Frugal Pinoy

I have the following financial goals for this year:

• Goal 1: Have 1 year’s worth of basic living expenses in my emergency fund.
• Goal 2: Put away a certain amount for my retirement savings.
• Goal 3: Earn no less than Pxx,000 each month.

For security reasons, I won’t be putting many actual figures on this blog, just percentages.  However, to keep track of my goals, I’ll be posting my progress here.

Goal 1: Emergency Fund 

Progress:

Notes:  So far, I’ve saved 45% of my target amount - which is roughly 4-5 months worth of living expenses.  There’s no average amount I put in every month, but I always try to set aside P3,000.  When I reach 100% of this goal, it’s likely that I’ll stop putting money into my emergency fund.  I’ll just add to it again when I’ve used it for unexpected financial emergencies.

Goal 2: Retirement Savings

Progress:

Notes:  I’ve saved 53% of my target amount for this year.  Unlike my emergency fund, I’ll be adding to my retirement savings continually, as long as I have an income.  I know I’m only 24 years old, but it’s never too early to save up for retirement.  Compound interest is my friend.

My definition of retirement is when I’m no longer physically or mentally able to work.  I plan on working as long as I can, because I really, really love being a freelance writer.

Since I’m still young, I can put part of my retirement fund in riskier investments (currently in a Time Deposit).  When I get to my 100% goal for the year, I’ll invest 50% of my retirement savings and set aside the remaining 50% in a high-interest, long term TD.  Any recommendations are welcome.

Goal 3: Income

Progress:

Notes:  My income should never fall lower than the red line.  Numbers 1 to 12 on the X-axis represent the months.  As you can see, I was very unfortunate last February.  Judging from the height of my March income, I guess the lack of income last Feb had something to do with payments getting to me later than usual.  Since March, I’ve been doing well, and with my new jobs I’ll be able to earn more.

This image is from my personal financial spreadsheet.  I have my partner to thank for that.  She organized my yearly finances in a neat Excel file so that each peso that comes in and each peso that goes out is all accounted for.

I’m glad that so far, all my financial goals have been on track, except for my income last Feb.

Do you keep track of your financial goals?  How? 

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Goals, Personal, Personal financial review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.