In this month, I made another big investment which is our 2^nd house rental renovation. Because of that, I need to send almost a half of my money right now so we can finally start it. Other than that, I also sent an amount for our Davao tour and for my dad’s 56^th birthday. By following the budget that I have right now, I’m so happy that all of my savings are intact and I was able to follow the projected cash flow that I made for myself. Truly, everything needs effort and hard work to make it happen. If I never plan anything in the start of this year, I won’t be able to have any idea where my money will go. I may have missed this great opportunity that I have right now that’s why I’m so thankful that I set targets and plan which supported me to achieved these financial goals that I set for myself. This will be only the start of everything and I will still have a long way to go to make all of what I dream happen. What important right now is that, I finally started it and I’m very much motivated to achieve more now that I took this first step. Because of this experienced as well, it helps me to be more confident to invest more rather than to keep all my money in the bank. The key things that I learned this year in regards to finances are the following:

1. The first step in investing is to secure yourself first.
2. The earlier you plan your ideal life, the earlier you can work on it.
3. Delayed gratification will help you to be more motivated.
4. Take risk if you know that you have a chance to succeed.
5. Invest on things that you know. You need to learn the whole process.
6. Failure and mistakes are all part of your growth.
7. Choose the people that will genuinely help and support you to grow.

In finances, I realized that it’s not about how big our salary is, but it’s more about our capacity to save up and make it grow. The moment that we received an income from any other sources that we currently have, the power to manage it will be on our hands. It’s either we used it all up for all our expense, or manage it so that we can start saving up to reach our financial goals. Everything will all be based from us. I’d seen some of the people that I met in this journey still haven’t maximized their income because they’d been doing a method which inhibits them to save up. They usually blame their responsibilities, lifestyle choices and a lot more excuses that push them not to invest their money. For me, the essential part in saving which we really need to consider first, is the TIME. Due to the reason that most people share the same mindset which is the habit of saying “NEXT TIME”, it resulted for them to have limited time to do it and in worst case scenario is that, they don’t have any more chance to do it. I’d met a lot of people who share the same situation, and that’s for me an enlightenment to work as early as possible to be prevent it from happening to my life.

I refuse to have the same fate like others.

For me, I wanted to achieve a kind of life wherein money is not a problem. I don’t want to wake up thinking where can I get money because everything is not enough. With the current trends wherein all cost of goods and services are getting higher as times goes by, I need to consider everything that will affect me in the future. For now, the only thing I can do is to invest more in passive income stream and make my money grow before I have my own family. The experiences that the people around me showed to me became my driving force to do everything that I can to make all of my goals possible. Now that I already secured myself as soon as I got a job last 2016 by means of getting two insurance and investment, I believe that this is the perfect time to start saving up for passive income streams. Before the year started, I made a list of business which is ideal for me who’s working overseas. Since I can’t be physically there to manage the business, I need to think of something that can generate income. At first, I think of acquiring a row house but due to the requirements needed that I still lack, I just asked my parents to make used of our existing house rentals to renovate and we’ll have a fair share for it. Gladly they agreed and that’s how I started to saved up and make it as my goal for this year.

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” ― Gloria Steinem

By means of sticking to my budget I slowly achieved it and now I am left with the 2^nd house which will be hopefully renovated on August. I still can’t imagine that I was able to secure that big amount of money within less than two years after I was laid off from my job due to the pandemic. With this experience, I realized that anything will be attainable as long as you work for it. Blessings don’t happen in an instant, it’s a product of effort, hard work, consistency and faith. This first step that I took this year will be the starting point of everything that I dreaming of. I will continue to aim for more and inspire others by means of sharing it on this blog. I want my blogs to serve as my story that I can always look back in the future.

In this month financial assessment, I can conclude that I achieved my goals and at the same time follow the budget that I planned. Like how I did it in last month’s financial review, this blog will be short, specific and concise which will be comprises of the following parts:

1. Savings. Are the amount I saved for each fund (Business, Insurance, Investment, Retirement, Emergency, Joint Account and Local Bank)
2. Expenses. Consist of the list of my expenses incurred for this month (Grocery, Leisure & family support)
3. Financial Plans for the Next Month. This part will be the financial targets for the next month that will serve as a guide for me to choose what I need to prioritize.
4. Ideal Budget for the month of August. This will be the ideal budget which undergo adjustment to meet the financial goals for the next month.
5. Summary. This will be the conclusion of my finances this month and the things I need to work on to meet my financial goals.

One thing that made me really inspired in this month as well is when I started to watched different inspiring stories about how people started their own business. It’s very inspiring in a way that some started it at the young age and now they’re gaining six digits profit every month. Every time I watched videos that features a business story of individuals, I really took note their advices for those who wanted to start their own business. Most common advices are:

1. You need to love what you’re doing.
2. Progress takes time.
3. You need to invest in building your own skills and experiences.

Now that there’s a lot of competitions present nowadays, I’m thinking that I need to be well prepared before engaging to it. It is important that I financially secured myself first and should use this current time to harness my skills.  On my previous financial recap, I shared the businesses that me and my sister wanted to start in the future. In this month, I made a specific list of ideas which can be an option for each. Here below are the following specific business ideas that I did:

1. Food Cart Business. Beverage (Coffee, Tea and Fresh Juices) / Chicken and Beer (Korean Style Restaurant) / Street Food / Porridge

2. Necessity Business. Rice / Filtered Water / Fresh Goods (Vegetables) / Frozen Goods (Meat and poultry)

3. Glamping Place (Air BnB). Farm House with minimum P7,500.00 per night.

4. Reseller. Existing skin care products (Ryx/ Beauche etc.)

5. Brand Ambassador/Influencer. Instagram/ Facebook/ Tiktok

I know that these ideas above will still take time to happen. For now, I need to first work on building more rental houses so that I can secure myself first. As soon as I reached the minimum target amount which is P30,000.00 and get an insurance for our future kids, I can consider quitting and start my own business back in the Philippines. It will be a long journey and within that period, I need to make sure that I’m making progress every year. I officially started it this year and I will surely work on it consistently.

To remind me of my plans that I need to work on today, here below are the things I must do before I retire:

To remind me of my plans that I need to work on today, here below are the things I must do before I retire:

1. LONG-TERM INVESTMENT: Secure Payment for Insurance, Investment and Retirement Fund. (Source of income will be from 2 House Rental Monthly Total Amount Needed: P7,700.00)
2. PASSIVE INCOME INVESTMENT: Minimum of five rental house under my name which provides a P6000 monthly rental for each. Target monthly income before retirement is minimum of P40,000.00.
3. MEDIUM TERM INVESTEMENT: Pag-ibig Fund MP2 initial investment of P250,000.00
4. FAMILY SECURITY: Secure insurance of Kids when they reached five years old. The target amount is P200,000.00- P250,000.00 (Source will be from medium-term investment)
5. OWN VACATION HOUSE IN BACOLOD: 150sqm-300sqm mountain house.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in, and day-out.” – Robert Collier.

For a recap of my financial goals this year, here are the illustration that will serves as your guide which is also mentioned in my blog “My 2022 Goals”.

Now, let’s see the status of my finances for the month of July 2022.

As you can see in the illustration above, there are some adjustments that I started last month due to the move of my vacation. According to the projected cash flow that I did this year, as long as I can stick to my budget every month, I can secure all the pending payments that I’m yet to settle. As of now, the only thing that I’m currently waiting is the status of my ticket because it is still pending as of now. If ever the company will pay for me, I can secure an advance payment for my 2^nd investment which cost P43,000.00. Over all, I can say that I’m doing pretty well because I was able to secure the projects that I set for myself this year. The whole process is indeed challenging especially in balancing my needs and wants. Sometimes I feel left out because I’d been wanting to do something but it’s out of my budget. Every time I experienced that, I always feel sad but thankfully, my partner is there to cheer me up. I know that I’d been pressuring myself too much sometimes and I forgot to enjoy the whole process. I learned that I need to balance well my life in order to at least enjoy and gain memorable experiences in this journey. Truly, all of my goals require patience and hard work to do so. I’d been working on it since I graduated, and I’d seen how my finances grow at the same time. I just need to work on being in the present as well while working on my future.

Now that my goals are growing, I need to start looking for opportunities that will help me to achieve it. For me, I don’t miss any single hour of my life and end up regretting in the future. I will work on whatever I can do today to be able to be financially secured. Growth takes time and with these baby steps that I’d been doing on my savings, I believe that it will soon grow to how I expected it to be. Now, let’s carefully assess my current savings as of this month of July 2022.

1. Business Fund. This fund is where most of my salary goes. It occupies almost half of my budget for almost two years. Because of it also, I cut down my expenses budget which inhibits me to buy things that I want.Finally, I was able to put into work the amount that I saved for this fund. From the total savings of P345,000.00 in this fund, I was able renovate our two-house rental which gains a monthly income of P12,000.00 for both. Because of it, I was able to gain a passive income of P4,000.00 monthly which will be my source of payment for my SSS and insurance. For the rest of the months, the money intended for this fund will be for my vacation on September. After that, I will start saving in this fund again on the year 2023 so that by December I can purchase a lot which will be my first real estate investment. For me to be able to ensure that this fund will be safe, I planned to have a separate bank account which I will store the money. As of now, I only have one bank account where I received my salary. So, to be able to manage well my finances, I planned to make a separate one solely intended for it.

2. Insurance Fund. Now that I’m in the process of renovating our second house, this fund and also my retirement fund will be finally secured. This is actually what I aim this year and I’m happy that I achieved it this year. By achieving it this year, it would help me to allocate more money for the other funds that I have. The only task that I need to do this year is to put all of my insurance, retirement and investment payment in one account. This would help me to pay easily by enrolling it into auto debit set up which will also ensure me that all payments are on time and updated. Hopefully by the end of this year, all of the pending task that I have will be settled so I can start the year by only focusing in saving money for it.

3. Investment Fund. . After I moved the payment of this fund on October to make way for my vacation, I did an adjustment for the rest of my funds so that I can ensure that my payment for it will be ready as soon as my vacation ended. If ever I have extra money balance from my vacation, I planned to deposit money to it so that I can secure it right away. As of this month, I’d been doing pretty well in all of my savings since all of my funds are in tact and ready. I just need to check it once in awhile to make sure that there’s amount ready on that account.

4. Retirement Fund. Like my 1^st insurance, as soon that my project for this year is done, I can finally secure a lifetime payment for this. I will pool all of my existing financial obligation in one account and I will enroll it in an auto debit so it will be easier for me. I will do it as soon as I reach home on my vacation since that will be my top priority. I should make sure that all of my funds and accounts will all be ready before the end of this year.

5. Emergency Fund. Due to the vacation that I planned this year, I can only work on my emergency fund on November- December. Because of the limited time I have this year, I also decided to cut it from 5000 Qar to 3000 Qar. In these coming years, I will slowly strengthen it so I can be more secured If anything happens.

6. Joint Account Fund. For this savings, I will start it on the year 2023 and make a separate account for it so that I can make sure that I won’t touch it. Now that after three years, we are planning to have our wedding, it is very important to at least start saving today so that it will be ready in the future. Together with my partner, we will both save here and this will serve as our source of fund for all of our goals. Hopefully, as the year goes, we can have better opportunities which will help us to save more.

With these savings above, I planned to have more of it in the years that will come. I will also start planning different ways to manage my finances once I will have my own family so that I can have an insight on the things that I must prepare beforehand. Some may ask me, why I keep aiming for more even I’m doing great now. But for me, I don’t want to feel at ease right now because I know that I can achieve more. All of the things that I have today are all just my steeping stone towards the big goals that I want to aim in the future. If I will be contented today, I can miss a lot of big opportunities that I still have in the future. Let’s just say that this is a kind of battle of myself wherein I should not stop fighting. Time is my partner and I should not waste it and take it for granted. I want to prove to everyone that there’s no such thing as limits. We can all be the person that we want to become as long as we don’t give up and keep trying.

“The speed of your success is limited only by your dedication and what you’re willing to sacrifice.”

― Nathan W. Morris

After this year, I will make sure that my effort will be continued on the next years that will come. It will be just the beginning of everything and as long as I keep working one it, I will achieve more than I can imagine. This blog will be the evidence of my hard work and perseverance to reach all of my goals. I hope that I soon as look back in the past, I can be proud of my past self who really worked hard to make it all possible.

Compare to my last month expense, I have more expenditure this month due to the schedule of renovation of the second house rental and the two payments for our Davao trip. I already input everything on my budget and also in the cash flow projection this year that’s why I already secured a budget for it beforehand. The increasing currency exchange this time helped me to save a little bit of my expense and keep it for emergency purposes. Now that I have less than two months to prepare for my vacation, I need to make sure that I have all the necessary requirements I need and at the same time the budget guideline that I need to follow on that month. As of now, I’d been actively recording everything and it help me to check my current and past expense. By starting that this year, my finances are more organized than the past. I don’t ask anymore where my money goes because I already have a record of everything. This also drives me to consistently do it because of the benefits that it gave me this year. The financial reviews that I’m doing as well was proven effective because I became more dedicated to follow the budget plan I do for a specific month. Truly having a record of everything is the best way to know and track your finances. I’m happy that I started it this year and this inspired to do my best to continue what I started.

Now, here are below are my expense in this coming month of May which I will input also on the budget that I will do:

1. Pasalubong -P6,000.00
2. Vacation requirements- P6,000.00
3. Davao 3^rd Payment- P3,750.00

With the list above, you’ll get an insight of my priority expense that I’ll be having for the month of August. As you can see, it is more of my vacation related expense because my it will be on September. Now that my vacation is getting near, I can feel how the excitement builds up inside me. It’s been almost four year and I really wanted to reach out with my family and friends whom I met since last half decades. We all know that due to the pandemic, restriction are the ones that inhibit us to do a lot of things nowadays. Now that I have a chance to spend it with my loved ones, I will really take this opportunity to make a lot of memorable memories with them. Not only that, I will also make use of this time to settle all of the pending financial task since last 2020. I’m pretty sure that my finances will be intact once again. Thankfully I will be practical in handling it especially for my “pasalubong” or treats for my loved ones. At first, I planned to buy a lot of things here but I realized that is way cheaper in the Philippines. Now, I just think of some things that I can give as a gift and I will just have a grocery back there for the rest of the items. The following things that I have in mind are the following:

1. Perfume/Cologne
2. Dates
3. Tea/Coffee
4. Powder
5. Chocolates

As long as I will follow the cash flow that I did for this year, I can achieve all of my financial goals and also secure an advance payment for my second investment. I can only attain that by following my plans and it will surely be very challenging to do so. To make my plans worked, I’d been sacrificing a lot which sometimes makes me sad. Every time I’m in that emotional period, I keep thinking all the positive things that happened in my life due to those sacrificing. I keep telling to myself that everything is worth it and I’d done a good job to do it when everybody refused to go on that path. As a young individual who keeps challenging herself so she can reach her dream destination, one thing for sure is the journey will not be as simple as that. The more challenges present, the stronger I can come out in the end. That’s why, every time I cry because of the pressure that I put into myself, I just think it as a way to let myself feel that a plan comes with an effort and sacrifices. If the path will be as easy as it is, the journey won’t be memorable. It is important to find strength in every situation that may arise in our life, because that will push us to do better in the future. This tracking of expenses that I’d been doing now, will surely reflect on the future that I wanted to have.  Believe that time will come and I won’t feel bad to spend money because I know that I have more sources to do so. So, rather than thinking of the pain that I’d been experiencing every now and then, I will just think that it’s a requirement towards the person that I want to become.

“The important thing is this: to be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become.”  ― James Allen

To give you an idea on where most of my expenses went this month, here are some pictures of it which I also shared in my previous blog:

Hang out with Labi

Now that I shared some of my plans for the next month on this blog, you can somehow have an insight on the priorities that I have for August. All I am left to do is to make sure that I will not overspend so that I can make sure that I have enough budget for my vacation. Now that I also finalized my budget for vacation, I need to print out everything so I can be prepared weeks prior to my flight. I will also be very busy processing the requirements this month that’s why I made a separate budget for it which will include the transportation and meal cost that we will incur on that day. I actually feel hassle with all of the things that I need to finish first before going on vacation, gladly I have with me my partner who will also go for vacation so at least I have someone to do it together. To be able to make sure that I will not overspend my budget this August, I will specify my expense and stick to it. This blog will be serves as my guide to all the task that I’ll be doing this month.

Now that my second biggest expense is officially done, I am left with one more task which is the payment of my second investment which is on October. After that, I can finally prepare my budget and financial goals for the next year. Just by thinking of it really makes me excited. After I achieved the goals that I set for this year, it makes me more motivated to set things for myself. I feel like everything is attainable as long as I work for it. After making this year as my stepping stone, I will choose to continue and never stop achieving more. I want to be the living evidence that with the right planning and dedication, your goals can be achieve. No matter how many plans you make, but if you refuse to work for it, then nothing will happen. Like what I did in the past months, I cried and literally choose between what I want over what I need and to tell you honestly, it is very hard to do everything consistently. It requires a consistent engagement to that set-up to be able to develop habits. As long as you keep doing it, it will become easier as time goes by. Of course, breaking that habit is also way easier than building one. The moment you break your habit twice, then chances are you’ll keep doing it every single time. That’s why it is important that you’ll commit to it and do necessary actions to make it as a consistent practice.

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” ―Alan Lakein

For this month of August, my top priority will be my vacation requirements, treats and also finalizing everything that I need to have during my vacation. Other than that, there some things that I will also thoroughly plan like my blog update during that month, luggage, and of course the hand over of my work. Like what I said, everything requires efforts and discipline. Hopefully I can complete this month with a successful note in the end. Even though it will a busy month for us, I will make sure that I will have memorable memories to experience before I welcome the next month.

Now to check my progress for the month of June and the plans I have for the next month, here below are the two illustrations of it:

1. Budget Achieve. From the expenses that I have for this month and the cash flow projected I set for this year; I need to make sure that I’ll follow my budget for this month. Any excess expense will result to another adjustments which requires updates and changes again on my plans. I hope that there will be no excess expense other than this so I don’t need to make another adjustment.

2. 400 Qar intended for “Pasalubong”. After I decided that I will just buy a little from here and have my groceries there in Philippines, I set a maximum budget of 400 rials for my family and relatives treats. I believe that that amount is more than enough to buy those things, I just need to make sure that they will used it all and won’t just be stuck there at their homes.

3. 400 Qar intended for “Vacation Requirements”. Due to the changes happened brought by the pandemic, there are things that I need to settle here in Qatar. This includes the Pag-ibig payment, contract update, OEC and a lot more requirements. In this coming month, we need to settle everything so that we can be prepared prior to our departure. Since it’s a lot, we’ll be working starting at the end of July so that we can have a one-month period to complete everything.

4. 200 Qar Buffer. This amount will be intended for other expense like meal and transportation. Since we need to go out in order to process our requirements, I just decided to allocate an amount for it so that my other priorities won’t be compromise.

4. Check House Renovation Status. After I sent the budget for renovation this month, I need to check the status of it and make sure if there’s anything that we still need to work on. After I reduced the budget for it, I’m worried that there are some concerns that may happened afterwards if we already secure the tenants. That’s why, we need to make sure that all the major concerns are address before we look for a tenants.

With these priorities above, it will remind me of the things that I must do before the end of the month. Other than this, I need to finalized all of my trackers since I won’t be able to update it once I’ll go for vacation. I need to prepare everything before I go and make sure that I won’t miss anything. With these plans and financial review, it will greatly help me to be reminded of things that I should prioritized first as soon as the month of August start. For sure, this will be a hectic month for both of us so I hope that there will no be concerns that will arise after this.

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” ―Pelle

Now that I already listed my priorities for the month of August and gave an insight of my expense, I can now finally work on the budget that I need to follow. For this coming month, I don’t have much expenses compared to the month of July. Mostly of it is intended for the processing of my vacation requirements and also our Davao trip. To be able to address everything, I planned it beforehand and set an amount which is intended for each priority. Other than that, I need to make sure at the end of the month, I have enough amount for my vacation and balance money that will be left on my account. Since the next month prior to my vacation will be intended for my 2^nd insurance payment, I need to really follow the budget that I set or else it will be very hard for me gain to adjust my budget. The remaining months will also be busy because I will start to apply and at the same time plan my next year. All I hope and pray that before the year ends, I can have a big opportunity that will help me to achieve my financial goals faster.

The review that I’d been consistently doing every month really helped me to develop my financial skills. I feel like I am managing my own company wherein I review its current assets, liabilities and cash flow. Although I have less than the amount that others are receiving, I believe that my eagerness to save more is my driving force to be at least in their same level. Now, I don’t feel amaze of the big salary that a person is making but rather the capacity of that person to save more than what he/she spends. On my 6^th years working overseas, I rarely know someone who shared me his/her multiple investments. I always here the same things which is having a home a car and that’s it. Insurance, investment, businesses and other income streams are not within their consideration. That’s why they end up spending almost their entire life working in a job that they don’t like. I’d learned from them and I refuse to have the same faith. That’s why, I will do whatever I can do now to achieve my ideal future. With the efforts and sacrifices that I’m doing right now, I believe and trust myself that I can make it possible.

Without further ado, here below is the guide that I made for myself in this coming month:

Growing up, we should apply all the things that we learned in our own life. Rather than just listening to it, it will be more effective if we put it into life. The people that I met and the experienced happened in my life helped me to be the person who is eager to change her fate. She believes that she can be more than what they’re expecting her to be. The process that she’s undergoing right now will be her ticket to success. She wants to be the evidence of how patience, hard work and efforts will affect one’s future.

“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” – Colin Powell

Another inspiring month has come to an end. With all these realizations that God gave me this month, it helped me to exert more efforts to all the goals that I planned. Finally, my main target for this year which is to renovate our two house rentals now marked as DONE. Within less than two years, I was able to reach my target budget for both and before the 2022-year ends, we were able to secure tenants for it.

This will be impossible if I didn’t stick to my plans this year. I’m happy that all of my efforts and patience to stop myself in buying unnecessary things are all granted with great results.

In these upcoming months, all I was left to do is to secure an advance payment for my existing financial obligations and I can also start to strengthen my emergency fund. The rest of the months will surely be a challenging yet inspiring moments of my life that will surely help me to achieve all of my goals.

“Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff. It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this.“ — Dave Ramsey