For someone, I think this would be the well-known/classic story but I still cannot accomplish all of them. So, just write them into my blog and gimme my own rate & action!
- Know what you have earn & where the money goes
Write down what you spend & classify them into categories: food, shopping, rent, travel, entertainment, education, healthcare, utility bills, debt service
Then you will have a good estimate of what your saving capacity is.
Rate: F- Even though I did try to do for months, I broke my rules in the end of last year.
Action: Do it again! Also, keep my written excel sheet simple as much as it should.
- Set your saving target
Genrally, it is recommended to set aside 10-25% of your earnings for saving & future investment.
This mean you may need to trim certain spending to match the target.
Rate: D- I'm not so in the comfortable area in saving concrete amount of money. Some of my saving money went away with unnecessary in some time.
Action: Excluding, provident fund, paying for a condominium (it's classified a debt not saving), I should have 10% in every month.
- Pay credit card in full and on time
Do you know that the interest and collection charges combine can range from 18-30%+?
Rate: B- Mostly pay in full except the time that it was over 20k (ATM can give me money with that number). Only one time late w/ extra charges.
Action: Will pay before the deadline, I need to have a clean history of credit bureau as I have to contact bank for personal loan in next 2 years. - Examine your debt unnecessary debt put extra burden on your budget. So settle it if you can.
Rate: C- Few times that my money was went away with unconscious stuffs.
Action: Lessen starbuck coffees, read the existing books, use more internet for reading news, conciously use mobile phone, iron clothes in a batch and sometimes go to Chiangmai by bus/train. - Minimize your tax - LTF, RMF, provident fund & Life insurance
The higher your tax, the more benefit you have from your tax saving
Rate: B+- Provident funds (9.75% of my salary), LTF and Life insurance are my collections.
Action: Have a concrete portion for LTF in each month (3-5% of salary). This will be good for DCA. Performance bonus should be firstly spent for Life insurance. - Extra earning goes to extra saving, at least some if not all.
For example, you ought to reinvest your dividends regurly.
Rate: F
Action: Keep searching a biz. It's supposed to be born by the end of this year! - Separate your saving account from your spending account.
Rate: N/A- Not sure this will impact my saving na. Anyway, let's try and see what it will happen.
Action: Pay 200 baht (ATM fee for a separated saving account) for a lesson and evaluate in the end of this year.
