1) Spending came in at 59% of income, aka a savings rate of 41% was achieved, a healthy rate above what is generally recommended (10-20%). This was achieved without factoring capital gains/interest/dividends obtained from bank accounts and investments. However, keep in mind that I am still living with (leeching off) my parents, which leads to reduced spending on food, mortgage, groceries, utilities bills etc etc. Still, something to be happy about right off the bat.
2) Top spending has been the monthly allowance to my parents, which came in at 22% of overall spending (or 13% of income). This is a fixed cost that is unlikely to change in the near term, nothing much to comment on this.
3) Eating out came in a distant 2nd at 18% of overall spending (or 11% of income). Lots of casual restaurant lunches and dinners with colleagues and the gf, though the highest spending was in Sept for my dad's birthday treat. This can certainly be reduced further, maybe with more meals at hawker centres/food courts or even cooking and bringing my own lunch to work. This needs to be balanced with a healthy social life though, but a good aim could be to cut this to maybe 9-10% of income (measuring against spending is not ideal as it could just mean that I'm spending more in other areas).
4) Third was insurance premiums, coming in at 18% of spending (or 10% income). This amount is inflated as I'm paying for my mum's and brother's premiums as well, which I'm not sure is how much when broken down to individual figures. But for myself, I'm covered under a 100% hospitalisation plan, and a term plan that provides coverage of $500,000 until the age of 85 for Death and Critical Illness. This amount is likely to increase, as I'm mulling over an additional term life policy offered by my employer that could up my coverage to $1,000,000. This is subject to the increase in my salary as I want to keep this spending at 10% of income.
5) Surprisingly, gifts to people came in at 4th, amounting to 14% of spending (or 8% income). More than half of this was for wedding ang baos, which thankfully are one-time gifts and unlikely to be repeated year after year. Other than that, the more significant ones are from the monthly cash donations done through www.giving.sg, and again this is a fixed cost that wont change. Likely to see a big drop in this area for 2019.
6) HOLIDAYS. This comes in at 5th, at 12% spending (or 7% income). This includes a 5 day trip to Vietnam, 9 day trip to Japan, and assorted short trips to Malaysia and Bangkok all in. Every year I set aside a seperate budget for such trips, and total spending came in at 80% of this budget. Will not adjust this budget for 2019, since vacations are important for the body and soul to recover from the toil of working.
7) Shopping comes in at 6th, at 9% spending (or 5% income). Nothing much to comment, except that 75% of this came from buying a new desktop and a secondhand Nintendo Switch. Will probably see this drop to 1-2% of income next year.
8) Transport came in next at 5% spending (or 3% income). Mostly from Ezlink top ups, with the occasional Grab/Taxi rides. Unlikely to change much in 2019 unless the government wants to increase transport fares by 23410483640123721093%.
The rest includes my income tax, phone bills and other insignificant spendings and are either fixed costs or one time costs. In summary, my spending pattern tends towards food and vacations, and I'm happy with that. Will keep tracking my expenses for another year to see if I managed to cut out any fat from these.
