Author: reggiesoang

Self-made millionaires are frugal and diligent; they have good habits and they stick to their goals.

Habits are formed by a goal-oriented lifestyle. Creating a budget or setting a goal is to avoid deprivation and encourage happier spending. Though life gets hard, habits help me stay on track and avoid impulse buying.

Here are my goals for 2021.

• “Fun fund” , $210.00 monthly
  • I set up a “fun fund” to cultivate hobbies and feed my curiosities. This is money I set aside every month to eat out, buy wines and books.
• Household spending, $200.00 monthly
  • This budget is for groceries mostly. I occasionally go over the budget if I had to purchase other household goods, such as toilet paper or paper towels. I sometime allocate some of the “fun fund” to support my household spending.
• Investments, 350.00 monthly
  • This is an amount I could either invest in the stock market or set aside for later use.
• Emergency savings account, $100.00 monthly
  • I have a 4-month emergency fund tucked away in a high-yield savings account. Anything more is a bonus that could help me pay for any unexpected expenses.
• Acorns, $7.00 daily
  • Acorns does a great job helping me invest. I recently upgraded my risk tolerance to “moderately aggressive”. My current saving and investment are predicted to reach $300,000 by the age of 65.
• Roth IRA contribution, $500.00 monthly
  • My goal is to max out my Roth IRA contribution every year, which is $6,000 for singles who earn $140K or less. My Roth IRA account is predicted to reach $790,000 by the age of 65.

Since the pandemic, I’ve become more aware of my spendings because I needed to weather the storm and come out fine.

With money set aside for the rent, some living basics, an emergency fund, and my automated savings account, I use the rest of the money to invest in happiness.

My happiness comes from cultivating relationships with my friends and family, dedicating a portion of my day to exercising, reading books, journaling and blogging, and investing. I want to share 5 purchases (an aggregate amount of each) that I made in 2020~2021.

1. Books, $560.00
– Some of my favorite titles are: Stillness is the Key, No Rules Rules, Greenlights, Range, My Own Words – Ruth Bader Gingsburg, and Liar’s Poker

I purchased these books because I wanted to feed my curiosity about successful professionals and companies. 

2. Holiday Wine Gifts, $800.00
– I was introduced to Cruse Wine Co. by a friend, and I enjoyed the wines thoroughly. Cruse Wines are from California, and they are flavorful and easy to drink, and they also don’t break my bank.

I bought some wines for my closest friends and family for the Holidays. These wines fed us well in the most peculiar time of our lives! 

3. Stocks, $16,250.00
– Though investing sounds mundane, I enjoy learning about different companies. Through my investment research, I am exposed to new technology and exciting businesses, and I couldn’t be more hopeful about the future.

My biggest position in my portfolio is WCLD Cloud Computing Fund, which I’ve made just over $2000.00 in one year of investment. I still feed my position in WCLD when I see opportunities.

4. Renewing my YMCA gym membership, $82.00 monthly
– My old gym, YMCA at Prospect Park, was closed for the majority of the year. Since the opening, I was able to get back and work out with my mask on. I understood the risks even after getting fully vaccinated, I did my best to follow the protocols and feed my health. 

5. Tri-pod & Video Rig, $82.40
– I bought a tripod and a video rig at the start of the pandemic to make cooking videos and teach cooking classes. I have made some money from teaching and used the money to feed my savings account. In addition, I use the tripod and the video rig to facetime my friends and family. I am definitely getting a lot of milage out of these two gadgets.

COVID-19 has been the hardest curveball I have ever faced. In baseball, a great batter steps up to the home plate with a plan; he is disciplined with the pitches he swings at. Though not every swing produces a score, he still contributes by being present. I strive to be savvy with my money and invest in my happiness, and I encourage you to do the same. 

Credit card is a useful tool to save money if used strategically.

There are two types of credit card options, cash back vs. travel cards.

Cash back cards earn you a percentage of cash based on the money you spend, generally between 1% to 6%, while travel cards give you points and you can convert them to cash when you purchase airline or train tickets.

I only use 1 credit card, and it is a travel card. My rules for using a credit card are the following:

– only spend what I could pay off at the end of each month

I have a monthly budget and I stick to my goals and only spend accordingly.

– automate my monthly payment to avoid late fees

I automate my credit card payment to avoid late fees. However, I still remember the payment date in order to track my monthly spending, which ultimately is the plan to focus on living.

– use my credit card as much I can for fixed costs (utilities, MetroCard, subscriptions)

I optimize my credit card to earn travel points. Using my credit card towards household spendings helps me optimize my reward even if I don’t spend money elsewhere.

– only use my points for traveling because I get the most return when I convert my points to purchase tickets

I consolidate my credit card usage towards one travel card because my goal is to travel and do it cheaply. Therefore, I only redeem my points towards airline tickets, which gives me the best return on my investment.

Here’s the snapshot of my current credit card spending:
*The total amount is approximately 25%~28% of my income.

Working in a kitchen is labor intensive. Burns and bruises are mere scratches compared to long-term side effects from standing, lifting heavy weights, and breathing in smoke constantly.

I am a health advocate, and investing in health has gradually become the center of attention in the hospitality industry.  Not only do we have to promote a healthy lifestyle, but we also have to coach people on investing in health.

Staying healthy is a commitment I make to my family, friends, and bosses. Being healthy allows me to cultivate friendships and relationships, and work better. Therefore, I allocate a portion of my income to purchase health insurance. 

In a state-sponsored health insurance marketplace (under the Affordable Care Act), insurance plans are categorized into 4 tiers: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Different metals offer different levels of benefit, with bronze being the lowest and platinum the highest.

To understand health insurance, these are terms to be familiar with: deductible, premiums, copay, and coinsurance.

deductible – the amount you must pay for covered services before your health insurance provider begins to pay.
premiums – the amount you pay to the health insurance company each month to maintain your coverage
copay – a fixed amount you pay for a covered health care service after you’ve paid your deductible. (You may be subject to copay before your deductible has been met.)
coinsurance – a percentage of a medical charge that you pay, with the rest paid by your health insurance plan, that typically applies after your deductible has been met

The higher the premium, the lower the deductible, and the sooner the coverage starts. Vice versa. 

My poor financial literacy had cost me opportunities to invest in my health when I was young. Learning the basics has helped me choose a plan that suits my lifestyle and budget.

My investment in health is part of my plan to achieve financial freedom. Having health insurance allows me to focus on living. Having decent health is worthy of every penny I save and allows me to work and save some more.

Shit happens, and that’s why we always have a back-up plan in the kitchen (I will also teach you how to be a great cook, but that’s another topic).

In life, shit happens too. Therefore, building an emergency fund is second to none in building personal wealth.

After I paid off my debts, I immediately opened a savings account to save for an emergency fund. To calculate your emergency fund, take your absolute monthly expenses and multiply it by however many months you wish to have saved.

I generally try and keep 6 months of emergency fund. However, shit happens. Therefore, I fluctuate between having 3 to 6 months of emergency fund in my savings account.

An emergency fund is meant for emergency. Therefore, the money is meant to be kept and grow at the most conservative rate. Currently, most of the savings account have 0.1% ~ 0.5% annual rate of return, which is almost nothing. However, money tucked away in a savings account will give you peace of mind if anything unexpected were to happen in your life.

Here are ways to build your emergency fund:
1. Start small by skipping things you don’t need, like eating out less often 
I cut down on alcohol consumption and stopped taking taxis or uber (unless it was absolutely necessary)
2. Cut back on the cash in your no-interest checking account. If you typically have any money leftover after paying off your bills, put those money into a high-yield saving account
I automate a certain amount of cash to be transferred into my savings account according to my plan
3. Treat your emergency fund as a bill that you have to pay every month and automate the transfer of the fund
I automate a certain amount of cash to be transferred into my savings account according to my plan
4. Stop using credit card until you could pay it off entirely
I only used a credit card to pay my utilities and phone bill until I could consistently pay off a good chunk of my debts, and then I’d use it for entertainment occasionally.
5. Put your tax refund into your emergency account immediately
I actually used my tax refund to pay off my credit card debts.
6. Audit your expenses regularly to see if you need to increase your emergency fund
I track my expenses weekly, and it’s a routine before I make any “fun” purchases.

I will retire rich. It’s a goal and a pursuit to enjoy living.

Retiring rich would give me peace of mind if my health deteriorates.

Retiring rich would give me the opportunity to pursue other interests and to keep living.

Rarely does a restaurant, unless it is a part of a larger hospitality group, offer retirement saving to its employees. However, you could start saving early by opening an IRA account with an online brokerage.

There are two types of IRA accounts: Traditional and Roth IRA. Both are great tools for saving for retirement. One is not better than the other, the mere difference is based on each individual’s preference in either paying tax now or later. (fund withdrawn from a retirement account is taxed as an income).

While a Traditional IRA lets you deduct your income in the annual tax return and defer tax payment, you are subject to pay income tax when you withdraw the money later.

In contrast, money that goes into ROTH IRA is post-tax. You are using part of your take-home paycheck to contribute to the retirement account. Therefore, money withdrawn later is not subject to income tax.

I opened a Roth IRA account with Wealthfront, a robo-advisor, and it invests my retirement saving in a personalized stock portfolio. My average return is 7%~10% annually. And my money compounds over time.

I choose to open a ROTH IRA because I am expecting to be in the higher tax bracket when I retire; therefore, by contributing to ROTH IRA, I will be able to withdraw my money without paying any tax.

Saving for retirement is the first step towards achieving financial freedom. Money saved and invested compounds over time. A 10-year gap of saving could be the difference of $500k in your bank when you retire.

Regarding to my personal stock portfolio, I let my robo-advisor, Wealthfront, invest for me according to my risk tolerance.

I am 36-year-old and single, and I have a decent job. Therefore, I lean towards on the riskier side of my investment. The risk tolerance is usually decided in relation to your age; the older you get, the less risky your investment should be, given you will have less years to work and make up any losses incurred in your investment.

Saving for retirement is a long game worth playing. Life is short, yet long enough for us to live and enjoy. While we toil our days away at work, the greatest reward at the end is to enjoy the wealth we build for retirement. 

My journey in acquiring financial freedom starts with determining my fund allocation and automating my savings accordingly.

I allocate my money to the following categories.

• Fixed cost: 60% ~ 65%
• Long-term saving: 5% ~ 10%
• Retirement: 11%
• Long-term investment: 5% ~10%
• Fun: 5% ~ 10%

By setting a goal and sticking to the game plan, I no longer have to “skip that latte” because I have already made the purchases by allocating my money to the right categories. No more guilt and deprivation!

To further detail my spendings, I’ve listed the money that goes into each of the 5 major categories.

Fixed Cost
– Rent
– Utilities (gas, heat, electricity, internet, cellphone)
– Subscriptions (Netflix, iCloud Storage, Google Storage, MS Office)
– Transportation (NYC Metro Card)
– Health Insurance
– Household spending (toilet paper, paper towels, etc)

Most of the fixed cost items could be automated through an online payment portal, which alleviates your stress by paying bills on time without accruing any interests and fees.

Long Term Saving
– High yield online saving account

I opened an online saving account called Marcus with Goldman Sachs, which offers one of the highest interest rates in a saving account. I automate the money to be transferred monthly. 

Retirement
– Roth IRA 

I’ve opened a Roth-IRA with Wealthfront, which is a robo-advisor that lets you select your risk tolerance and then generates a personalized stock portfolio to help you invest.

The earning on my retirement saving is growing at a similar rate of return with the stock market, between 5% to 10% annually.

Long – term investment
– Stocks
– Bitcoin
– Real Estate

I have an account with Robinhood that allows me to purchase stocks, exchanged traded fund (ETF), and Bitcoin without paying commissions. These investments are riskier and they bring me 5% to 10% of return annually.

I invest in real estate through an app called Fundrise. Fundrise is a real estate robo-advisor where your investment is placed into a trust after you select your investment goal. Fundrise gives 3 options for your goals: supplemental income, balanced investing, and long-term growth. My investment goal is long-term growth.

Fun
– Wine purchases
– Traveling
– Dining out
– Going on dates (movie tickets, amusement park tickets, coffee, etc)
– Book purchases
– Groceries

My idea for fun is anything that I enjoy doing outside of my work. Drinking wines, eating out, going on dates, or buying books on Amazon.

Though groceries are essential to my living, I consider groceries as part of the “fun” budget because of the flexibility for me to splurge on luxurious ingredients, such as avocados, smoked salmon, or fancy cheeses to go with my wines.

My fund allocation guides my spending. With a plan, I am able to be more mindful of where every dollar goes.  With a consistent effort, I am no longer depriving myself of drinking wines and eating good food. I am also on my way to acquiring financial freedom.

One of the easiest ways to grow your wealth is to automate your savings with a robo-advisor, such as Acorns, Wealthfront, or Betterment, and automate your credit card payment to avoid fees and interests.

Money invested is compounded over time. Compound interest is powerful, and it could either work in your favor or hurt you if not monitored carefully.

To make compound interest work in your favor, if you invested $100 and had an average of 5% annual growth rate, your first year of return would be based on the $100 you invested. Your second-year return would be a 5% growth on $105, with the extra $5 from year-1’s investment.

With the compound interest principle in mind, one could apply the same logic to loans or debts, such as mortgages, student loans, or credit card debts.

Credit card debts are one of the most common forms of debt in America. Credit card interests are calculated on a daily basis. To illustrate credit card debts’ crippling effect…

Let’s assume your daily average credit card balance is $100 (to get your daily average, you have to add up your daily balance and divide it by the number of days in a billing cycle, which is usually 30 days), your credit card annual percentage rate, APR, is 20%. and Your billing cycle is 30 days. Here’s the math…

Daily interest rate: 20% divided by 365 days, which is 0.05%
Interest charged: multiply daily average of $100 by 0.0005 (0.o5%), which is $0.05, a nickel.
Total interest charged: multiply $0.05 by 30 days (a billing cycle), which is $1.5.

You’d be charged $1.5 of interest if you don’t pay $100 of the credit card balance on time, in the first month.

Here’s the catch…credit card interest is a compound interest, which means the interest accrued will be added to your balance and get charged with interest again if you don’t pay it off.

To further demonstrate credit card debt’s damage…

Supposedly you keep your daily balance at $100, and you’ve only paid the minimum for last month’s credit card balance, which is $15 usually. You will be carrying $86.50 to the next month ($85.00 unpaid balance + $1.50 interest accrued).

Your new daily average will balloon to $186.50 ($100 current monthly average + 86.50 previous balance). To calculate the new interest by using the method described above, your new interest would be $2.80 by the end of the second month (assuming your daily average stays the same from day-1 to day-30), which is a 86% increase! Now…picture your 5-figure credit card debt and the interest it’d accrue over time. I made the mistake of overlooking its impact.

To help you understand credit card interests, click on the links below:

Nerdwallet: How Credit Card Interests are Calculated 

Bottom line, compound interest is earned (or owed) on the already-existing principal, and it could work in your favor or hurt you in the long run. To achieve financial freedom, pay off your debts ASAP and save right now!

The Balance: Explains compound interests on credit card debts and how long it’d take to pay off a $1,000 balance.

The Balance: Explains the periodic interest rate, which is usually applied to any unpaid credit card balance.