Oct 2018 – Monthly Updates

As we are approaching December, I finally had the chance to post our October updates. Things has been a little bit hectic recently, with Kate heading to work, as well as a couple of other domestic issues which requires a bit more attention. Having said that, I am glad that I managed to complete this post before the end of the month.

October is the month that we managed to spend a bit more time with the kids before Kate heads back to work. We are grateful that we have the option to allow Kate to take almost a year away from work to care for Ashton. Kudos to Kate for being a great SAHM during this period of time as we all know how demanding this role can be. She did a great job but is now ready and back at work to propel our household towards the last lap of our FI plan.

Recently, I have been listening to a lot of motivational speeches on YouTube, including those by Steve Jobs, Denzel Washington, Will Smith etc. Amongst them, a certain individual caught my attention. He is none other than David Goggins.

His was an interesting story, starting with a traumatic childhood experience with an abusive dad. He was also constantly bullied because of his skin colour. With his lack of self esteem and a whole set of fears, he decided to join the military to fight them off. After spending four years in the Air Force, he gained almost 125 pounds to eventually weigh a few pounds shy of 300 pounds.

He was also dealing with a few issues and insecurities, battling  severe health problems (including asthma, sickle cell trait), weighing an extra 100 pounds, experiencing self-resentment, and was drawing a USD 1000 monthly salary as a pest controller.

After seeing a bunch of guys on Discovery Channel going through Navy Seal training, he decided to become one himself. Even though in many aspects, he was no material for becoming a Navy Seal, but through hard work, sacrifice, discipline, and drive, he “made himself better than good enough”.

Now, we can only speak of David Goggins as a miracle, a motivator, and the epitome of perseverance. For him, no wall is an obstacle, because every wall has a door. What made him happy was the strength to face whatever is lurking behind that door ready to attack. According to him, to get to that point, one must suffer. When you suffer, you let your body and your brain connect. With that, you can do anything. Suffering thickens your skin and makes your mind more prepared to face everyday obstacles in your life.

It is debatable. But at the same time, hold some truths to it.

Through self discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, David  transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man into a U.S. Armed Forces icon, motivational speaker and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside Magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.” Since 2005, Goggins has helped raise more than $2 million for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships and grants to the children of fallen special operations soldiers. He is truly the guy who really prove that you could really go beyond your limits through sheer will power.

Not everyone might agree with what he does or how he thinks.

And that is okay.

As for us, we are strongly convinced that financial independence is possible if you are willing to put in the effort and re-design your own lifestyle instead of following the main stream. Perseverance and will power are two important ingredients to follow through our any plan (or most plans). We also need to challenge ourselves, get out of our comfort zone and create a breakthrough in our lives. Even if we might not reach FI eventually within our target timeline, at least we are still be in a much better position as compared to the first day of our plan.

The recent stock turmoil had caused our portfolio to drop rather significantly but we are yet in panic mode. We are still monitoring the situation and building up our war chest.  We shall see how this will turn out in the near future.

Book

Recently, I read another great book titled “Your Money or your life” version by Vicki Robins and Joe Dominguez. This was the revised 2018 version. One of her strongest convictions is that  money is actually equivalent to your life energy. What you are spending is actually your life energy which is used in exchange for money. I did blog about something related to this sometime ago in knowing your real hourly wage but I think its significance is way beyond dollars and cents. I would think that more importantly, it is also about being a responsible consumer and creating a sustainable lifestyle in this consumerist world. 

As an aspiring minimalist household, we try our best to only purchase what we need and create a sustainable lifestyle. We are open to sharing our stuff and buying secondhand products online.  We are now more focus on spending time with our love ones, fulfilling our personal dreams and living a simple yet sustainable life.

“More is not the answer and knowing how much is enough is more important”

Fitness Update

My weekly fitness routine:
1) Daily static exercise routine (5 times a week):
1. 1 min wall 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 Staircase climbing 30 levels up and down plus static exercise on both ground and top level. (Done during lunch time in my office building)

3) 2 x 5 km run (average 5 mins / km pace)

4) 1 hour yoga Lesson with Kate every Saturday morning

5) Using the Great Eastern Get Great app and enrolling in the National Steps Challenge , I’m currently trying to average 10,000 steps daily and redeem vouchers.

Family

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

Ashton having fun at the polyclinic. Ashton can stand unsupported for longer periods  nowadays and he should be walking in no time.

We did a small scale beach clean-up and we explained to Ally the harmful effects of throwing rubbish into the sea.

We went on a trip to the zoo.

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

FAMILY ($4,710.56)

Core: Variable ($2,683.50)

Food ($498.12)
$498.12 – Meals for our family of four (this includes snacks and drinks, etc.)

Household ($29.80)
$27.90 – Newspaper subscription for Kate’s parents
$1.90 – Household necessities

Personal ($691.28)
$6.00 – Dave’s haircut
$27.70 – Kate’s clothes
$19.80 – Pillow protectors
$124.80 – A&E (Kate’s mum)
$40.42– Skincare and Toiletries
$390.00 – Massage package (Kate)
$80.00 – Yoga lesson for one month (For both Kate and Dave)
$2.56 – iCloud 50 GB storage (monthly fees for Dave and Kate)

Groceries ($292.23)
$292.23 – Mainly groceries and some other household items from the supermarket

Transport ($50.00)
$50.00 – Ezlink card reload for both of us (for bus and train rides)

Kids ($1,122.42)
Ally
$850.00 – Full day child care for Ally (inclusive of some optional enrichment class)
$106.50 – Zoo Trip
$30.00 – School Excursion (Science Centre)
$22.80 – Clothes
$16.68 – Book
$29.50 – Sandals
$43.14 – Toiletries

Ashton
$23.80 – Shoes

Core: Fixed ($1,279.92)

Utility ($212.15)
$66.40 – Electrical/Water/Gas ($65 government rebate)
$39.00 – Property Services and Conservancy Charges (0.5 months government rebate)
$106.75 – 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 ($926.34)

Gifts ($124.45)
$124.45 – Kate’s sister birthday celebration – cake plus lunch

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 ($4,710.56):

Core ($3,963.77) 
This month our family core cash outflow is slightly more than our average of $3.7k and this is mainly due to our sign-up for a well deserve massage package for Kate who have not been going for massage session since the birth of Ashton.

Non-core ($746.79) :
This category is below average as we celebrated only one birthday for Kate’s sister

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 ($5,056.98)
We spend about $5k based on the overall cash outflow this month and it is also below our monthly average $5.7k. We will be celebrating Ashton’s one year old birthday soon thus the cash outflow might spike up a bit in November. Other than that, we should not be seeing any significant cash outflow for the rest of the year. 

What was the month of October like for you?