This post is my year-end review on life, goals and finances for 2019.
Here’s a quick run through on how the past 365 days went for me in general and how I would want the coming New Year to be different.
I’ve done a year-end review almost every single year since I started SavingsPinay.ph. You can read each below:
For me, year-end review is a must. It makes you look back and reflect on the mistakes and accomplishments you had. It gives you a summary of lessons learned for the past year and provide you with a positive benchmark for the year ahead.
In this post I will:
- Share with you the highlights of my 2019 on Blog, Life and Money
- Share to you a recap of what happened to my goals in 2019
- Give you insights to my spending habits Provide you a spreadsheet on how I’m ending 2019 in terms of net worth.
And same as last year I will NOT include my goals for 2020 in this year-end review.
I will have a separate post sharing to you my goals for the coming year. This way we can all refer to it every time I do my money recaps.
Highlights of 2019 on Blog, Life and Money
1. New role at work
In February 2019, I received the biggest blessing ever in terms of my career.
I am now the Digital Marketing Associate at one of the leading asset management firms in the country. Same company, new role! This means I get to apply everything I do as a blogger – making social media posts, maintaining website, creating graphics and so on as my day job. Isn’t it amazing?
I am so enjoying every single day of my new role as Digital Marketing Associate. I wake up feeling excited that I will get back to my desk and work. Weird, right? But it’s true.
2. Interview for TV5's Oplan Asenso
Another bucket list unlocked for 2019 was my first ever mainstream media interview for TV5’s Oplan Asenso. It was such an unexpected opportunity and something I almost missed have I not been reading the invite sent through Messenger.
During the interview hosted by Sir Gerard de la Peña and Ma'am Michelle Orosa-Ople, I was able to share my knowledge on personal finance from net worth tracking, budget tips, how to save money and investing for beginners.
3. Speaking engagements/invitations
2019 was also the year I manage to speak for companies about financial literacy. Wow.
I remember praying for it a year ago and now the breakthroughs are happening. I am getting invited by companies to speak about budgeting, how to save money and more. I really love public speaking and the fact that it is aligned to my passion, financial literacy is what makes it so special.
I hope I get more invites this 2020.
Should you need a resource speaker in an event at your office related to financial literacy you can send me an email at izza@wordpress-661740-2303377.cloudwaysapps.com.
4. Travels – IloIlo and Taiwan
In 2018, I did four major travels – Eastern Samar, Korea, Palawa and Malaysia.
For 2019, I did two. First was in IloIlo for a work trip and the second was in Taiwan for my birthday. And boy did I have so much fun.
It was fewer destinations compared to the past but just the ability to travel makes me so grateful in life. Thank you Lord for the provision.
Read more about my travels here: IloIlo Travel Diary | Taiwan Travel Diary
5. Spiritual Maturity
In 2019, I was blessed to lead my own Victory Group. A Victory Group is a small group of people who get together, build relationships, and study the Bible. I am so blessed to have met these girls who never left my side even though I struggled a lot in making time as a leader.
2019 Goals Recap
Up until July 2019, I was able to share with you the updates of progress. However, I stopped sharing my net worth reports in the middle of the year.
Here’s what happened to my goals for 2019.
Financial Goals
End 2019 with Php 250,000 net worth
I bid 2018 farewell with a simple goal financially – To end 2019 in the Php 250,000 mark again.
Although I fell 3% short of the goal, I am still amazed by my progress. I didn’t receive any salary increase or promotion in 2019 but I still manage to add roughly Php 100,000 in my net worth in one year.
Ending 2019 in the Php 250,000 mark once again is such a happy achievement for me. I feel motivated to see more growth in 2020. I know there are areas where I can still squeeze in in order to save and make more money.
Tithe 10% of whatever Money I Earn Every Month
Another goal I set in 2019 is to tithe 10% of whatever money I earn every month. Tithing is such an important biblical concept I learned and I am happy to have done consistently all year long. However, I will not be including this goal in a tracker next year. I will still do it but not anymore publish it on the blog.
Php 60,000 emergency fund
Another year of me failing this goal. From the Php 1,938.92 saved in 2018, I manage to grow the emergency fund to Php 20,000. Still 77% away from the Php 60,000 goal. I am hoping 2020 will be better. My brother promised to pay me back the Php 30,000 spent on his operation in 2018. I plan to automatically put the money in my emergency fund to fast track this long standing goal of mine.
Monthly Transpo and Food to less than Php 4,400 a month
I am not gonna lie, accomplishing this goal is so hard. Not to mention tracking it every single day, every single week and every single month.
Sadly, this goal is a massive failure. I couldn’t get to the monthly goal of less Php 4,400 a month in transportation and food expenses. I realized mainly how time and money correlates specially in the area of finances.
When I get out of the house late, I will more often than not take “habal-habal” which costs me 4x my actual transportation fee. This is giving me massive leakage in terms of my budget. For 2020, I would want to keep a closer look into this category. Make sure I am tracking every single centavo and omitting unnecessary spendings as well.
Maintain a Working Opportunity Fund
According to Get Rich Slowly, opportunity funds are money on hand to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
Joe of Retireby40, one of my favorite personal finance bloggers to read, says once in a while you’ll come across a good opportunity and you need money to take advantage of it.
For 2019, I made it a goal to maintain a working opportunity fund from the earnings I received in my side hustles. The opportunity fund grew and enabled me to upgrade to a MacbookAir last May 2019. I also went to 6 days and 5 nights Taiwan trip for my birthday.
Although I am ending the year with just Php 4999.00 left on the opportunity, I am still happy. I am hoping I can make the fund grow in 2020.
Monthly Phone Bill to less than Php 1500
I signed up for a phone plan that’s Php 999. Because of lack of proper management, I always end up paying more than than the plan I signed up for. Thankfully, I was able to manage most of my use on the phone in 2019.
Also, I decided to downgrade my plan to Php 500 for higher data without the phone. So for 2020, I’m not as pressured anymore with the plan expenses and actually saving half of what I was paying for it in 2019. Yay!
Invest Php 48,000
This is another goal I am proud of for 2019. Finally, able to add up to my investments consistently. I know Php 48,000 is too little compared to others. But, with the current salary I have this is already a huge chunk. My plan is to continue with the same amount not unless there will be movement in my salary in 2020.
Blog Goals
Create a better Archive on the blogs
I consider this goal fail even though I was able to do one for SavingsPinay. I think there is a better way to organize the content of my blogs. My vision has always been based on topics discussed but it will take me a lot of time to do so. Hoping I can manage this little project in 2020 no matter how slow it may be.
$500 Adsense Income
I fell short on this goal as well. In 2019, I was only able to get $342 from Adsense. My actual blog income was actually slower and lower compared to last year, probably because of the lack of posts and consistency over my content.
The new role at work really got my creative juices up and running for most part of 2019. Now that I have fully adjusted to what I do in my day job, I plan to do some much needed work on my passion projects. I want to hustle again, making content that will inspire and educate others. For 2020, I want to be active across all platforms where God put me into.
Double my Total Published Content
Major fail on this one. I got busy and so into my new role that I forgot about blogging all together. As mentioned previously, I am hoping I can get all worked up this 2020 and be on schedule again.
Personal Goals
Read 30 books
This 2019, I finished 13 books out of the 30 books I put as a goal. Although it is not even half of what I intended to do, I am still satisfied with the progress I made because I had a number of good books read in 2019.
Not only am I halfway my goal of finishing The Harry Potter series, I also had the best reading experience to a number of books this 2019. Will share all the books I read in 2019 on my personal blog.
Fun Goal
Hike again
I planned two hikes for 2019 but only manage to do one. Still, climbing Mt. Manalmon and Mt. Gola in March 2019 was such a memorable experience for me. There will definitely be more hike in 2020.
2019 Spending Habits
I mentioned in my 2018 Year End Review under spending habits that my intentions for 2019 is to save and make more money so I can have my own place by the year 2020.
Sadly, this did not propel.
I spent money here and there. Some okay, and some not I don’t even remember. I know I haven’t been as tight as I should be when it comes to my finances in 2019.
This, is what I want to resolve come 2020. To really be intentional with my expenses, to record every single penny and to be more of a saver than a spender once and for all. I will need all the help in this area but if I manage to do so, 2020 will surely be a good year.
2019 Net Worth
As an ending here’s how 2019 ended in terms of my net worth.
Final Notes from SavingsPinay
That’s it everyone. Now we’re ready to start 2020 afresh.
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have yet to do your own year end review I highly recommend for you to start one. Do Your Own Year-End Financial Review Too!
Constant review makes a lot of difference. Mid-year review gives you the chance to make adjustments and can help you to stay conscious throughout the year. Year-end review, on the other hand, is a good way to set yourself on a better pace for the New Year.
To recap this is how a year-end review works:
First, re-evaluate your goals. If you set your goals at the start of the year then you can revisit each and review the status. What goal/s is/are done or accomplished already? Is there any goal that’s not relevant anymore?
Second, review your spending habits. Find out who and how you are when it comes to spending your money lately. Are you saver or spender? Do you spend more on your needs or your wants?
Third, start your side hustle. Think of a passion project you can do on the side in 2020.
Fourth, calculate your net-worth. To give you a concrete road map you need to calculate your current net-worth. I provided a simple template for you to use.
Lastly, list down your next actions. Once your done with steps 1-4, you can now make an action list. Commit yourself in doing the items written in your next action list to start the New Year strong!
How’s 2019 for your finances?