Money talks: The digital media specialist who is aiming to save $80,000 by next year

Money talks: The digital media specialist who is aiming to save $80,000 by next year
PHOTO: Unsplash

We speak to a 30-year old Digital Media Specialist who currently has $60,000 in savings and is hoping to reach $80,000 by 2021.

  • Occupation: Digital Media Specialist

  • Industry: Mass Media

  • Age: 30

  • Education level: Degree

  • Salary: $4,600

Monthly Expenses

  • Income tax monthly instalment: $159
  • Savings plan/investments: $465
  • Insurance: $53
  • Phone Bill: $60
  • Entertainment: $5 (Netflix shared account)
  • Transport: $80

Shopping Expenses

  • How much she thinks she spends: $200
  • How much she actually spent: $2,527

On how she shops:

I tend to shop only for what I need or when there is a sale. I shop for new clothes every two to three months because that’s about the time it takes for me to feel my wardrobe needs a refresh.

In the meantime, I am usually building a wish list on ASOS and only consider checking out when a promo code floats by. I would usually spend $20 – $100 on clothes, and usually at stores such as ZARA and Topshop.

I tend to splurge on designer bags once or twice a year and can spend between $500 and $3,000 for each purchase. My faves are Saint Laurent, Celine and Valentino.

The next two bags that I am eyeing are the classic Celine box and Chanel reissue — but I am planning to get these secondhand or at a discounted store like Reebonz.

If I am eyeing a big ticket item, I’ll make a mental note to start saving for it before the actual purchase. I also prefer to pay via interest-free instalments whenever possible so that I can continue to earn interest on my savings.

I also use the Sephora app once in a while for beauty purchases, especially when I already know what I want, but the in-store experience is much better.

For everything else, I’ll head to Qoo10 and Shopee.

On her savings:

I do feel quite secure with my savings but a huge portion — close to 50 per cent — is going to my wedding and home renovation fund. I am now thinking about trying to build my savings for what comes after that, such as growing my family and paying for my future children’s education.

I’ve been using the “save first, spend later” approach for about three years now and it has been very effective for me. When my salary comes in, it’s automatically assigned to different savings goals that I’ve set up in my OCBC 360 savings account.

The goals I have now are home renovations, wedding and rainy day. Whatever doesn’t get assigned, I use it as spending money.

I currently have about $60,000 in cash saved up, and I have two other endowment plans that will mature in 10-20 years’ time which I plan to use for retirement or any relevant big ticket purchase at the time, such as changing my car or a down payment for new property.

I am hoping to reach at least $80,000 in cash savings by mid-2021 (although, two years ago, my goal was to reach $100,000 by 2021).

On how she’s cutting costs:

As 2021 looms, I am watching my spending much closer. I try to set a budget of $1,500 to spend per month and have been religiously tracking my spending on a money app (Monny).

In order to cut down on my spending, I am no longer subscribed to any fitness memberships and I work out at home instead. I have also restricted the majority of my meals to coffee shop/hawker centre fare and made a pact with my partner to only have one restaurant meal per month.

Frankly speaking, I usually burst my $1,500 budget by a couple of hundred dollars. But if I spend more this month, then I’ll try to make up for it the next month by spending less.

I would definitely like to be earning more now, as I felt like I settled for my current job’s salary (I was offered more elsewhere and my previous job was paying higher but it was too toxic to stay).

And to make matters worse, I recently found out I won’t be getting a 20 pre cent yearly bonus that I expected, which would have been an additional $13,200. I plan to start looking for a job with a pay increment after 2021.

My partner earns slightly less than me and has more things to pay off than I do, so I am bearing the responsibility of saving more aggressively to lighten our load.

I do have one guilty pleasure, though, which is traveling. I am always up for going on a holiday that I often don’t consider or even bat an eye to the costs involved.

If someone were to ask me if I wanted to go to the Bahamas tomorrow, the first thing I would think about is, “Do I have enough leave?”

Here’s what she bought in a month:

Day 1:

I need to get a top coat nail polish as I bought some Nodspark nail wraps last month that I want to start using ASAP! I end up at Innisfree in JEM and I get their gel top coat and matte top coat at only $6 each.

After my purchase, my partner and I walk past the Dior beauty store and see a row of beautiful nail polish on display. I check the price and they’re $40 each! I giggle about this to my partner because they’re so pricey in comparison to Innisfree, but we both agree that the quality is probably amazing.

Shop similar here: Innisfree nail polish, $4

Spent: $12

Day 2:

I need a belt urgently because I’m planning to wear my favourite high-waisted jeans for an upcoming trip and these jeans are very loose on me (I should have returned them but somehow I never realised how loose they were until a colleague pointed out that they look like they were falling off me).

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I purchase my a simple, black, genuine leather belt with a silver rectangular belt from the H&M at Tampines mall for $19.95.

After H&M, my partner goes into a sportswear store and falls in love with a Herschel bag because it’s NBA-themed. It’s $90, which is kinda pricey for a small bag so he doesn’t buy it.

When I’m home, I search online for the same bag and find it available in black too (the one we saw in the store was bright yellow which we agreed was not his style anyway).

It’s $63.90 on Zalora, and after applying a discount coupon and rebates from my POSB Everyday card, my total comes up to $33.94! With that, I’ve settled my Valentine’s Day gift for him. Plus, there’s 30-day free return in case he doesn’t like this colour.

Shop similar here: H&M big buckle belt, $19.95

Spent: $53.89

Day 14:

For some reason, I am browsing through Carousell at 1am in the morning (maybe it’s because I just got my salary one day ago, oops!).

There is a brand new black Celine box bag (with the old logo) that is listed at $2,800 which seems like an amazing deal. I feel ready to purchase it but let myself sleep through this decision.

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It’s later in the day and I look through the seller’s listings and ratings again to make sure that she’s trustworthy. She’s sold a lot of designer bags (which were sourced from Europe) and has over 1,000 positive ratings so I feel that makes her legit.

I finally send her a message to negotiate the price lower and we end up settling at $2,400! I’ve wanted this bag for a really long time now but could never really jump the gun on the $5,600 price tag. She replies immediately and before I know it, she’s at my doorstep to deliver the bag.

I pay via Caroupay with a credit card that lets me split this purchase into six monthly instalments. The total cost of the bag is $2,448.20 with 3 per cent credit card fees. But today, I only pay $408 for my first instalment.

Shop similar here: Celine box bag from Reebonz, $5,320

Spent: $2,448.20

Day 18:

After coming back from my holiday, my face has been red in patches (this always happens when I travel because of the air-conditioning in hotel rooms and the change in climate).

I suddenly thought of investing in a Beauty Blender sponge so that I can get a more even coverage when applying my base makeup (I currently use my fingers).

I started browsing through Sephora but decided that the Beauty Blender is too pricey considering I’d have to replace it every three to six months.

So I research for replicas and decide on the EcoTools blender because I have been using their brushes for years and love what the brand stands for. I find a seller on Carousell and pay $13.40 for the duo set which comes with a big and small blender.

Shop similar here: EcoTools blender from Look Fantastic, $18.50

Spent: $13.40

This article was first published in CLEO Singapore. All content is displayed for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice.

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