Saving 47% to 50% of my Salary: Expenses

There are some fellow bloggers who really did a great job in their savings during their twenties.

We have endless factors spurring or hindering us to how much we had saved today. It comes down to the level of indulgence in terms of food and leisure, how we control our expenses in transportation and utility bills, how cheap or expensive our interests/hobbies are, the type of insurance plans we get or avoid, the investment decisions we make and the interests/rebates we earn.

Realistically speaking, kids whose parents pay for their education, car licenses and hobbies will surely have an advantage in accumulating more cash. Males will tend to lose out in savings due to two years serving the nation with less than minimum wage. As long as we are doing what we can in our own different journeys, we will be able to accept the reality.

So how do you save? Even savers like me tend to give in to spending by taking a cab when fatigue creeps over. You will be surprised that there are tyrants who take buses with heavy luggages after a long flight just to save on cab fare. What is our excuse now?  Lol.

In my opinion, there are three essential components that will ultimately drive us towards retirement. This is not applicable to opening up a business.

1. Decent salary: It will be hard or maybe impossible to grow our savings fast if we do not have a good inward cash flow (a lower salary makes it slow).
2. Compounding & Growth (Investments): It is almost a crime to lose wealth to inflation. What we can do is earning through interest/dividends and optimizing rebates from our spending.
3. Frugality (Savings): Saving is the capital base we work from. It is just like opening a business, we cannot do anything without suffice capital. It is also not just about setting some money aside but the efforts made in looking out for value buys and only purchasing what we need.

Here is how I save every month:

Food/Snacks:
-Lunch expenses on weekdays had gone up working at the CBD area, doubling from an average $4/meal to $8/meal.
-Snacks from Value Dollar Shop. If you are eating the snacks soon, why worry about them nearing expiry date? In fact, the expiry dates are not too near if you really check.
-I enjoy great coffee from Coffee Hive at $1.50/ cup, enjoying $1 rebate from every $10 top up from their member cards. Say no to expensive diluted coffee.
-Planning to make Rolled Oats to save some money over the weekends.

Travel:
-I usually get around in Singapore in my own bicycle and in the morning if possible to avoid the crowd. It is also free and healthy. The hot weather is a nuisance sometimes.

Fitness:
-This is free as I go to my corporate gym in a hotel. The pool and sauna are also available. To think of it, it feels good not having to pay any entry fees or expensive monthly bills which costs almost $80-120 per month. Since not everyone has free gym in their work, it is suggested to train at public exercise corners.
-Jogging outdoors: FOC

Bills:
-Mobile Phone under Corporate plan: Enjoying 12GB at $20+ rate per month
-Broadband: Around $55 per month for the whole family
-Saving plans at $110 per month (please avoid such plans). I can actually add this as savings instead of expenditures since the money are not spent.

Miscellaneous:
-Allowance to my parents: Around 14% of my salary
-Planning to stick to $5 haircut as compared to the past $12 haircut at QB House.
-It is unlikely for a guy like me but I do my own facial using Micro-needling. The whole set costs around $200 and can last me more than 10 procedures. Each session outside will cost you more than $110 or above. So I saved about $900 in 10 sessions! ([110X10] -200)
The procedure help maintains youthfulness and removes facial scars. If anyone is interested, I can share more in a post.

Side note:
Differing from my earlier portfolio update, I have to share that Valuetronics was replaced by Bumitama Agri and will be explained next time. As marriage is nearing, I have to exert more control in my cash allocation in the market. This is why stocks are switched instantly instead of over exposing myself in the market.

The portfolio is now updated at https://tobidortosell.blogspot.sg/p/current-holdings.html

Analysis: Large Value in Current Holdings

During the time to time market volatility, we should be reminded that there will always be worries and risks in any companies. Our risks should be mitigated by the margin of safety in terms of our price and from the information we gathered. We serve ourselves much less apologies or regrets if we are able explain why and what we have done what we did. Doing it at the right time is equally crucial.

As mentioned in the previous post, I will run through the five companies currently held and share my research and opinions.

Singapore Telecommunications (Z74)

As a stalwart, Singtel is a slow investment and mainly for those with stable yield appetite who has large capital injections. (I am surely not one of those)
Recently, dividends were announced to be stabilized for the next two years which is good news.
The upcoming competition from TPG shall affect Singtel the least among the 3 existing telecoms , and Circles Life still has to pay Singtel to remain incumbent. So does it still look as bad?
Maybe yes, as seen from the additional competition in Australia and India.
Singtel should however be strong and stable enough not to be easily shaken.

Singtel's Net Income Growth (morningstar.com)

I felt that they may be facing a similar situation as what Comfortdelgro had from Uber and Grab earlier. In the end, we saw how Comfortdelgro made a “comeback”. It always seemed the worst at the start because we just want to be cautious.
Pondering on buying more in the $3.30 to $3.35 range.  :) 

Sanofi ADR (SNY)

Sanofi is a another slow growth story with particularly large capitalization. It was the company which recently brought over Bioverativ, a spin off from Biogen. Bioverativ will be one of their potential engines in terms of driving future revenues and growths. As seen in the image below, Revenues and Net Income are consistently on a gradual uptrend, and ending in 2017 with a bang in Net Income.

Dividends payout percentage was once at a wary high of above 90% but has since dropped to 54.7% of net income in 2017. These explains the sweet annual yield at 4.8%. Another note is, dividends have been increasing for nearly 24 years. Price to book and PE ratio, as a guideline, is 1.41 and 17.75 respectively.

Sanofi's Net Income Growth (morningstar.com)

Overview of Sanofi's revenue streams

Being the largest producer in vaccines and having a diversified revenue streams coming from different global regions mainly from Europe, I do not see a reason to back out if it gets cheaper. US pharmaceutical peers are the ones getting most the limelight when Europe companies actually possess a very significant market in medicines/drugs as well. Other than going Ex-Dividends, Sanofi did lost some of its earlier patents, which partly caused its "selloff". Management has soon decided that it is about time to make a change.

On a side note, the FDA is currently reviewing Sanofi's Zynquista- a treatment for Type 1 Diabetes.
Surprises to look out: Future potential R&D findings and favorable FDA/EMA approvals on new drug listings.
(Warren Buffett was also an investor in Sanofi since 2006, as I found out shortly after adding. It was not however a good returns stock for himself)