Welcome to my October 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.
October 2020
The month of October was filled with meetings. Most were online and work-related while there were a few personal events. You can go to my personal blog for more inside story of what happened to my life last month.
My father had his stent removal which is a procedure related to his operation last month. My medical benefit covered the cost of the operation but we had to shell out around Php 15K cash in addition. Thankfully, my siblings helped and I only got to spend Php 5K instead of paying all of the needed amount.
The month of October 2020 was filled with blessings in terms of my blog life. I got booked for two paid webinars which took place last October 30 and another session on November. The payment from the previous webinar I did also materialized which is A-MAZ-ING. I also got a sponsored post this month and another side hustle I did where I got paid.
Lastly, I hit my Google Adsense Payment Threshold! Hooray!!! Thus, the amount I once lost because of helping my parents in the past couple of months, has been replaced little by little. I am praying to regain my Extra Income Fund to at least Php 50,000 before the end of the year.
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October 2020 Blog Updates and Highlights
October 2020 was a busy month for me at work and so I haven’t had that much time spent in blogging. I also kept on procrastinating on the tasks that matter.
With the last quarter of the year happening I know I have to step up my game. Here are the tools that made me stay productive as productive as I can blogging.
We’ve reached 455 followers on Instagram which is awesome. We are now on the rode to 500 followers. A-MAZ-ING.
Thank you so much for the support. Here are the posts I did in October 2020 in case you missed any:
September 2020 Net Worth Update
I'm Finally Investing in Stocks
High-Yield Savings Accounts in the Philippines
Investing in Mutual Fund for Beginners
101 Sure Ways to Save Money from Your Money or Your Life Book
6 Things Consumer Should Check When Evaluating Credit Card Offers
How to Achieve Financial Peace in Your 30s, 40s, and 50s
You can still watch my recent videos on the SavingsPinay Facebook Page or IG TV.
October 2020 Blog Income Breakdown
Because I reached my second $100 payout last month, my Adsense income went back to zero. I am now moving forward to a new threshold. So far I’ve earned $223.33 passive income blogging which is still far from my new year-end target of $300.
But, I did great in terms of other income sources in blogging.
The webinar I did for a company already materialized meaning, I already got the payment. I also did another sponsored post for October. Lastly, I did a paid side hustle which involves graphic design and branding, something pretty new to me.
November 2020 will be a good month as well in terms of the extra income category as I also got booked for a two-session paid webinar for a different company.
For the month of October 2020, I counted the paid webinar, the new sponsored post, and the paid graphic design and branding on my extra income fund.
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.
October 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.
With the current living situation, it’ll be very difficult even to accomplish the new goal. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed more opportunities will open up especially with SavingsPinay. I hope to work with brands and companies for webinar talks more during this time.
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 intact 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 October I am on my 13th 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 $300 on Google Adsense
I am below 50% mark for my goal of earning $400 on Google Adsense. I know I will never achieve this goal anymore so I am setting it to $300 tops.
Fun Goal
Hike
Because of the pandemic this will definitely not happen this 2020. I so miss the feeling of hiking.
My October 2020 Net Worth Update
The month of October 2020 was truly a success as I earned the hight side hustle income for a single month ever. It feels great to see money on my Extra-Income Fund again.
Now that my father is done with his operation, I am hoping there will be no more big bills to come. For now I am still adjusting with the new set up making sure that I am budgeting and planning my expenses as much as possible.
Next Month’s Plan
The month of November is my birth month so I will surely be celebrating my birthday with my family.
As to a quick October recap, I am happy that most of the goals I set last month come into fruition. I did made a plan Quarter 4 Goals + Action Plans which made me look forward for the month of October better.
Due to happenings at work, I still haven’t got a time to record, edit and release the last five episodes from the SavingsPinay Podcast Season 1. My bad. I pretty much have an idea already as to what the Season 2 of the podcast will be bit because of the delays in the remaining episodes, I can’t move on with this project.
On the contrary, I made some real progress on the paid templates. I did a sneak peak of the already done template which is a budget template based on the 50-20-30 Rule of Budgeting. I am still working on the Monthly Income and Bill Payment Tracker and the Financial Planning Worksheet.
My plan now is to release the Budget Template and the Monthly Income and Bill Payment Tracker as separate file and a bundle. And yes, they are both downloadable file.
Last Month’s Goal:
Set Quarter 4 Goals + Action Plans – DONE
Budget again! – DONE
Release all pending SavingsPinay Podcast S1 episodes – FAILED
Launch Paid Templates – MOVED TO NOVEMBER
Money Goals this Month:
Release all pending SavingsPinay Podcast S1 episodes
Lanch Paid Templates
Invest in PAG IBIG MP2
Update Main Pages of SavingsPinay.ph
Update Archives Page of SavingsPinay.ph
Final Notes from SavingsPinay
Curently, all I can think of is the month to come which is November. November is my birth month so I can’t help but feel excited to what’s about to come. I will be on a five-day mandatory leave at work which I plan to spend working on my blog and personal goals.
The COVID-19 pandemic really changed our way of life.
Stay safe and stay healthy.
That’s it for October 2020.
How’s your finances for October 2020?
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