, I lost some of my expenses data in 2016 as I accidentally deleted the sheet in my excel file. Looking at the other months, there were some months which I over spend especially for this year. The green bars shows my basic monthly income from my full time job while the blue line shows my monthly expenses.

Instead of focusing on reducing expenses, I focused on increasing my income instead. Despite changing job in Jan this year, it wasn't really a big difference as the pay increase is just about 10%+. On the other hand, I manage to get side income through other means such as providing consultancy services, working with affiliates and sponsors on my blog and dividends from stocks investment. This is how the chart looks like with the total income:

The income bars become very irregular as the income from other sources are unpredictable, sometimes more while sometimes less. It is also because of the other sources of income that I can still have some substantial savings despite the increased expenses.

In fact, other sources of income this year so far has been able to cover all my expenses which means I could save 100% of my full time job income.

It took many years of hard work and opportunities seeking to get other sources of income which is a goal I embarked on many years back to create multiple sources of income after getting inspired by a book I read.

To create more income, one thing I learnt is that we must find something which we have the passion for. I have the passion for finance, investments and housing and property so I went into mortgage consultancy. After 2 years of doing it, I still feel passionate whenever I can advise someone on their affordability for a new property they are intending to buy or I can help someone save some money through refinancing their loans. It also helps that I do the consultancy service without relying on the income for survival. I can give advise without expecting to earn from it.

Blogging is also a passion. Writing on finance and investments is what I like to do. This blog has existed for 4 years plus now and I can't believe how I can still manage to write. To me, this is like a journal as well as a platform where I hope to reach out to more people on the importance of financial planning. This was the purpose which gave birth to this blog and it has been an amazing journey where I got to know some friends along the way and receive heartwarming emails from readers like yourself.

Hope this post is an inspiration on what you can do for your future too.

Enjoyed my articles? 

You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 

or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.

A New Cashback Card with Up-sized 3% Cashback

There seems to be competition among the banks in Singapore which is good for consumers as they start to give more interests and benefits to get more customers. Previously, many cashback cards were launched with no minimum spend and no other conditions. You get cashback for any spending.

Today, there's a new cashback card which gives up to 3% cashback. This is the NEW Standard Chartered Spree Credit Card. Again, to match the competition in the market, there is also no minimum spend to get cashback. Here are the details I managed to pull out from the bank:

• No minimum spend and up to $60 cashback monthly
• Earn 3% cashback on all online spends in foreign currency and all vPost spends
• Earn 2% cashback on all online spends in local currency, all contactless and mobile payments
• Earn 1% cashback on all other retail spends
• Many other privileges for Singapore Post and vPost services
• Annual fees waived for 2 years
• Minimum annual income of $30,000 for Singapore Citizens and PR

This card seems to offer the highest cashback of 2% for all online spend and also all contactless and mobile payments. Its easy to find contactless payments now all around Singapore which shouldn't be hard to get the 2% cashback. Just use visa pay wave easily at many locations island wide. 

If you're interested, apply from now till 15 November to get $150 Grab Gift for use for your Grab car rides. This is for new SCB cardholders only and not eligible for any other promotions from the bank. Apply here today to get your $150 Grab Gift and get your cashback started!

Enjoyed my articles? 

You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 

or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.

Multiple Streams of Income Through The Gig Economy

This year, I've been seeing more news on the gig economy. Think of flexible working hours, doing what you love, be your own boss and freelancing. These are all part of the gig economy. In Singapore, about 9% of the workforce here are in the gig economy. That is still not a lot as compared to countries like the US having 30% of their workforce in the gig economy.

Interestingly, an article on the Straits Times said that "about 47 per cent of Institute of Technical Education, 35 per cent of polytechnic and 10 per cent of university graduates went into part-time, temporary or freelance jobs last year - more than double the share from a decade ago." More and more young people choose to have freedom in their work instead of going into full time work in the corporate world.

Do You Like Your Job?

More often than not, we hear people saying things like Monday blues, cant's wait for weekend to come, tired of working or I hate my boss. All these are signs that a majority of people don't really like their job but still have to work in order to survive. This is a stark contrast compared to those in the gig economy where a great majority enjoyed their work as freelancers.

I'm not suggesting that you quit your job right away and go straight into the gig economy as its still a risk to forego your stable monthly income. However, there are some ways the gig economy can benefit us to reach financial independence earlier so we do not have to work for the sake of working anymore. Does this sounds good to you?


How The Gig Economy Can Benefit Us?

The gig economy is getting larger and more connected now that it is easily accessible to most of us or in fact all of us. In Singapore, it is estimated that about 1.5% of the workforce are 'secondary' freelancers, meaning these workers freelance part-time alongside other jobs and would include students, housewives or retirees who take on side jobs for additional income.

When I was in town for work, I often see many students riding on their bicycle or e-scooters with a big bag. The names on these bags are familiar, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Food panda are some of the most common ones I've seen. All these are young students earning some extra pocket money.

Then, there's Uber and Grab where many of them are doing it part time apart from their full time job. I heard drivers can easily earn a few thousand dollars extra just by driving part time. There are even more freelance jobs online. Just a search on Google and you can find any jobs which matches your skills and you can get paid doing it. Some of the categories can be seen below:

I also recently saw some advertisements on a crowd sourced tuition portal called Tueetor. There, you can be matched to any students who are looking for tuition that matches your skills. You can earn some extra money by teaching others. I've not tried it before but it does looks good. There are so many requests on the website which we can see from the map. Its like the Uber and Grab of Tuition.

Multiple Streams of Income Through The Gig Economy

I suppose the gig economy will continue to be more popular as people become more aware and savvy on how to take advantage of it to increase their income. This is like a dream come true for those who always wanted to build multiple sources of income.

I personally already have a few friends who are in the gig economy. They can potentially earn double of what the average person of their age are earning. However, as mentioned earlier, it can be risky to quit your job and go straight into the gig economy, though we can start on the sideline first and see how it turns out. If you can offer value, people will be willing to pay for your services.

We can also accelerate our goal towards financial independence through the gig economy. With higher income, it makes it easier to achieve our financial goals and one day we'll realise we have got out of the rat race. Rather than working in a job which we hate for the rest of our lives, we can make some plans to have more freedom and happiness in our life.

*If you're interested to create your own financial plan, do check out this article which I've written previously. Also, check out how you can retire in 7 years in this article. 

Enjoyed my articles? 

You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 

or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.