About once a quarter I like to pause and reflect on how things are going for me personally and financially. Quite unfortunately, the COVID-19 global pandemic hasn’t gotten much better and we’re for the most part still sheltering-in-place at home. Several months into this, it kind of feels like this new normal is here to stay quite a bit longer, and we’re settling into this new routine. Depending on where you live, what you’re able to do outside your residence may look different, but despite having things a bit more open where I am, Mrs. Money and I are still playing it relatively safe. We take BabyMoneyFinance to daycare, we each go to the gym and grocery store, go on lots of walks and occasionally may do a small group outdoor hang but that’s about it! On a personal finance front, kind of more of the same but thought it would be good for me to reflect and share some updates!

Income

For a while there things were looking pretty bad for the economy and I personally had a number of friends get furloughed and/or laid off. Thankfully I think most in my circle have been brought back or have found other work, and the same holds true for Mrs. Money and I. In my day job I work in sales for a software-as-a-service company and in particular I work in our healthcare division. As you can imagine, there is lots going on in the healthcare space and plenty of work to keep me busy! It’s been inspiring to watch businesses pivot, adapt, and see some be very successful. Mrs. Money works as a teacher so although the spring semester (and likely fall semester) looked very different, she was still employed! 

Some good news we did get – Mrs. Money normally gets a small raise each year and since the school year starts in August, she’ll be getting a small raise next month! Every little bit helps, and slow and steady growth is often the best! No other major updates other than to say that we’re just so thankful that our income is remaining steady!

Expenses

It almost feels like our expenses are somewhat steady to what they were pre-COVID, which is definitely interesting given the fact that I’m not driving nearly as much (working from home), we’re not going out socially, definitely not buying any new clothes and we’re not taking trips like we used to. Interestingly enough it seems we’ve found other areas to spend our money on, replacing eating out with take-out and delivery, we actually are going to the beach in a few weeks and are renting a condo instead of getting a hotel room (seemed safer) and we’re investing a fair amount in our new house. Since we’re pretty much spending all our time in the house, might as well make it more livable and enjoyable!  Mrs. Money and I have been doing little side projects pretty consistently all around the house, continuing to get settled (we moved in April) and get comfortable! 

I did splurge a bit and get myself a new toy – an Apple Watch. I honestly felt like I wanted a new toy and since I’m not spending money socially or on travel (normally how I like to spend my money), that I would get a new piece of technology instead! 

Saving/Investing

I realize that depending on your financial situation right now that the thought of saving and/or investing might seem quite foreign, however as you’re able to, I think it’s still important to do. Thankfully as Mrs. Money and I are both gainfully employed, we’re able to save and invest. I’d say that right now given the overall uncertainty of it all we’re saving a little bit more than we’re investing (ideally pre-COVID it was more of a better mix of the two) but even the high yield savings account I have has almost cut it’s interest rate in half (from 2% to 1%). We are still both setting aside about 15% to retirement, and I’m still contributing 12% (which is up from last year’s 10%) to my company’s stock purchase plan. Outside of that I do have a little mad money that I invest in individual stocks, which have been all over the place but it’s still fun for me to follow and try my hand at investing. My main investment vehicle right now is still an index fund (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index) and it’s been holding consistent for me. 

Saving and investing is always important, however I’m learning that global politics, events and the state of the economy may dictate at which percentage I do each of them. Right now things still feel a bit uncertain economically, so I’m investing a little less than I normally would and saving a bit more in a savings account. I can always invest some of that excess savings if and when things improve, but I’d rather not risk a lot my hard earned if I may need in in the near future. 

Giving

I try to give a percentage of my income (around 10%) away to charitable causes and thankfully with our income being steady, I’ve been able to do that. I will say I’ve been donating to a few social justice charitable causes both nationally and locally and will probably continue doing so for the near future. I think this moment in time is important and we have a chance to make a real impact and as I’ve mentioned before, I do like to view my charitable giving as investments and so right now I’d like to invest in causes that I believe are working to make the world a better place! 

Overall 

All in all just very thankful to be where we are financially. We’ve always been financially conservative and have a well stocked emergency fund with additional saving, but still thankful all the same that our income has remained consistent and that we haven’t needed to dip into our reserves. I’m keeping the mantra of slow but steady growth by making small but positive financial decisions everyday! 

Blog 

In terms of how things are going with the blog itself, I’d say overall fairly consistent it not a little down. I will confess and say that perhaps I’m losing a little steam 7+ years into this and sometimes feel a little frustrated at the lack of growth in terms of readership. I never started this blog to make millions (although I wouldn’t be sad if that happened) but as I grow and my life continues to change and look different, perhaps I wonder if this blog is still helpful, both to my readers and me. Not saying I’m quitting the blog, just wanted to toss that out into the universe to hopefully re-energize me and the blog! 

One quick plug – Mrs. Money and I have actually started a podcast on our favorite sport – Formula 1 racing and if you’ve seen the Netflix documentary Drive to Survive or are at all into racing, we’d love if you gave our new passion project a listen!