Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010
First of all, belated Merry Christmas to everyone. And of course, may everyone have a prosperous New Year.
Another year has ended and a new one shall start. For most of us, 2009 was a very challenging year, especially at work. Because of the global economic crisis, some bonuses were not paid out. Yearly salary increase was not given. Heck, even those who deserved a promotion didn't get one. I, for one, was badly affected by the scrapped bonuses and salary non-increase. To add insult to injury, my employer now requires me to work 45 hours per week. WTF???
With regards to finances, I missed a lot of opportunities because I traded for short term gains instead of investing for the long term. In addition to that, I missed my goal of building a Php100,000 emergency fund. But as they say, "experience is the best teacher." So I'll just take those lessons and look forward to a better 2010.
To sum it up, 2009 was a sucky year for me professionally and financially. Despite the challenging times, I still have a lot to be thankful for this year. There's my fiancee, Jersy, who loves me so much and will become my wife; my mom, who is a living proof of the power of prayer; my aunt, who gave me a huge discount when we bought our dog, Bullet; and of course, our Creator, who gave us life. What are you thankful for this 2009?
How To Spend A Million Pesos
Last week, I wrote about my Real Christmas Wishlist, and in that post, I mentioned that I hope Santa would grant my wish of having Php240,000,000 in cold cash. Many of you may wonder, what's with the 240 million? Why not a billion? Or a hundred billion?
Well, the wishful thinker in me would have said, "the more, the merrier." But realistically speaking, nobody in their right mind would give away a billion pesos for nothing. Heck, not even a million. So why did I wish for Php240 million? It's because at an assumed 5% net return per annum, the Php240M principal would earn Php12 million per year, or Php1 million per month.
With a million pesos coming in every month, I could probably stop working and just retire. But every time I tell a friend about this wish of mine, I almost always get suggestions on how to spend it. One friend even suggested to change cars every year. But ideally, this is how I would spend a million pesos monthly:
- 100,000 - Charity
- 100,000 - Tithe
- 250,000 - Investments (Real Estate, Stocks, Mutual Funds, UITFs, Bonds, Insurance, etc)
- 50,000 - Future children's educational fund
- 100,000 - Medical expenses for longevity
- 200,000 - Living expenses (Food, Clothing, Shelter, Utilities)
- 100,000 - Fun money (doodads)
- 100,000 - Parents' retirement
That's it. Now I gotta find ways to earn Php1,000,000 monthly. How about you? How would you spend a million pesos? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks!
My Real Christmas Wish List
I know these things cost quite a fortune. But that's why it's called a wish list, isn't it? Hopefully, Santa grants my wish and gives me any of these items:
2. Samsung LED TV 55"
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Sony PS3
5. Trip for 2 to Hong Kong (with accommodation at HK Disneyland)
6. Apple TV
7. Apple Magic Mouse
8. Honda Hybrid car
9. Twilight Saga books for Jersy
10. Vampire Diaries books for Jersy
11. Female Lhasa Apso puppy (mate for Bullet)
12. Php240,000,000 in cash!!!
Why Php240M and not a billion? Read here.
Merry Christmas everyone!!! =)
My Christmas WishList
Financial Goals
Welcome to RichardsonChan.com's Financial Goals page. Moving forward, this page will be a living document that contains details of our (Jersy and me) financial goals. I like publishing our goals because it serves as a reminder of what we should be doing or what we should stop doing, so that our dreams could become reality. For starters, let me show you what we intend to achieve by the end of 2010.
| 2010: | ||
| As of December 21, 2009 | ||
Our emergency fund is funded via a forced savings program with our employer. Every payday, our salary is deducted by a certain percentage of our gross salary. This is by far the easiest way to save money because it is automatic, it will never go through our hands (eliminating the possibility of spending it), and it earns better than a regular savings account.
| ||
Our condo unit at the PalmTree Villas Phase 1 in Newport City is our first major real estate investment as a couple. Turnover is still a long ways to go (4 years to be exact), so our focus is on paying the monthly installment for the unit's downpayment. By the end of 2010, we are expected to have paid Php380,000.
|
||
We also have long term goals that we would like to keep track. These are goals that may take more than one year to achieve.
| Long Term Goals: | ||
Everybody dreams of becoming a millionaire someday. But as they always say, getting the first million will always be the hardest. So we're giving ourselves a little more time to accomplish this goal. We hope to reach this goal by the end of 2011. To do this, we have to continue paying off the DP on our condo, start investing for the long term, and avoid incurring unnecessary expenses. The other two action items are very vague but I promise to make detailed posts about them soon.
| ||
There isn't exactly a set amount for our wedding. But a wedding with this kind of budget shouldn't be so bad. Since our wedding is still a few years away, we're banking on medium to long term investments such as Mutual Funds and UITFs to fund our dream wedding. The initial plan is to invest a yet-to-be-determined amount every month into a diversified portfolio of equity and balanced mutual funds.
|
On Dreams and Deadlines
Before anything else, I would like to apologize to sir Randell Tiongson for borrowing this post title without his permission. I figured maybe I could share how a dream's deadline kinda messed up my financial goals for this year, but somehow I feel grateful that it did. So what the hell am I talking about?
Well, ever since I started blogging, I made it a point to have a goal or purpose for what I do. That way, I am able to see how I achieved a certain goal, or how I came up short. Let me refer to those goals as "dreams". Most of the time I set those goals but did not have a concrete action plan, much less a deadline. And of course, you all know what happens to those dreams; they remain to be just f'n dreams. Last year, I set an ambitious goal of saving Php100,000 as my emergency fund. During the first 5 months of the year, I thought I was on track. And I was, until I got a call from my aunt asking me to attend this open house at Newport City. And so Jersy and I attended the open house, which served a delicious lunch buffet. Full stomachs and a few hours later, we got ourselves a brand new condo unit. So much for the emergency fund, we're gonna be having a place we can call ours. No more renting. No more landlords.
The bottom line is: reading Sir Randell's article made me realize that dreams really have deadlines. And although buying a home meant postponing my other "dream", it's all worth it.
And now, back to the drawing boards, and regroup on how to make the other dreams a reality...
