Another year gone, and another mundane and routine post on my spending. Though, something big happened this year, aka got married to my gf and bought a resale house, and with that came all the related expenses such as renovations, furnitures, bills etc. Though, we didn't hold a banquet (not yet anyway) and there were many things that the gf (now wife!) contributed as well, which lessened the burden a lot. Enough of the babbling, let's get to the meat of things. As can be expected, the spending fluctuated between the categories, but overall I'm still quite pleased with how the money have been allocated through the year. Do note that the housing related expenses won't be factored into this summary, as they took up such a large amount of money that they would skew the stats for all other spending, and also cuz they were fully funded with savings that were already set aside for them.
1) Spending came in at 52% of income nett of CPF contributions, 7 percentage points lower than 2018. This was achieved largely due to a decrease in spending, as nett income was more or less the same as 2018 once bonuses were factored in (I had a bigger bonus in 2018 than 2019, even though i had a modest pay raise in 2019). Again, this is a healthy rate above what is recommended, and also without factoring in any gains/dividends/interest from investments and bank accounts.
2) Top spending for 2019 went to insurance, which accounted for 20% of overall spending, 2 percentage points higher than 2018, or 10% of income, unchanged from 2018. No changes in my plans so far, other than premiums increasing for the hospitalisation plans. A healthy ratio so far, and I don't see the need to increase it as yet.
3) Holidays came in at 18% of overall spending, a 6 percentage points increase over 2018(!!!!), which included a two week long trip to Tasmania, a family trip to Bangkok, 2 trips to Perhentian Island where I learnt to scuba dive and assorted trips to JB now and then. Sad to say, I busted the budget I put aside for this by about 8%, and will have to keep this in mind for 2020.
4) Monthly allowances to my parents came in 3rd, at 14% of overall spending. This was strictly due to a reduction in the amount given to them, or as my mum puts it, a "discount" for moving out and no longer having to mooch on them at home.
5) Eating out came in at 11% of spending, a 7 point drop over the previous year, or 6% of income, a 5 point drop over 2018. I largely attribute this to 2 factors, first of which is a change in office, which greatly reduced the amount of money spent on lunches daily, as well as eating more home cooked food by the wife instead of spending it outside. I had actually planned to cut this to only 9-10% of my income (as mentioned in last year's post), so this came as an unexpected and very much welcome surprise.
6) Gifts came in at a very distant 5th, at 6% of spending, or 3% of income. Lesser weddings attended in 2019 meant lesser outlay in angbaos, meaning lesser spending in this category. Donations still ongoing though.
7) Wedding bands came in at 6th. Nothing much to say about this I guess, except that we didn't go for extravagant brands and were happy with what we got.
8) Transport came in 7th at 4% of spending, usual ezlink top ups and grab/taxi rides. Boring category, though the recent fare hikes irk me off.
9) Shopping came in at 8th, a drop of two places from 2018. About half the spending came from getting a new handphone after mine died on me, and shirt and pants to replace those already worn out. Didn't achieve my aims of reducing this to 1-2%, but then again that could have been quite unrealistic, since things wear out and need to be replaced every now and then.
The rest of the spending came in the form of bills and taxes, nothing much to mention about. All in all, a good improvement over 2018, and managed to cut out quite a bit of fat here and there. Cheers to a good year ahead!
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