This post is my year-end review on life, goals and finances for 2021.
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 2021 on Blog, Life and Money
Share to you a recap of what happened to my goals in 2021
Give you insights to my spending habits
Provide you a spreadsheet on how I’m ending 2020 in terms of net worth.
And same as last year I will NOT include my goals for 2022 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 2021 on Blog, Life and Money
1. BIR Business Registration
This is such a milestone for me and my blogging career. When I started blogging in 2014 it was merely a hobby, just a platform to share my journey towards financial freedom.
For years I felt too small to get my blog registered as a business. I wasn’t getting any stable income out of it.
But God is good! The presence of SavingsPinay.ph grew through the years and I finally had the courage to apply for business registration.
2. Hit my 2021 year-end net worth goal
For the last two years I’ve been aiming to hit a Php 500k net worth but I always fell short of this target. At last I achieved my net worth target for 2021!
3. Doubled my side hustle income
My side hustle income is at all time high last year. So grateful for all the opportunities from long-term projects, more paid webinars, and sponsored posts. You can read all about it in my 2021 Side Hustle Income Report.
4. Released The Budget Template Notepad
I’ve always wanted to release a physical version of The Budget Template. Thankfully, I met a friend who owns a printing business and she helped me materialize the idea.
I set up the Shopee shop in August, added the first product, and blessed with my very first sales.
The Budget Template is a great way to get your finances in order, for good! Each page is designed to enable you to divide your income between your needs, savings and investments, and wants. Plus it has a space to include your money goals for the month too!
With Budget Template Notepad you’ll be able to create a budget anyone can follow in less than a day. Once a month, take a moment to refill the notepad and away you go!
5. Started living independently
April 2021 was a month of change in my personal life. It seems like a new chapter of my life has begun aa my parents and youngest sister moved to our province at Eastern Samar for good.
We planned the move as a family in August 2020, and after months of delay due to changes in the quarantine measures it finally happened.
For the last nine months I’ve been learning to live alone.
You may remember my post Financial Milestones I want to Achieve before 30 and you’ll know how much I wanted to move out. I envisioned it as me living in a condo and having my own place. But God has a bigger and not to mention better plan for me. I experience how it is to live independently without the added cost for now.
I have so much lessons learned now that I’m living alone and I’ll definitely make a YouTube video about it soon.
6. Filmed and Uploaded YouTube videos again
I’ve always wanted to come back filming and uploading YouTube videos again. After two years of hiatus I finally am able to be active on YouTube! I enjoy making videos so much and now that I have a space to film it was way easier for me. I also am at a point where I can outsource the task of video editing to someone else. This is another milestone for me.
7. New Investment Vehicle – Feeder Fund
In May 2021, I used a portion of my mid-year bonus to invest in a feeder fund. Thus, you will see in my net worth update later that I have an additional fund in the investment section. So far so good with the said fund. My initial investment of Php 10,000 grew to Php 11,500+ after almost nine months.
2021 Goals Recap
Up until September 2021, I was able to share the progress of my goals. However, I wasn’t able to upload a net worth update for the last three months of 2021. I set myself some ambitious goal in the beginning of 2020 and gave an update mid-way.
I didn’t achieve everything on my 2021 goals but still I’m happy with how it turned out.
So, here is the status of my goals at ended of December 2021:
I’m blessed to have reached all my financial goals for 2021 and even some I went over my target. Most of my blog and business goals were a massive failure and I can only blame my laziness for them. There were also a number of goals in yellow which means I was close to reaching the goal.
Overall, I am thrilled with my progress and I really give myself a pat in the shoulder for pushing until the end. Let’s talk more about each below.
Financial Goals
End with Php 500,000 net worth
I’ve always wanted to reach this target and to be able to do finally feels sooo great. I’ve been pretty much consistent when it comes to saving and investing at least Php 100,000 every year. Even without any increase in my salary just like what happened in 2019.
Definitely it was my side hustle income that pushed my net worth to a different level in 2021. Most of my investments were also doing fairly well with the PSEi already at 7000 mark most of the time.
Grow Side Hustle Income to Php 100,000 net
In 2020 I earned around Php 53, 000 net income from my side hustles. The goal for 2021 is to double that amount. Happy to report that we hit the goal and even exceeded! All the long-term projects, paid webinars, and sponsored posts I got paved way for this. I am looking forward for more opportunities this year.
Total Money Saved in Invested to Php 100,000 net
As I mentioned, saving and investing Php 100,000 is something I am able to do on a yearly basis. Fortunately in 2021 I maintained my saving and investment schedule every month. This also helped a lot for my net worth.
Finish my 2021 Sinking Funds
I have two different lists for my sinking funds – Blog and Business and Personal Sinking Funds.
For Blog and Business Sinking Funds, I am saving up on the following:
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- Work Space Renovation
- SSL cost of the blog
- Domain and Hosting
For Personal Sinking Funds, I am saving up on the following:
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- Gift for my new “pamangkin”
- Gift for my cousin
- Non-Beauty Wishlist
- Insurance Renewal
- Christmas 2021
Sinking Fund is typically small amount you set aside every week, every month or every year into a specific goal that’s personal to you. People build a sinking fund to purchase furniture, luxury items, gifts, upgrades and such. This is also the same fund you build for dream vacations like a trip to El Nido, Palawan or your first travel abroad.
I finished all of my Sinking Funds for 2021 and ready for new sinking funds this year.
Blog and Business Goals
Upload 2x/week on YouTube
My biggest to do list for 2021 is to go back making videos on YouTube. And as mentioned in the beginning I actually achieved this goal. I had my very first video up after a two years of not uploading anything.
I wasn’t able to upload two videos every week but still there are new videos and I even had a month where I was able to post one every week!
Please do follow me on my YouTube channel.
Blog 100 times
In 2020 I was able to publish 60 posts. I set an ambitious goal to blog 100 times this year but I failed in this goal big time. I even had months when I only published a single post for a whole new month. Haaayyy. Thank you for still supporting the blog even though I’ve been missing in action most of the time.
Release at least three (3) Paid Products
In 2020 I was able to launch my very first paid product, The Budget Template. It was such an achievement on my part and I’m so happy I did it.
For 2021, I wanted to release three paid products but only one came into reality. Last August I opened my Shopee shop with the very first product – The Budget Template Notepad.
Hoping 2022 will be the year I’m releasing all I planned from last year.
Get one (1) month ahead of blog posts
Another big fail HAHA! Again, I’m sorry for being missing in action in terms of blog content. Creating content is one of hardest part of blogging. I know because for the past seven years I’ve been maintaining two blogs with a full time job. This will definitely be a recurring goal for me and something I have to act on.
Update blog Main Menus and Archive
Both SavingsPinay.ph and IzzaGlinoFull.com deserves a much needed update. I’m happy I did it here in SavingsPinay before the year ended. As for the personal blog, the best I can do now is to make sure that I post more in 2022. I won’t be changing much of it looks for now.
Reach $500 Total Google Adsense Payout
I didn’t reach earning $500 Total Google Adsense Payout for 2021. For some unknown reason my Google Adsense income continued to decrease year after year. I’m hoping with the revamped website this area will grow this year.
Personal Goal
Read 10 books
From reading 16 books a year consecutively to only finishing 7 books in 2021.
Watch here for a review of all the books I read in 2021.
2021 Spending Habits
2021 continued to a great year in terms of spending habits. The community quarantine opened opportunities for unplanned savings.
Most of my budgeted money for 2021 went to groceries and paying bills. I also made big purchases such as monetary gifts to others, buying a refrigerator, derma consultation, investing in a new vehicle, getting my business registered, and travel fund for my two week planned vacation to visit my parents.
For 2022, I want to be more disciplined in terms of budgeting, tracking my expenses, saving and invest on a monthly basis, and making intentional decisions for the betterment of my finances.
I am also aiming to spend on wardrobe and self-care!
2021 Net Worth
As an ending here’s how 2021 ended in terms of my net worth:
Final Notes from SavingsPinay
That’s it everyone. Now we’re ready to start 2022 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 2021.
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 2021 for your finances?
