Here are my monthly financials for August 2021.
It is good to keep track and review your monthly financials so you can be in control of your finances.
Having a fixed income and knowing my expenses will not exceed my budget allowed me to not track my expenses before I left my job. I did not feel a need to track my finances strictly as I know I can control my spending. I only tracked my investments diligently.
Since I will not have a fixed source of income soon, I decided to start tracking my financials starting from January 2021. Money will be tight so I need to be extra prudent. This also helps generate content for my website.
Top 3 Income Sources
Dividends – S$281.20
I received dividends from Singtel, DBS, and IREIT. Accordia Golf Trust also paid out their final payout after delisting.
Merch Sales – S$139.50
July was a pretty good month and I received 103.39 USD worth of commissions from selling merch on TeePublic and Redbubble. If you like to find out more about selling merch, you can look at an article I wrote here.
Interest – S$118.05
This is made up of the coupon payments from Singapore Savings Bond and interest from Singlife.
Top 3 Expense Sources
Investment – S$200
S$200 of it is my monthly DCA into STI ETF using POSB Invest-saver.
Health – S$90.95
This is for visiting a polyclinic.
Groceries – S$33.94
This is for groceries I bought at NTUC, Sheng Siong, Giant, and Don Don Donki. If you have a craving for salmon, you can a cheap quick fix at Don Don Donki. They sometimes sell packets of salmon fish skin at S$2.90 – S$3.90. The meat to skin ratio is about 50:50 which is quite decent.
Bonus – Stop Hoarding Phones As Spares
My mother found these phones when she was packing her stuff. We like to keep phones in case we need a spare phone. Most of the time, this happens and we discover ancient relics.
Just sell or recycle the phones to remove clutter and the potential fire hazard from your home. Previously, we smelled something burning and we were not able to identify what was burning so we continued watching tv. After a few months, we found a phone with a bloated battery in one of our drawers. It could have caused a fire and we are lucky that it didn’t. We tried selling the white iPhone but the neighbourhood shops didn’t want it.
Bonus – Donating Last Of My SingapoRediscover Vouchers
I donated the last S$30 of my SRV at Klook. If you do not plan on using your vouchers. Please consider donating your vouchers to charity. You can find out how and where to do so here.
Money Manager App
I am using an app called Money Manager to track my income and expenses. It is a free tool available on mobile available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
As far as I know, the data collected from the app is for tracking the ads you view and interact with on the app.
Please check out their privacy policy on what information they collect and what is it used for.
Personally, the value this app brings to me outweighs the value of the information I provide to them.
Comment and let me know what you think about tracking your finances.
