As most followers of this blog knows, we record our monthly expenses almost religiously (in the past).
It got a little monotonous in 2018 since there was little change in our spending habits and we decided to take a little break. And oops, it somehow amounted to almost 3 years of non-tracking.
My instincts tell me our expenditure is significantly different compared to a few years ago and it might need some reining in. And I believe tracking our expenses for at least a year is the best way to find out.
And of course, monthly updates also keep me disciplined to write on this blog.
To keep the updates uncluttered, I will divide our expenses into two portions:
1. The fixed, recurring expenses and
2. The variable expenses
Besides simplicity, this method will also help to minimise the volatility across months. The fixed, recurring expenses would be updated yearly to be as relevant as possible.
The breakdown of 2021’s amortised fixed expenses are detailed below.
Car: $1,320/mth
Loan Payment ($920) – A $50,000 loan over 5 years at 1.99% interest. I have paid for about 18 months so there is another 3.5 years to go. There’s a temptation to halve the amount and amortise it over 10 years of ownership but that would be at the expense of understanding my current cashflow.
Insurance ($190) – As part of the package when we bought the car, we paid for two years of insurance at one go to qualify for discounts. With No-Claim-Discounts (NCD) rolling in, this amount should go down the next few years. Fingers crossed.
Season Parking ($110) – HDB sheltered parking at our place.
Road Tax ($100) – It’s a 1998cc car so we pay $600 every 6 months.
Mortgage: $920/mth
We repriced our loan with DBS just before the collapse of mortgage rates early last year and is paying a fixed 2% on our $200k loan. Well, one can’t always get the best deals.
Parents Allowance: $500/mth
This amount is likely to be considered really low by most of our peers. But we are blessed that Mrs 15HWW’s father is still economically active and her parents are likely to be more than self-sufficient in their retirement years.
The gesture itself matters more than the absolute quantum that we provide.
Insurance: $180/mth
This is where it gets a little hairy and messy since it involves a two people and there’s so many types of insurances that we buy. Therefore, I have split it into a few distinct sections:
Health ($68) – Currently, both of us are insured under NTUC’s Enhanced Income Shield and we purchased an additional Assist Rider in 2011 that reduces our co-insurance to 10% and cap hospitalisation expenses to $3,000 a year.
Since the Shield is purchased using MediSave (and we still have pretty substantial balances there), I have only included the two riders which we pay with cash here.
The riders are no longer offered to prospective buyers and we have experienced price increases of >100% for our premiums since 2016. Moral hazard for medical expenses is real.
Home ($33) – We are both insured for 100% of the outstanding mortgage. I am covered by CPF’s Home Protection Scheme while the wife is covered by Aviva. With lower mortality rates for young women, her coverage is cheaper at ~$190.
Disability and Life ($78) – Both of us are covered by the Dependents’ Protection Scheme (DPS). Mrs 15 HWW has a Manulife Choice Cover with an additional Disability Advanced Payment rider for $318 a year. My Term Life policy with Aviva ($510 a year) provides a coverage of $150k.
You can refer to this post for a more detailed description of our insurance purchases. If there is a need to increase our coverage, the SAF Group Term Insurance is a likely option.
Utilities: $130/mth
S & CC ($78) – The lights in the corridor, the monthly washing of void decks and the maintenance of the playground are all paid for with this sum of money. Part of it also goes to Semb Corp for waste removal.
Internet ($50) – It’s a 1GBPS fibre broadband for a monthly fee of $40. We are paying add-ons for the Google Nest mesh set-up too.
Total: $3,050/mth
So for the next twelve months, I will be using the figure of $3,050 as our amortised fixed expenses!
Thanks for reading.
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