Aug 2018 – Monthly Update

August is the month where I took two weeks off from work and as such managed to spend some quality time with Kate and the kids. We did not go travelling, simply stayed in town, and thought it was a great opportunity to experience what a post – FI lifestyle might feel like (should we be taking a break from work together).

Below are some of the simple things I experienced and learnt to appreciate during this break:

• Brought Ally to school daily in a less hurried manner and was able to appreciate the simple things she could do; like putting her shoes and schoolbag on her designated spot. It was quite an “Aha” moment as I felt that my little girl has grown up. Her teacher had also mentioned that there was a separate occasion where she cried for me and Kate as she was aware that we were at home and not at work.
• We picked her up after school, went to the park and played at the playground. Ate dinner with her, played with her and did bedtime stories.
• She was off from school for a day due to suspected HFMD (which turned out to be nothing). We brought both our kids for MacDonald’s breakfast. We spent some time at the library where we were able to spend some time reading to Ally and Kate was doing some silent reading with Ashton sleeping in the stroller.
• Instead of rushing around during work days, my pace slowed down considerably and I was able to better appreciate the people and surroundings around me.
• Was able to exercise and walk a lot more as compared to working days and noticeably less stressful.
• Was busy and tired with the kids for the whole day but felt a lot more fulfilling. Was able to blog and read a lot more books.
• More time to lookout for investment opportunities and read annual reports.
• Appreciate afternoon nap more than ever and felt really well rested. Looked forward to subsequent days as a stay at home parent.
• More time to spend with family members and friends
• Free time to think about life going forward and appreciating it. Time to set clear short and long term goals.

When I went back to work after that, a lot of my colleagues asked if I had travelled during this period as I looked really well rested. I told them that I simply stayed in town and just hanged out with my family. At that moment, I realised that I could still feel well rested then even though I was not away on a vacation (contrary to popular belief that we need to get out of the country to take a break). Perhaps even if we reach FI, we will not find the urge to travel as often (at least for the sake of taking a break). More often than not, people find the need to travel when they are stressed out by work. When you are less stressful, you do not find yourself awaiting for the next vacation (Kate had also blogged about it recently.)

Mad Fientist had also managed to describe how his perfect day in this post and mentioned that travelling full time is not suitable for everyone. A simple day like the one I described above is probably close to my perfect day where I have sufficient rest (mentally and physically),  daily exercise, spent more time with my close ones, appreciate the simple things in life, time to read and pen down my thoughts and lastly time to conscientiously think about what you want to do with your life other than being stuck in this rat race.

Late last year, a friend who is a follower of this blog approached me with regards to building up a personal portfolio, something which he had procrastinated for a quite some time. I shared with him that investing is more about being clear on his goal on what he wants to achieve by building up this portfolio and less about what stocks to buy and investing tips. It would also be helpful for him to read up on some books in this area. Recently, he came to me and thank me for pushing him to start his own portfolio. He felt good when the dividends started rolling in and probably felt more purposeful on his own life / financial goals. Separately, another good friend of mine also started to look for me to kick start his portfolio after I gave him some books on personal finance a few years back.

Though I did not do much, those words of thanks made me felt a sense of mental fulfillment that no money could buy.

When Kate and I first started out this blog, we had hoped to chronicle our journey and our thoughts towards minimalism and achieving financial independence.

It has been exactly two years since we started this blog. And to date, we have received a lot of positive messages from our readers. We thank you too, for your kind words and support. 

Fitness Update

My weekly fitness routine:
1) Daily static exercise routine (5 times a week):
1. 1 min walk squat
2. 20 x one-legged squats for each leg
3. 20 x lunges for each leg
4. 30 x push ups
5. 45 secs plank

2) 1 x Swimming 20 laps (1 km) (using the ActiveSG free credit) and will cycle home for about 2 km using the bike sharing platform (Ofo bike)

3) 1 x Staircase climbing 30 levels up and down plus static exercise on both ground and top level. (Done during lunch time in my office building)

4) 1 x 5.6 km run (average 5 mins / km pace)

5) Using the Great Eastern Get Great app, I’m currently trying to average 8000 steps daily and redeem vouchers

Family

Below are some of the simple activities we do on weekends:

Our visit to the park where we played soccer, scoot around, fed turtles and Ashton saw a rooster.

Our visit to Hay Dairies and Bollywood Veggies.

Financial Update
We had managed to compile our August cash outflow and below is a snapshot:

FAMILY ($5,228.37)

Core: Variable ($2,845.80)

Food ($503.79)
$503.79 – Meals for our family of four (this includes bread, snacks, and drinks, etc.)

Household ($53.00)
$27.90 – Newspaper subscription for Kate’s parents
$25.10 – Household stuff

Personal ($381.21)
$12.00 – Dave’s haircut
$69.80 – Dave’s clothes
$30.00 – Dave’s yoga mat
$35.00 – Kate’s haircut
$149.50 – Kate’s clothes
$2.56 – iCloud 50 GB storage (monthly fees for Dave and Kate)

Groceries ($227.70)
$227.70 – Mainly groceries and some other household items from the supermarket

Transport ($73.35)
$73.35 – Taxi

Kids ($1,606.75)
Ally
$850.00 – Full day child care for Ally (inclusive of some optional enrichment class)
$48.00 – Excursion and yearly photoshoot
$536.00 – Enrichment class (two semesters)
$44.80 – Art and craft
$39.50 – Pillows and toiletries
$59.80 – Milk Powder
$12.00 – Long Kang fishing

Ashton
$16.65 – Clothes and wipes

Core: Fixed ($1,349.58)

Utility ($281.81)
$130.71 – Electrical/Water/Gas
$39.00 – Property Services and Conservancy Charges (0.5 months government rebate)
$112.10 – Mobile / Internet

Mortgage ($820.00) – Paying using our CPF. 20 year bank loan (First 3 years fixed interest and floating on the 4th year onward pegged against the FHR9 rate). We would like to maintain an arbitrage on this home loan as the interest is less than 2% and we might repay it in full should the interest spike up when we reach FI.

Insurance – Health ($247.77) – Insurance premiums – hospitalization and outpatient (annual premiums amortized into 12 months)

Non-Core ($1,032.99)

Gifts ($390.65) – Teacher’s day gift and birthday lunches for Dave’s mother and Kate’s father

Donation ($20.00) – Cambodia’s children’s home

Insurance – Savings ($622.34) – Insurance premiums – includes savings and whole life policies (annual premiums amortized into 12 months)

PARENTS ($346.42)

Insurance – Health ($346.42) – Insurance premiums – hospitalization and outpatient (annual premiums amortized into 12 months)

Note:
– This monthly cash outflow report is use mainly to gauge our post FI expenses
– We included Insurance Savings as part of our cash outflow until they are fully paid up. The reason is that we will most probably still be paying for them even if we reach FI. We do acknowledge that this is not an expense but it is still a cash outflow nonetheless unless we monetize the accrued cash value of the savings policies.
– For an explanation on the above new categorization, you could refer here
– For our 2017 cash outflow full analysis, please click here

FI target family cash outflow (excluding parents) = $5,000 per month (core $3,500 and non-core $1,500)

Summary

Family ($5,228.37):

Core ($4,195.38) :
This month our family core cash outflow is higher as Ally signed up for an really interesting enrichment class. If we were to exclude this, our family core cash outflow should be very close to our target of $3.5k

Non-core ($1,032.99) :
This category is slightly higher as we celebrated two birthdays with our extended family 

Parents ($346.42):
We finally reduce our parents allowances significantly by topping up with an initial lump sum into their retirement account (CPF Life) which will guarantee payment to them for a lifetime This will transfer the reliance on us to give them cash allowances to CPF Life which works like an annuity. So we are now only paying for their health insurance which should slowly creep up as they age. 

Grand Total ($5,574,79)
We spend about $5.6k based on the overall cash outflow this month and it is also below our monthly average. This month overall cash outflow is higher due to two birthday celebrations and Ally’s Chinese enrichment class. Next month cash outflow should normalize. 

What was the month of August like for you?