The spread of Covid-19 in India grew significantly during July – Sept 2020. Government started reopening the country via different phases of unlocks. However, we took utmost precautions to avoid chances of an infection. Work from home continued as per office guidelines, we limited our outdoor exposure, and stuck to simple living.
Below are the highlights for the last three months
Saving rate
Average saving rate for the 3 months was 87.56% which was 3.66% higher than April-June quarter, and slightly better than our forecast.
Expenses
At 68% of our total expenses, rent and utility bills continue to be the highest. We brainstormed about moving to a lower rented accommodation, but decided against it after analyzing the pros and cons.
We spent on quality(not costly) groceries to provide us good nutrition. Therefore, these expense were second highest at 19%. In addition to a balanced diet, we exercised and mediated regularly for overall well-being. The reason to highlight this in the post is the basic fact – Health is Wealth.
Routine health checkups and self-assessment tax during ITR submission contributed to 3% each.
Remaining expenses were evenly spread across gifts(during rakshabandhan), entertainment(mostly spirits), home-improvement(utensils, repairs, plants and planters), fueling-up the scooter and buying essential clothing.
Below pie-chart depicts category-wise expenses:-
Recovery in equity investments
Phased reopening and hope of a vaccine had a positive impact on the equity markets. Our overall losses reduced by almost 12%. Looking back, we missed the opportunity to invest more when the markets were at their lowest levels around end of March 2020. The future would depend on multiple factors like Covid-19 containment, geopolitical situation and performance report of companies.
Passive Income
Monthly interest(accrued) from our investments in EPF, PPF, FDs and RDs is around 1.75 times our monthly expenses. During the quarter, we received dividends and also booked profit from few stocks and mutual funds. Although negligible, we got cashbacks from platforms like CRED and GooglePay.
Forecast for next quarter
We will continue to refrain from going outdoors or travelling, until the rate of new Covid-19 cases starts reducing steadily. Work from home may continue until end of the year. With no major planned expenses, we are targeting a saving rate of 87% or above in the Oct-Dec quarter.
Below graph shows our financial progress during last 3 months:
No comments:
Post a Comment