Last Updated on January 2, 2019 by Izza of SavingsPinayPH
2018 has been a great year for this blog.
Thank you for staying and reading every post I publish.
What started as a simple diary of a financial journey turned out to be a source of inspiration to others.
I am amazed and forever grateful for your support.
This 2018 we had less post that usual.
42 posts in total.
I had a ton of missing-in-action moments this 2018 and no matter how much I try to get ahead of the blog schedule, I FAILED ☹
But those 42 posts include some of the best posts I’ve ever written.
It was this year that I went from 1500 words per article limit to 3000 words!!!
A lot of my posts this year were also personal which I find fitting as most of you expressed in the 2018 Reader Survey as inspiring.
I was able to share to you…
How I Blog
How I Organize my Finances and Inside My Money Map
How I Saved and Invested My First Php 100,000
My Financial Bucket List
My Financial Goals before 30
My First Google Adsense Payment Story a.k.a. How to Earn $$$ as a Blogger
9 Genius Financial Terms I Learned
In a nutshell this year on the blog can be summarized as follows (in numbers):
42 Number of Posts Published
286, 904 Pageviews in the year
23, 742 Average Monthly Pageviews
1952 Current Email Subscribers
3436 Current Followers on Facebook
$387 Money Earned through Adsense (December still not counted!)
Again, thank you so much for all your support.
Before I list down all the most popular posts here in SavingsPinay for 2018, I would like to share to you first what you can expect on the blog moving forward.
What to Expect in SavingsPinay Next Year
More posts
I got this feedback from an anonymous reader through the Reader Survey which had me smiling.
He/She commented if I can post daily.
As much as I want to, I just can’t.
I am currently blogging with a full time job plus I maintain another blog, IzzaGlinoFull, my YouTube Channel and my weddings and events business.
Writing the same quality posts every single day will be very hard.
But, reflecting on how small the number of posts I made for 2018 definitely encouraged me to do better.
For 2019, I am aiming for 2 posts a week in this blog and the schedule would be every Tuesday and Thursday.
A New Mission
As of this writing SavingsPinay’s mission is;
To inspire and to guide others to be good stewards of the time, talent and money you have and achieve true financial freedom.
I want to highlight the following terms here:
To inspire and to guide. My duty as the blogger behind SavingsPinay is to really put inspiring stories that could motivate you.
This is achieved by sharing to you how I do what I do. How I manage my money, invest, budget, save and the lessons I learned through the years.
SavingsPinay is also here to guide you. That’s why I try to keep a balance between my personal accounts and those that really concerns most of you.
This is achieved by extensive write up on a topic that I know is valuable to you such as how to manage your own money, how to invest, how to budget, how to save and the different important lessons on personal finance you should know.
You. At first I thought of keeping the blog’s target audience as females only.
But I later found out that the blog also accumulates male audience. The 99% Female and 1% Male grew to 64% Female and 36% Male and that’s A LOT!
So as I blog moving forward my posts will be genderless, really empowering both men and women to be good stewards regardless of age, status and salary.
With that, it would be my aim to make sure every post I publish moving forward would be applicable not just for the young but also the elders, not just for the single but also for married (single moms/dads included) and not just for those who receive tens of thousands of money every month but those who with as little as they have now willing to save and to invest for their future!
Reading SavingsPinay means I am speaking to you, even if I know nothing about your gender, your race, your age, your status or your salary.
Good stewards. A good steward means someone who protects, manages, takes care and/or take full responsibility of another person’s property.
Biblically, a good steward is someone who is utilizing and managing all resources God provides him/her for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.
It is my mission to discuss stewardship in every post I write so you may understand (and I may always remember) what it means to be good stewards.
Time, Talent and Money. These three resources are God’s gift to us. We are all given the same 24 hours a day, a set of talent/skills that separates us from the rest and the ability to create wealth. It is how we manage these resources that will make a difference.
And so for the next posts here in SavingsPinay I will be bolder in sharing to you how to manage your time, talent and money in accordance to God’s way/will.
True Financial Freedom. Financial Freedom could mean differently depending on the person and the person’s circumstance in life.
According to Wikipedia, Financial Freedom is a state in which an individual or household has sufficient wealth to live on without having to depend on income from some form of employment.
It means your asset is passive. Even as you sleep you are earning money to sustain whatever lifestyle you want. Money is now a mere tool you use. Not something you constantly worry about.
Before I truly understood my position in Christ, I also define financial freedom as above.
I always thought (even blogged countless of times) that as long as I reach financial freedom I will be happy. I let money and the world consume me. In the process I forgot God.
When I learned to humble myself and surrender everything to God through Jesus Christ I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit and it definitely changed the way I see success, progress and life in general.
At this very moment I know I already achieved financial freedom for I am no longer ruled by money and the world.
I don’t worry anymore about tomorrow and whether all my desires, my plans and my ambitions will be met.
I HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL PROVIDE.
My contentment belongs to God. Whatever richness I may have with being a good steward of the time, talent and money He gave me is secondary already.
With that I repeat what the current mission of SavingsPinay is: To inspire and to guide you to be good stewards of the time, talent and money you have and achieve true financial freedom.
Of course my posts will continue to be valuable and relevant to you all. Just this time, the end result will always be to glorify God.
A balance of “how I do it” and “how to do it” posts
In relation to the reader survey, which can still answer here, you are more likely to get encouraged/motivated when I share my personal financial story a.k.a. how I do it.
This is in contrast to the posts I make where I discuss a lengthy topic a.k.a. how to do it.
Which I totally get.
The reason I read the bloggers I religiously follow is because of the same thing. Whenever I read their post I get inspired and motivated to apply it on my own.
With this information, I realized I need to make a balance between the how I do it and how to do it posts I make.
I want to bring my own spin to things and not just throw you textbook information here and there.
My writing style will be better, friendlier and a lot of applications to further seal the deal.
I am changing the way I publish my income reports – again! And even how I title from recap and income report to just net worth update.
The topics I include in the update will change too so I hope you will be excited for the first revised post in January next year.
I hope the above makes you excited for what’s next with this blog. Now I can move on to the most popular articles in SavingsPinay for 2018. Based on the pageviews alone, here they are:
Most Popular Posts in SavingsPinay for 2018
I made this post after I invested in my second crop from online crowdfunding site, FarmOn. Didn’t even expect it to be the most viewed post for 2018. In this post I drilled down the step by step procedure in investing with the platform FarmOn from requirements, application process and even the timeline. This is a good post to read if you are interested in diversifying your investments come 2019.
Best Investment for Retirement
Retirement is a topic I have never really gotten too deep here in SavingsPinay. I feel like I am not the right person to discuss it especially since I am still in my 20s. But learning how only a handful of Filipinos think (and plan) about their retirement resonated a lot with me. In this post I enumerated three investment vehicles where one can park their money for retirement passively. Really happy that it has been viewed a lot since I want this post to reach more Filipinos.
How To Save and Invest Your First Php 100K
My personal favorite too. This post is my real financial story and I feel genuinely happy to share how I was able to save and invest my first Php 100K. Looking back I never thought I can actually do it. I was once a one-day millionaire. I went all-out when it comes to spending my salary. I always justify my expenses as a reward for my hard work. Although I didn’t have any debt, I had zero savings. This post is a proof that anyone can do it. What matters most is how bad you want to make it happen.
Where to Best Invest Your Money This 2018
I made this post early 2018 and even created a video for it on my YouTube channel. Always happy to share different investing vehicles here on the blog. Aside from enumerating the investment vehicles, I answered two important questions in this post #1. How ready are you to invest? and #2. Why do you want to invest your money?
Top Personal Finance Blogs to Read This 2018
In this post I was able to gather all the best personal finance bloggers to read if you want to save, invest and become debt-free. Half of the list are international bloggers whom I look up to in terms of how they live life financially free. Then of course I included the best from PH.
How I Organize My Finances + Inside My Money Map
Before doing this, my finances was a mess. I don’t know which expense to pay for which paycheck and was always losing track of where my money went. I enjoyed writing this post because it helped me too to become organized financially. To really put a destination to every savings account I have. If you happen to struggle to in organizing your money I recommend doing your own money map too!
First Time Guide to Seoul 4 Days 3 Nights
In 2018, I did my first ever travel abroad – Seoul, South Korea! It was an amazing four days and three nights and in this post I did a detailed guide for first timers as well. From applying visa to picking the correct flight and accommodation. I also included the ten best places to visit when in Seoul.
Cash Envelope System for Beginners
The cash envelope system has been widely recognized and used, there are still others who don’t know how it works. And so I thought of sharing a comprehensive guide for those who are new to the method. The Cash Envelope System is something I have used on and off, accompanied by the 50-20-30 Budget Rule for years and it tremendously changed my money habits. It works pretty simple, using envelopes to store your cash for specific expenses. You are only allowed to use the money you have on each envelope. No ifs and buts. If you are prone in making impulse shopping, if you are currently living from paycheck to paycheck, if you are still living in debt and want to reclaim your finances, then this system may be the answer.
Another “best investment for” post which made it to top 10! OFWs deserve so much more post on financial management. Over the years, I received a number of emails from our fellow kababayans as to how they can best invest their money. I personally know a family member who, despite of working overseas, still suffer financially. The truth is, it will never be about the amount of money you earn but how much you invest with what you earn that matters. And in this post I will poured out my financial advice.
Mid-Year Financial Review
One thing I love about this post is the progress chart I borrowed from Sir Joe of Retiredby40.org. It was a simple chart to visualize goals and progress in one spread. I like to adapt this in the future monthly net worth update. It seems this comprehensive review is a favorite too by some of you since it was able to complete this most popular post list for 2018!
The fact that half of them is about investing makes me conclude that most of you are really into investing your money.
Will definitely take note of this in doing my content calendar for 2019.
I hope you can participate in the reader survey I recently launched. This will help a lot in making SavingsPinay better.
Final Notes from SavingsPinay
Runner ups
Although below posts didn’t make it to the top list I consider them as some of the best posts I’ve ever published –
How To Get Rich By Saving Just 1% of Your Salary Monthly
18 Must Read Books on Money, Busines, Investing and Productivity
How To Generate Massive Traffic on Your Blog
Why You Should Invest in the Stock Market Even If…
My First Google Adsense Story – Everything You Need To Know
Thank you so much for patronizing this blog through the years. I can’t believe we are now going five years here. Hopefully, you are still liking the posts I do.
Happy New Year.
Which post do you find most helpful?