Here are my monthly financials for July 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.
Disclosure: This blog entry contains referral links and/or codes. This means that I get a commission if you decide to sign up through my links or using my codes, at no cost to you. This helps pay for my running costs. Please read my affiliate and referral disclosure for more information.
Top 3 Income Sources
Interest – S$251.74
This is made up of the coupon payments from Singapore Savings Bond and interest from Singlife.
Dividends – S$184.34
This is from my investment in the STI.
Surveys – S$104.41
I finally cashed out my 1,500 points from Rakuten Surveys. There is a S$4.41 bonus for redeeming 1,500 points at one shot which is a 4.4% bonus. If you would like to make some pocket money via paid surveys, you can check out my post here.
I also received some referral income from the survey platforms not included here from people signing up using my links. They are not included as there are not converted into cash.
Bonus – Moomoo Referral – S$88.12
Some kind soul signed up using my referral link. I promised to share half the rewards so if you are reading this, please reach out to me at consumelesslife@gmail.com with the following information.
- A screenshot of your moomoo id number
- Handphone number linked with your PayNow
If you would like to sign up for a Moomoo account and get a free APPLE and NIO Share, worth about US$190 (S$259.62), you can check out my article here. If you sign up using my link, I will share with you 50% of the free share value (US$66 / S$90) I receive.
Top 3 Expense Sources
Investment – S$1,699.50
This is my first negative month this year mainly because of the huge increase in spending in investments.
S$200 of it is my monthly DCA into STI ETF using POSB Invest-saver.
I opened an account with Interactive Brokers after they waived inactivity fees recently. The inactivity fee was the main deterrent preventing me from opening an account previously. I funded it with S$250 to buy a share of GME to test out the system when there was a small dip.
There was a 214 for 1,000 units rights issue for IREIT Global to purchase 27 Decathlon properties in France. I was allocated 1,476.60 units but I decided to subscribe for excess units of 623.40 for a total of 2,100 units. Unexpectedly, I got all my excess units which are 42% of what I was allocated. I saw on ShareJunction that some people got almost another 100% of what they were allocated. I paid S$1,249.50 for the 2,100 units.
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice.
Electronics – S$217.64
My Redmi Note 7 kept hanging so I decided to sell and replace it. I managed to get S$60 for it. I bought a Redmi Note 10 for S$213 during a Shopee Flash Sale. The original price was S$249. There is a pending S$0.65 cashback from using ShopBack. Remember to check for discount codes, flash sales, cashbacks etc before making big purchases.
I bought a glass protector for my phone for S$2.23. A plastic cover was included with the phone so I didn’t have to buy one. I also purchased a handphone cover for my father for S$2.41.
Groceries – S$84.25
This is for groceries I bought at Don Don Donki and NTUC.
Always Check Your Receipts
Went to NTUC with my mother and saw a major discount on Farmpride Bulgogi Chicken Burger patties. The original price was S$6.90 for a box of 4 patties but with the sale, it was S$5.95 for two boxes after the discount.
I went for self-checkout and I didn’t check the receipt after. My mother checked the receipt when we got home and realized we got charged double for the patties. She went back to ask for a refund and the staff said that we should have scanned once instead of twice. It is not intuitive to scan only once when you are buying two boxes. The taste of the patties is not bad for the price. I will remember to check my receipts carefully from now on.
Made A Mountain Of Tortillas/Chapati
Came across a tortilla recipe that only required flour, water, oil, salt and baking powder so I decided to try it. The total cost is less than S$2 – S$3. I miscalculated the volume of water so I had to use double the amount of flour (from 3 cups to 6 cups). It took me about three hours to finish toasting all of them. Ended up with a crazy number of tortillas. I froze up the ones that I didn’t finish. They look hard but after steaming them, they will soften and taste pretty good.
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.
