I hope everyone out there have already set your resolutions for the New
Year?? After all the excitement of setting them, we usually find it challenging to keep track especially when our busy schedule takes control. Let us take a look at how our family finance performed in 2017 and our target for 2018:
Savings
We saved 57% of our total annual income from salary, 7% more than our
target. Despite an increase in the number of overseas travels, we managed to keep our dollars in control with our savvyness. Will elaborate more in future posts. In 2018, we would need to spend more on the purchase of new
household items including furnitures, kitchen appliances, as we would be settling into our new house. Based on our cash flow forecast, our expected savings for 2018 should be around 29%. We intend to go for a stretch target of 35%.
Stock Investment
Based on trading gains and stock dividends, our investment rate of return
has improved from 3.55% in 2016 to 4.6% in 2017, 0.6% above our 2017 target. We are targeting a rate of return of 5% in 2018.
Emergency Funds & Cash War-chest
Our cash is divided into emergency funds (for urgent needs) and cash war-chest (for investment). In 2017,
our emergency funds have expanded from 18 to 24 months of our monthly expenditure. Our war-chest has increased to form 25% of total portfolio and we intend to continue increasing it to at least 30% in 2018. We are also thinking of putting some spare cash into currency, likely Chinese Renminbi, but have not made a decision yet.
Overall, we managed to achieve our 2017 targets. The Singapore stock
market has been trading sideways over a range of 3000-3400 this year. We believe 2018 will be a more challenging year for investment and will likely be adopting a more cautious approach for our investments.
We have reached the end of our first 2018 post. Here, we wish our readers
a prosperous and fulfilling 2018! Invest well and may all of you continue to advance towards your financial goals this year!
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