Welcome to my August 2020 net worth update!
The reason why I do net worth updates is to stay accountable with my finances. I publish my real numbers as it is with the mission to continue to bridge the financial literacy gap for Filipinos one content at a time. I hope you enjoy today’s post.
August 2020
The month of August 2020 is all about changes.
For the first time since March 16, I reported to work on site. We were divided into three groups and I was part of Team A so it was our group who went to work first.
The set up is one group goes to work on site and then work from home for the next two weeks. The idea of going back to the office sounds scary especially with the rising COVID-19 cases but we had to follow the rule. Also, I realized how going back to work promotes much needed productivity for me. I maximize those days of reporting in the office to do focused work.
Over the past monthly recaps I’ve been sharing the family decision over quarantine period that my parents will be staying on our house at Eastern Samar for good.
Be part of the SavingsPinay Email List and Get Free Access to the SavingsPinay Resource Library
August 2020 would have been the month of it's fulfillment but, we decided to postpone it to January 2020. My father will be undergoing surgery in September and will spend the next months for recovery. This said surgery will have a effect on my net worth update.
For the time being, they are staying with me.
I am eternally grateful to have such amazing parents. And I will be happy knowing they can now live comfortably without worrying and without working too hard. I just want them to take a rest and enjoy their retirement years.
You can go to my personal blog for more inside story of what happened to my life for the month of May.
August 2020 Blog Updates and Highlights
August 2020 was the least productive month for me in terms of blogging. I kept procrastinating on the tasks that matter. But I am keeping my hopes up that September will be better. Here are the tools that made me stay productive as productive as I can blogging.
We’ve reached 380 followers on Instagram which is awesome.
We are now almost at the 400 mark. A-MAZ-ING.
Thank you so much for the support.
Here are the posts I did in August 2020 in case you missed any:
8 Smart Money Moves to Do in Your 20s
Retail Treasury Bonds – What, Why and How
How this 23 Year Old Started Her Own Online Negosyo during COVID-19 Lockdown
You can still watch my recent videos on the SavingsPinay Facebook Page or IG TV.
Be part of the SavingsPinay Email List and Get Free Access to the SavingsPinay Resource Library
August 2020 Blog Income Breakdown
I am at 95% close to my next $100 payout. I struggled for the first two weeks of August 2020 because the ads for the blog weren’t showing. It was only in the third week that I was able to fix the problem.
Before the month of June 2020 ended, I was able to take a look at my finances and update all my records including how much money I’ve really been making on the blog so far.
From my Mid-Year Financial Review I mentioned how I plan to grow my income before 2020 ends?
- Continue saving every penny I can now that I’m working from home.
- Release paid eBook.
- Publish new YouTube videos so I can increase my watch time and hopefully get eligible in YouTube Adsense Program.
- Create and release an Email Course.
- Launch the One-on-One Coaching Program to public.
Make sure you are also listening to The SavingsPinay Podcast. We already have five episodes published.
Listen on Spotify, iTunes or Google Podcast.
August 2020 Goals
I posted my 2020 goals not long ago and something I learned to be very effective in life is the power of measuring your progress.
Excited to share with you how I’ve been moving in terms of my goals for 2020.
Financial Goals
End 2020 with Php 350,000 net worth
For 2020 I set a very ambitious goal of reaching Php 500,000 net worth. I was so positive about this goals since I already hit my Php 250,000 mark last year without any salary adjustment.
I knew this is such a challenging goal and quite unrealistic but I was confident that I will get a promotion given the performance I did for my new role in the company. Plus, I also planned to launch digital products that will help me earn more extra income to support this goal.
The promotion did happen but, so is the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of the COVID-19 scare, the family decided it’s best for my parents (both in their 60s) to live in the province for good. We had to support their basic needs plus shell out an amount that will the necessary financial things our parents will have to settle before moving out.
Another problem I had with the COVID-19 is how hard it is to budget and do net worth tracking. I am fortunate enough to work from home during this trying times, and although financially it is indeed a good month – I was also bleeding from groceries and utility bills.
Not to mention the amount of anxiety this whole situation has been giving us.
So far, this may not be possible anymore.
My new goal now is to just finish the year at Php 350,000 mark. I still have five months to work on towards this new goal and I will share my next actions on the latter part of this post.
Save Php 60,000 Emergency Fund
This goal has already been long standing and I’m proud to announce in this post that I am counting this as FINALLY DONE!!!
My bonus from work came and decided to go all in to close this goal for now. You all know how long I've tried to save up for a proper emergency fund. I might attempt for another Php 60,000 Emergency Fund goal next year but for now I will stop with this amount and up my investing game.
With the market still in its sale season, I really like to stay invested as much as I can. A long post about emergency fund and what to do when you already reached it is in progress, so please stay tuned for that.
Max-out Php 48,000 invested in Funds
This amount is based on 30% of my previous monthly salary as investable money. So far I am doing well with this goal and with my emergency fund done, I will have 10% additional investable money.
Do Spavings and Record It
I made a post about Spavings and how it works.
Spavings is the perceived savings you get when you buy something on sale. The term is actually a play on words Spend and Save.
With spavings, you are encouraged to deliberately put that money saved as part of your savings. A lot of times you encounter people who say they saved this amount of money for a 20% off deal, when in reality what they did was only to spend money because savings only accounts to money we actually SAVED.
The current spavings at the moment is still Php 1440.00. Since the COVID-19 situation began I haven’t had any spaving moment worth noting. The most of my expenses are on groceries which we do bi-monthly.
Do the 1% Money Saving Challenge
This is a saving challenge I decided to join in order to build my travel fund for my birthday getaway. However, due to the current situation travel will surely not happen this year. I am still keeping this goal in tact so I can have a working travel fund now.
Save on Commute – Sidecar
This year, I decided to give up sidecar (or pedicab) on my commute. One ride costs Php 8 and I do it twice, going to work and going home. I am saving Php 80 every work week which accounts to Php 320 savings in a month. For some reason, it was a lot harder to commit to this goal than I thought it would be. And just like the Spavings, with me working from home for the last four months I don’t really spend any money on commute anymore. Thus, this goal is not as relevant for now.
Personal Goals
Get a promotion
I got my promotion last February 2020.
The waiting period seems too long (3 years) but in those time of unknown, He listens. He was always there.
Since the promotion began, I’ve been budgeting and living based on my previous salary. The major salary increase I got is what I’ve been using to provide monthly cash allowance to my parents during COVID-19 as mentioned above.
Overall, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be working in the field where I am passionate about, finance. And not to mention doing what I love to do – social media.
Read 20 Books
I made a goal to read 20 books this year and as of end of June I was on my 9th book. I also already laid down all the books that I’ll be reading for the rest of the year. Here they are.
Reading is such a great way to pass time productively. I’ve never been successful when it comes to reading challenges I join and I really want this year to be different.
In case you need book recommendations you may check out this post – 18 Must Read Books on Money, Business, Investing and Productivity.
Blog Goals
Launch SavingsPinay Podcast
I never thought I’ll be able to do achieve this goal since I’ve been putting off working on a podcast for so long now. I think I first talked about this in 2018 but have since made progress about this venture.
When the enhanced community quarantine got extended in April 2020, I made it a point to act maximize the work from home set up and act on this goal. Finally, I got it done!
A lot of SavingsPinay readers have been sending this request over and I thought it would be nice for me to relive as well my dreams of becoming a DJ. Finally this big project is now done!
You can now listen to the very first episode in Spotify or iTunes.
Blog 80 Times
I am too far from this goal already. I should be at 50 published posts already if I want this goal to be tagged us done. Sadly, I wasn’t as diligent and consistent when it comes to publishing posts. For now, I will change this goal to Blog 80 Times just to make it as realistic.
52 YouTube Videos
I really want to get back into YouTube especially now that I’ve been working from home and have this newfound time to do so. Sadly, I can’t seem to find the right time to film. I live in a noisy neighborhood and I’m too afraid to film and have the end video filled with noises. But, I will do my best to accomplish this goal. For now, I narrow this down to at least 20 YouTube Videos for the year.
Earn $400 on Google Adsense
I am below 50% mark for my goal of earning $400 on Google Adsense. I don’t know if I can actually accomplish this goal. Fun Goal Hike Because of the pandemic this will definitely not happen this 2020. I so miss the feeling of hiking.
Fun Goal
Hike
Because of the pandemic this will definitely not happen this 2020. I so miss the feeling of hiking.
Be part of the SavingsPinay Email List and Get Free Access to the SavingsPinay Resource Library
August 2020 Net Worth Update
Last month, my Emergency Fund has been fully-funded. That’s after several years of saving up. From July till the rest of 2020 I’ll be putting the money I put on my investments, specifically with the Exchange-Traded Fund. Which means, I’ll be investing Php 4000 a month now into ETF.
However, I had to take out all of my extra income money to fund my father’s surgery this September. He will undergo a surgery for his kidney stone. I was about to take a financial assistance loan in the office but decided to just use the money I have saved from side hustles instead.
Of course I am still hopeful that 2020 will be a better year. As for me, I choose to stay invested no matter what. I just follow my investment strategy, Peso-Cost Average since I don't need the money any time soon.
Next Month’s Plan
The biggest event for September will be my father’s surgery. We are hoping everything will go well for it especially in terms of scheduling the actual procedure.
Since we only have four full months before the year ends, I kind of feeling both anxious and excited. Anxious because there are still big goals I wanted to accomplish. Excited because a New Year is filled with hope. This year has been crazy. It’s been just one thing after another.
All of my money goals from last month were failures. I wasn’t able to open a new passbook account, the ebook has yet to be released and the Passion Project X wasn’t launched.
I think August 2020 was the least productive month ever for me and so I just moved all of my goals from last month to my money goals for September 2020.
Last Month’s Goal:
Transfer Emergency Fund to a Passbook Account – FAILED
Release Paid Ebook – FAILED
Launch Passion Project X – FAILED
Money Goals this Month:
Transfer Emergency Fund to a Passbook Account
Release Paid Ebook
Launch Passion Project X
Final Notes from SavingsPinay
Currently, I am treasuring the time I spend with my parents after so many years that we were not living in one home. Having them 24 hours of each day is surely different but something I’ve been holding dearly. The COVID-19 pandemic really changed our way of life.
Stay safe and stay healthy. That’s it for August 2020.
How’s your finances for August 2020?
Be part of the SavingsPinay Email List and Get Free Access to the SavingsPinay Resource Library