Financial Goals 2014

I started this blog way back in 2008 to learn about handling my Personal Finances. I am not a Professional Finance Adviser and I do not have a back ground on accounting or investing. All I have is an interest to learn about these topics.

I started reading about investments and personal finance back in 2008. Although I learned a lot from the articles and books I read, I didn't practice most of the things I learned until 2010. Even then I still had problems with how I handled my money. Even though I earned more than the average person my age back then, I also spent most of my income buying the latest gadgets and splurging on other unnecessary expenses.

Break down of my Current Assets at the Start of 2014


It was only last 2012 I have consistently managed my personal finances. I have kept my liabilities to a minimum and increased my assets every year. Even though I had some major expenses last year, I still managed to keep my finances on track. I had to use my savings, a huge portion of my emergency fund and and a small portion of my investments to pay for these expenses. I managed to recover some of my savings and emergency fund at the end of the year and the majority of my investment was still intact. I decided to share my financial goals for this year to motivate myself to achieve this goal.

Emergency Fund - As of January 2014, two thirds of my emergency fund was used to pay some emergency expenses last year. I will be setting aside at least 20% of my income to achieve this and add anything I earn from my other sources of income to recover this as soon as possible. I plan to replenish my emergency fund, which is equivalent to 6 months of my total monthly expenses, before the end of June this year.

Savings - I started this year with minimal balance on my savings account. Most of my savings was used to pay for my wedding and the birth of my daughter last 2013. After I replenish my emergency fund I will concentrate on increasing my savings I am currently taking on the 52 week challenge I read from Kuripot Pinay but with some slight modifications. I will religiously set aside the minimum amount required in the 52 week challenge into a savings account. If I ever have extra cash on hand at the end of the week, I will add it to my savings account. I aim to reach at least two months worth of my salary. 

Investments - Despite incurring major expenses last year. I managed to keep most of my investments untouched. My diversified portfolio of trust funds ,mutual funds and forex investment are still intact at the start of the year. I am planning to add more to these funds after I replenish my emergency fund and savings account. My investments consist of fifty percent equities, twenty percent bonds and thirty percent currencies. Another investment I am planning to pursue in the next couple of years is to purchase a home. I am still carefully analyzing this move since this is a long term commitment once I decide to avail a housing loan.
Investment Portfolio

Insurance - Before the birth of my daughter I already had a life insurance which focused more on investment. I got a whole life insurance and I am more than half way paying my premium. After the birth of my daughter, I needed to increase my premium since I already had two dependents that I needs security. I got an additional term insurance to increase the coverage of my life insurance last year. I plan to increase my coverage before the end of the year to increase the security of my family.

Summary of Financial Goals for 2014
Expenditure - Last year I made a lot of wrong decisions when it came to my expenditures. I made a lot of unnecessary purchases that could have been invested. Last October 2013, I started making a accurate budget for the whole year of 2014. I made projections based on my income and monthly expenses. I disciplined myself to stick to my budget and update it as often as possible. I decided to restrict my credit card usage to paying for fuel and utility expenses only. As of October last year I have rarely gone out of my budget and I have drastically minimized my expenses on December.

Goal at the end of 2014
I set myself achievable financial goal for this year. Once I achieve a goal I mentioned here, I will update this post. I will update this post if I achieve all of my financial goals before the end of the year.