I cannot believe that I have been blogging for over 5 years already, documenting my investments and the progress. Getting to financial independence is indeed a marathon and I am not even halfway there. How did I do in July?
Expense update – how much did I spend in July?
| July expenses | |||
| Category | EUR | SGD | USD |
| Other | -895 | -1358 | -993 |
| Gifts | -816 | -1239 | -906 |
| Car | -629 | -954 | -698 |
| Travel | -595 | -904 | -661 |
| Groceries | -408 | -620 | -453 |
| Bars | -265 | -403 | -294 |
| Eating out | -251 | -381 | -279 |
| Business | -150 | -228 | -167 |
| Utilities | -127 | -193 | -141 |
| Eyes, Hair, Health | -127 | -193 | -141 |
| Cleaning & Ironing | -125 | -190 | -139 |
| Canteen | -77 | -117 | -85 |
| Entertainment | -48 | -73 | -53 |
| Uber | -47 | -72 | -53 |
| Total | -4,561 | -6,923 | -5,062 |
I spent nearly SGD 7,000 in July, it is embarassing.
Notable points:
Yearly car tax payment was due and petrol spending was a bit higher, thanks to a long drive to a family reunion.
Spen a lot of money on gifts. Both my parents had birthdays and I gave them nice presents. Got a bigger salary payment than usual, as my employer decided to pay out my salary increase retroactively for first of Jan, so I added some funds to the savings for my godson. Also donated some money.
Groceries / eating out / bars was high, because I had friends to entertain.
This should hopefully be an outlier month. Overall trend of expenses is still below last year.
Saving rate in July was 56%.
Portfolio update
Portfolio increased by SGD 9,573 to SGD 417,396 (~USD 302,000). Fresh investments of SGD 10,296 were offset by a small loss of SGD 723.
Portfolio allocation:
Have been buying a few REITs for diversification. Dividends / distributions paid out in Singapore are tax free for me, thanks to a complicated expat tax scheme I am on. Thus it is an attractive option.
Investments vs. plan
I invested SGD 10,296 into my portfolio which was more than planned (SGD 8,500). Reason for this was my high salary for the month. Surprisingly I got a nice salary increase, which should mean that I can invest more than planned while avoiding lifestyle creep. So far I am ahead of the plan.
Dividends received
SGD 2,383.