What a month… Corona virus getting worse and the mood in the markets turning very negative. As always, I saved money and invested it into the market to save up for my goal of financial independence and escaping the office. How did my portfolio do in this difficult month?
February expense report
| February expenses | |||
| Category | EUR | SGD | USD |
| Travel | -736 | -1,131 | -812 |
| Eating out | -458 | -704 | -505 |
| Car | -351 | -539 | -387 |
| Groceries | -270 | -415 | -298 |
| Eyes, Hair, Health | -202 | -310 | -223 |
| Clothes | -187 | -287 | -206 |
| Utilities | -173 | -266 | -191 |
| Other | -99 | -152 | -109 |
| Business | -60 | -92 | -66 |
| Uber | -52 | -80 | -57 |
| Stuff | -47 | -72 | -52 |
| Canteen | -38 | -58 | -42 |
| Cleaning & Ironing | -14 | -22 | -15 |
| Bars | -11 | -17 | -12 |
| Charity | -10 | -15 | -11 |
| Entertainment | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gifts | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | -2,708 | -4,161 | -2,986 |
Spending remained high at SGD 4,161. Travel was the largest contributor, but also I spent too much money restaurant meals. I bought some more office clothes, at the end of the sales season in Europe. The clothes were basic timeless office stuff, since I was told to dress better after my promotion. It makes no sense, as I never see customers and spend my days in the office.
Saving rate in February was again only 58%. Not ideal. My ambition is a saving goal of 75%.
Portfolio update
In February my portfolio increased slightly by SGD 1,243 to SGD 473,700 (~USD 340,000). Fresh investments of SGD 7,813 were offset by paper losses of SGD 6,570.
Corona virus is weighing heavily on the markets.
Investments vs. plan
I invested SGD 7,813 into my portfolio which was a lot more than planned (SGD 6,600).
This is because I received nearly EUR 2,000 to compensate for exchange rate losses last year. Seems like an overly generous policy. I did not invest all of it, but increased my emergency fund a bit. I am supposed to receive a salary increase for my promotion, but it has not been calculated yet.
Dividends received
SGD 255
Outlook
Year does not seem pretty. Numbers of my company are bad, but my job is secure. Unfortunately, our bonus has been cut by over 30%, because of miserable business performance. Just as things seemed to get a little bit better, the Corona virus situation worsened in Europe. Nobody can say when the Corona virus will be over and how much the economy will suffer, but one thing is for certain: investing steadily and holding for the long term is the best strategy.
What do you think? Panic selling? “Buying the dip?”, doing nothing?