- 6/12/2025
Some months, you're making more—others, not so much. So how do you plan your spending and saving without going over budget?
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00:00Like I'm not someone who constantly checks my bank balance.
00:02I always tell them like as long as my card doesn't decline we're good when we go out.
00:06It is tedious.
00:07Every single time I spend I put it in like bubble tea and stuff.
00:09And it's so scary when you see the amount.
00:11So do you know right now, if let's say you were to lose your sources of income,
00:15how long can you survive?
00:19Honestly, now with like, again because I just bought a place,
00:23it's definitely got to be upwards of 5k.
00:26Okay.
00:26Yeah.
00:30What's up guys?
00:32I'm Ymir and this is The Money Goal.
00:34Today I have Kalista with me.
00:35Kalista, what do you want to talk about?
00:37Um, okay.
00:38I don't know how to say this, but I'm very, very disorganized with my money.
00:42Okay.
00:42I think a lot of freelancers and contract workers will probably feel the same way.
00:47We don't have a set income.
00:49So it's like every month will be different.
00:51We have like income coming in from different places.
00:54Sometimes not enough income coming in.
00:57How would you suggest I manage this situation?
01:01Okay.
01:01So you have multiple income sources, but nothing is fixed, right?
01:04Kind of yeah.
01:05Sometimes you get a lot.
01:05Sometimes not enough.
01:07Yes.
01:08Okay.
01:08Okay.
01:08Okay.
01:09Yeah.
01:09I think that that's very normal.
01:10So I am the same as you.
01:12I don't have a fixed income as well.
01:13Sometimes we get a lot of deals and you feel on top of the world.
01:16Like I'm going to buy a new house and then some months I'm like, oh my God, it's cucumbers
01:20and rice for the rest of the world.
01:23Correct.
01:24So like, it's kind of difficult to kind of keep track and like my friends are always on
01:28my case because I always tell them, I don't know, um, like how much my bank balance is.
01:33Okay.
01:34Like I'm not someone who constantly checks my bank balance.
01:36I always tell them, I mean, it's partly joking, but also partly not.
01:39I always tell them like, as long as my card doesn't decline, we're good when we go out.
01:43That's the way to do things.
01:44That's the way to do things.
01:45Okay.
01:46Okay.
01:47Um, so did you know roughly what your expenses are every month?
01:50Um, mortgage, rental, insurance, credit card debts.
01:57Okay.
01:58I think we don't have to get into like how much exactly it is, but do you know the figure
02:01like in your mind?
02:02Not really.
02:03It's a lot.
02:04Okay.
02:05The reason I don't know is because it is a lot and it's a bit overwhelming sometimes.
02:08Yeah.
02:09I don't want to think about it.
02:10Like, I think that's just how like I go through life in general.
02:14It's like, as long as everything's good, we're good.
02:16Okay.
02:17Okay.
02:18I don't really think about the months that maybe it's going to be a bit difficult.
02:22Yeah.
02:23I think a lot of people, I mean, it seems like you are doing pretty okay for yourself.
02:27I mean, you can pay for everything.
02:28It seems fine.
02:29Um, but, but, but I guess one thing you need to be a bit cautious office, you know, you sweep
02:34things under the rug and eventually those things might come back up in the future.
02:38Like, oh my God, how am I going to like settle all of this?
02:40Right.
02:41So I think, um, even though you want to be disorganized and stuff, or you don't want to
02:44check things too much.
02:45Uh, I think what you need to know is at least, um, your expenses for a month.
02:50So what I usually tell people or what I do myself as well, at the start at least, is that
02:54I would track every single ringgit that goes out of my account, not perpetually because
02:59it is tedious.
03:00Like every single time I spend, I have to put it in like bubble tea and stuff.
03:03And it's so scary when you see the amount.
03:05I know.
03:06I know.
03:07It can be a lot, right?
03:08But I think this needs to be done for at least three months, I would say.
03:11Just so, just so you know your average spend, right?
03:13Whether you are, you know, within your limits or, you know, a bit too much, because we can
03:18sweep all these things under the rug.
03:19We can put it on credit.
03:20Everything will seem fine.
03:21But one day, if it blows up, it can really blow up and then you'll regret it.
03:24So eventually I think you have to face it.
03:26Um, it's just better to face it now than when things are really bad lah, right?
03:30Okay.
03:31So that will be the first step, I think.
03:32Just figure out your expenses.
03:33Um, are you saving money now?
03:34Every month?
03:35I am.
03:36Like I have a few different places that I kind of like put money away.
03:39I've actually had to take some of it out recently because, um, I did buy a house recently.
03:44Okay.
03:45So that's been, um, a lot of expenses.
03:47And, um, I think you will probably know as someone who doesn't earn like a, an exact
03:52monthly salary, it's kind of hard to get loans anyway.
03:54Okay.
03:55So it's definitely been dipping into my like savings and stuff.
03:58Yeah.
03:59Yeah.
04:00But at least you're saving money every month.
04:01Consistently, you're just doing it on autopilot.
04:02Yes.
04:03Autodebit.
04:04Everything is autodebit.
04:05Okay.
04:06Yeah.
04:07Yeah.
04:08So I think in some, in some ways you're actually doing pretty well already.
04:09It must be.
04:10Right.
04:11I guess now it's just more of you really understanding your finances a bit better.
04:12Yeah.
04:13Cause I did it because, um, I put everything on autodebit because I have a tendency to forget.
04:16Okay.
04:17Like I'm a very disorganized person in general, like all these, um, especially like these
04:22admin things are not my strong suit.
04:24So once everything's on autodebit, I don't have to think about it.
04:27Okay.
04:28Which also manifests as, yeah, everything's on autodebit.
04:31So I do not think about it.
04:32Okay.
04:33Do you know?
04:34Okay.
04:35So do you know right now, if let's say you were to lose your sources of income, how long
04:38can you survive?
04:39Okay.
04:40Okay.
04:41Okay.
04:42Okay.
04:43Okay.
04:44Okay.
04:45So if it's something that you probably want to work on, maybe, maybe you really have enough
04:48saved up for like two years, right?
04:49You never know, but at least it's something that you want to know just to be aware of.
04:52Right.
04:53So this is what I would call an emergency fund, uh, where this money set aside is for emergencies.
04:58If anything were to happen, either you'd lose your income or a big unexpected bill comes
05:02up.
05:03Would you put an emergency fund separate from like your like savings?
05:07In general.
05:08Yeah.
05:09Yeah, I would.
05:10So to me, emergency funds are like the foundations of everything.
05:13So for someone who is employed, uh, the general rule of thumb, uh, would be around three to
05:18six months worth of your expenses.
05:19Okay.
05:20And you need to know your expenses to know what is three to six months worth.
05:22True.
05:23Right.
05:24Yeah.
05:25So that's a general rule of thumb for people who are employed, who have a fixed salary,
05:27but for people like us, um, where it's a bit unstable and at any time we can lose our
05:32income for a month.
05:33Right.
05:34Or even two months where deals dry up or something.
05:35Yeah.
05:36I tend to be a bit more on the safe side, on the cautious side.
05:38And that's what people generally do as well.
05:41Right.
05:42So for me, for example, I saved up 24 months worth of my expenses before I decided to quit
05:47my job.
05:48Yeah.
05:49And the reason, so I know, I know it's like, oh, it's crazy or it's crazy.
05:51Uh, so, so the reason I did that was because, um, you know, startups, when people start a
05:56company, they have something called a runway, which is how much money can we survive?
06:01Because they're losing money.
06:02Right.
06:03How much money can we survive with the current cash that we have?
06:05Okay.
06:06And for a business, which I guess you would consider yourself a business or you're running
06:10a business where you're trying to earn money, manage your costs and stuff.
06:14You want to have a long runway where even in a worst case scenario, like one year, really,
06:21really bad.
06:22You can't earn money.
06:23At least you know that you're fine.
06:25It's also, this is something that I would aim for.
06:27Maybe you really have it, but it's just something that you would want to have as well.
06:31So emergency fund, it's separate as in this two year emergency fund.
06:35It's separate from everything else.
06:36So once I have this, I set it into, let's say a bank account and then all my other savings,
06:39all my other investments go somewhere else.
06:41Well, where would you say, cause this is like a big chunk of money, right?
06:44Yeah.
06:45Where would you put the savings?
06:46Okay.
06:47Obviously don't put it in a savings account.
06:48Right?
06:49Yeah.
06:50So for this, because we need it during emergencies, right?
06:53We want it somewhere that's safe because I cannot put it into, let's say Bitcoin.
06:57And then one day I don't have money, but Bitcoin dropped 90% and I'm like, wait, what happened
07:02to my emergency funds?
07:03Right?
07:04Yeah.
07:05So for emergency funds, I will put it somewhere safe.
07:06These days there are a lot of digital banks that pay pretty good interest.
07:10And then there's a lot of things called money market funds, fixed deposits, for example.
07:13Those are all pretty good options for your emergency fund.
07:15For me, I put it into ASB.
07:16I don't know.
07:17Okay.
07:18Are you?
07:19No.
07:20Okay.
07:21Yeah.
07:22So you can put it into fixed deposits, money market funds.
07:23Those are all pretty good options as well.
07:24Okay.
07:25Yeah.
07:26All right.
07:27Okay.
07:28So now let's get a bit towards your expenses.
07:29So you don't know, do you roughly know how much you're spending a month?
07:32Honestly, now with like, um, again, because I just bought a place, it's definitely got
07:39to be upwards of 5K.
07:40Okay.
07:41Yeah.
07:42Okay.
07:43Okay.
07:44Okay.
07:45Okay.
07:46Okay.
07:47Okay.
07:48Okay.
07:49Okay.
07:50Okay.
07:51Okay.
07:52Okay.
07:53Okay.
07:54Okay.
07:55Okay.
07:56Okay.
07:57Okay.
07:58Okay.
07:59Okay.
08:00Okay.
08:01Okay.
08:02Okay.
08:03Okay.
08:04Obviously I'm paying off a mortgage, I got their rental puppy.
08:05And because my mortgage is not here.
08:06I'm paying a mortgage and rent.
08:07On top of your rental.
08:08Yeah.
08:09Yeah.
08:10Yeah.
08:11So, you just need to figure out your expenses.
08:14That's one.
08:15You've just gotta track everything.
08:17But everything that you're paying right now, are you paying on cash or do you have anything
08:21on credit?
08:22Um, okay.
08:23I think other than credit cards, nothing is...
08:26I mean, you have a housing loan.
08:28Housing loans.
08:29Okay.
08:30do you have like any personal loans bnpl buy not pay later you don't have any of those just
08:36yeah okay okay yeah i think that's good but your credit cards are you paying it off every month
08:40like in full i'm not paying the whole thing in full but i'm uh covering at least the minimum okay
08:46the minimum uh requirement every month but they call it minimum payment yeah so there's like a
08:51outstanding balance which is how much you spend in total and then there's a minimum balance i don't
08:55know what the calculation is for that but it's usually lower actually credit cards are very
08:59confusing for me like every time i look at the statement okay there's all these different
09:02numbers and all these different percentages and i'm i'm just like i don't really understand okay
09:06what comes in where do you see a percentage in your credit card segment yes okay then then that's not
09:11a good sign 17 i remember exactly exactly okay okay yeah so so right now you're running some minimum
09:18balances uh you're not paying your cards in full right so i would say credit cards are good like
09:23i use credit cards all the time i almost exclusively use credit cards just because you know for us we
09:28want to build credit score right for you to buy a house you needed a credit score which i guess the
09:32credit card help you and then a lot of credit cards have cash back has rewards and stuff where we can
09:36you know redeem it for something or just get cash back directly right but what we need to be really
09:40careful of is running a balance on your credit card which means you're not paying it off in full
09:45okay okay so i think like you said it can be confusing which is why a lot of people might not
09:50take it seriously but what we want to do is every single month i will pay off my credit card in full
09:56the entire outstanding balance i would pay it off but what about those cards that like 10 20k limit
10:03like okay so the limit is what they allow you to spend right which which you can spend but you
10:10should pay it all still okay so the reason that i say this is because um credit card debt is one of
10:17the worst it's one of the worst right because the interest rate is so high yeah i've heard that so
10:23so the 17 you're talking about that's an example that is just crazy high right so if let's say you
10:30have even one thousand ringgit in credit card debt in one year just interest would be 170 ringgit
10:36right and if you keep rolling this every month you pay minimum every month you pay minimum your balance
10:40can really go up so if it's 10 000 that you have in that for a year that's a thousand seven hundred
10:45interest which is crazy all right yeah i think um mine has definitely been rolling for a while
10:53yeah okay okay okay so i would go to the extent that if you think your income is stable enough for
11:00the next few months i would go to the extent of using all my savings to pay off the credit card debt
11:05that is how bad i think it is oh yeah yeah yeah so so the thing is when we invest right when we put it
11:10into fixed deposits into money market funds we will get three four percent a year okay right if
11:17we put it into stocks even like a really good investment right we can get maybe 10 12 a year
11:22so nothing that we can invest in will outdo the credit card interest rates it is just too high so
11:28that is your highest return on investment that you can do okay so my credit card um most of the payments
11:38i don't know whether you would say this is a good thing or should i take it off so my insurance um
11:44the monthly payment for my insurance is on my credit card okay should i take it out of my credit card
11:49or just leave it there and pay off the credit card instead you may take out the you may as in pay your
11:54insurance so like my credit card pays for my insurance and then i pay my credit card right yeah should
11:59i just take out my insurance and just directly pay my insurance instead i think either way is okay okay
12:05as long as you can pay off the credit card bill okay it's the same thing right whether you want to
12:09pay your insurance company directly or pay off your credit card bill i have my insurance on my credit
12:13card bill just because it gives me cash back but again i would pay off my bill every month i'll pay
12:18it in full every month yeah so i think this is probably priority number one okay i guess for people
12:24like us it can be a bit difficult to use all of our savings to clear it now just because if we do that
12:30it means that suddenly the runway of talking about it goes from two years to maybe one month and and
12:35and it's very risky right it's very risky to it's scary yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly so i understand
12:42that it can be risky but i think that's why again you need to know how much money you have in savings
12:45you need to know roughly your expenses and then you need to figure out okay how much can i spare a month
12:51to go towards my credit card bill right to pay it off it's an extra this are extra cash that you have to
12:57take out from your savings or from your monthly expenses to pay off your credit card and get it
13:00to zero all right okay i think you should be doing pretty well the fact that you can still use your
13:06credit card and it hasn't hit the i actually don't use my credit card that much um yeah it's mostly
13:11the issue because um i also pay for my parents insurance so like i've got three people's insurance
13:16on a credit card on your credit card yeah so basically it's that okay yeah okay yeah i think
13:21then it doesn't seem like that much i don't know what your outstanding balance is now i also don't know
13:27you know how they say 50 of the problem is identifying the problem so 65 you're gonna
13:33say it's me i'm like 50 of the solution is figuring out the problem or being aware of it right
13:40so i think uh yeah i think with this i even have people that are very close to me like very close
13:45family members who who got into this as well and i think it's just general lack of understanding of
13:50how all these things work right i think like as you get older there are so many things that you
13:54weren't taught in school and they are so boring exactly and complicated that you just kind of get
14:00caught up with it's like taxes right like i don't ask you you probably do but like who knows how taxes
14:06work i still don't know how taxes work they just i just give it to someone and they tell me how much
14:10you need to pay and then that's it okay okay like all it's it's like with credit cards and stuff it's
14:15like you tell me how much i need to pay you that's okay okay actually actually on that note since you're a
14:19freelancer since a lot of freelancer but since your income is uh it varies by month do you save taxes
14:24as you go or how do you deal with the bill i just deal with it when it comes so when it comes like
14:29tax season is coming up now yeah so i already know around this time my my balance will be lower okay
14:34yeah i'm already mentally prepared for it okay yeah so so i think there's another thing that uh you might
14:40want to just save on the site exactly yeah so what i do is um every month i set a reminder on my phone
14:47the first of the month is my uh pnl day which is profit and loss day my income day where i will go
14:52through my bank statement go through my invoices every single like money that comes into my account
14:59i will take out 20 so that's my tax rate right i'll take out 20 and put it into a different bank account
15:03okay so that's the question how many accounts do you have because i have so many accounts that i'm like
15:10putting things into taking things out too there's so many and if you want to add okay you add another
15:14emergency fund and then you add another account for like your taxes like yeah yeah where are you
15:19putting all that there's too much right yeah okay so for me i have a lot but just because i
15:23create content around finance so i just want to test out these products but these days a lot of
15:27banks have something called um saving jars okay where you can create a jar and say this jar is for
15:32my taxes this jar is for my emergency fund whatever it is so you can you can keep it under one bank
15:38okay and just segregate your money that way yeah so that's still a good idea to just use it that way
15:43okay yeah yeah so so that's what i do i just have one bank account where this is i have a holiday fund
15:47in there i have my emergency fund in there i have my taxes yeah so i think taxes is probably another
15:52thing that you want to just start preparing for it and as you go because otherwise on a very good year
15:57right let's say you earn 500 000 for a year it's like an amazing year you feel good you spend it and then
16:03then the next year your tax bill comes and you're like oh my god yeah it happens to a lot of people
16:08it happens to a lot of people uh and it can get really bad yeah get really bad yeah so okay i will
16:14do that as well that's another thing that you probably want to and for someone who's like very
16:18disorganized like me like honestly you don't even know the half of it i don't scare you but um
16:26would you suggest getting someone like you always hear about financial advisors yeah but i always feel
16:32like it's for people who have like a lot of investment and money but then what about someone
16:36who's just like savings and stuff like that would you suggest to get someone like that yeah so i think
16:42that's a misconception that a lot of people have uh where financial planners is for the wealthy
16:47right it's like people who want to open an account in the cayman islands to avoid tax right that level
16:52but it's not it's not so um i have a financial planner um and i spoke to him about this as well i said
16:58a lot of my friends they don't want to get it because they think they're not at that level yet
17:01and my friends are earning like 30 40 000 a month and they're like oh no we're not even at that level
17:05yet so i spoke to him and they have clients who are earning even six eight thousand a month um yeah
17:11and the way mine works is i pay a fixed fee every year more money that goes out of your pocket that's
17:15also a thing like is it worth it to pay okay for me in my opinion at least in your scenario now i would
17:22definitely do it i think uh three thousand ringgit is a lot it's a lot you can you can find ones that are
17:27cheaper or do a bit less things but i think the amount of peace of mind they can give you like
17:34just getting you organized and everything is in place i think it's so worth it i think it's so worth
17:38it it's like you need help girl yeah yeah i think um in your situation now you might feel like everything
17:44is fine now but it might really come back down yeah and uh it is it it is a concern yeah for sure
17:53yeah so financial planners really give you peace of mind i got mine and even i like i i'm like a
17:59personal finance nerd right i study so much on it i read a lot of things but i still got someone
18:03because for example taxes is not my specialty and to me texas is so boring oh my god yeah yeah i know
18:10right if i gotta pay money who likes that so i just got him and i just got him to figure out
18:15everything for me and and to me it's worth the money i bought a house as well recently uh and i
18:19asked him hey i'm buying a house at this price this is my monthly payment based on my cash flow do you
18:24think i can afford it and he was like let me do the calculations yeah i think you can afford it no
18:28problem yeah so i think a lot of the things it's just a lot easier to me it's worth the money
18:33especially for someone who's just you know starting to manage everything like yourself you don't have to do
18:38it forever maybe just one year and then from there you just manage it yourself yeah yeah i mean that's
18:44pretty good advice so i think i'll definitely look into it definitely try to figure out my life this
18:50year okay okay yeah i think um so basically to summarize i think um one you want to know what
18:56your numbers are like i think that's one not you don't have to go into so much detail you don't have
19:00to do it forever but at least you have a high level snapshot of how much money you're making okay how
19:04much money um you're spending every month and how much that you have right and then the second
19:08takeaway i guess is like i said uh prioritize clearing off your credit card debts those are
19:12really bad your mortgage is fine paid off every month no problem don't have to rush to clear it off
19:17but your credit card loans that one i would chop it off use your savings cut the expenses you have to
19:22just try and get rid of that would you suggest not having that many cuts if you can't control yourself
19:29then okay yeah if you feel that you can control your finances you're very disciplined you've gotten to that
19:33point then have as much as you want all right all right thank you carlista very nice talking to you
19:38i wish you all the best
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