Finance Smiths

My performance bonus got credited today and I was excited to see the cash injection into my bank account balance! It was a tough week at work as I struggled to adjust to the new advisory portfolio with my insufficient technical knowledge that I am still building up on. Though I’m happy with the opportunity to learn new stuff and expand my job scope, which came with the promotion.

But it’s been a few years since I had to start from scratch in a new area and it’s taking a while. Hence, it felt good to be financially rewarded even if the welcome relief is only temporary. And it’s a nice way to enter the long weekend too. Plus my wife and I took half day off today for personal appointments, so we kind of started the long weekend early, which I’m glad for.

Anyway, if you are wondering how I plan to spend my bonus, it has already been decided. The entire amount should be spent within the next 2 months. It’s a combination of the outcome of those personal appointments, possible holiday trip, shopping for wardrobe upgrading and my wife’s 30th birthday celebrations including the gifts. By my estimates, I doubt we will have anything left over by the time we are done.

I know we are splurging a lot but I feel like we deserve to spend on ourselves after achieving our professional goals for 2017. Besides, Q1 of 2018 hasn’t been going well for us and we are hoping this does a refresh & reset for things to improve in Q2 of 2018. I’m getting tired of us hitting new walls at work and don’t seem to be making progress on many fronts.

As for investments, we have been manually transferring cash funds into our Smartly & StashAway robo-advisor accounts and making purchases of ETFs recently to buy the dips. This is on top of our usual automatic transfers and purchases. It’s just a matter of being consistent and I’m hoping I can continue to be disciplined when the markets dip even more.

For now, I’m looking forward to resting this long weekend. We don’t have much planned so it seems to be a relaxing one that doesn’t involve dinners, drinks and late nights with friends. Instead, we might be hanging out more with our families since we haven’t been spending as much time with them. Hoping to be recharged and ready for the new work week by Sun!

I had my remuneration review outcome discussion with the head of my department on Fri. I could sense something was up when I went into work in the morning. The various heads of departments were quietly called into separate meetings with the head of my division for administrative matters. Soon after, it was announced that the results of our performance reviews i.e. letters would be released to us throughout the day.

We were half expecting it because Fri is a good day to do this. If you have a positive outcome, you can leave earlier to go out and celebrate. If you have a negative outcome, you can also leave earlier to go out and commensurate. Either way, there’s usually not a lot of mood to work after receiving your remuneration review outcome.

For my case, I was happy with the results. I have only joined the bank for 1.5 years from an accounting firm and didn’t have much banking work experience. But I was able to achieve a decent salary increase, a nice performance bonus and a promotion i.e. what I consider a treble. I was surprised because I wasn’t expecting it. I tried to work hard and smart but I was never sure whether my bosses would pick up on it since I don’t do it in an obvious manner. I’m glad that it was recognised and a financial reward makes it even better.

I only found out I did relatively well after my colleagues started asking around about how everyone did. I didn’t want to talk about it because it’s a sensitive topic. And I was right. Although the reactions of my colleagues were mostly positive, I could sense an underlying current of judgement. It’s understandable because people will just start thinking about what I have done to deserve that and why didn’t they get it despite their work done.

There’s not much I can do to address this because it’s a common occurrence during such times. I try to ignore what I can and avoid getting into debates on what’s fair or not. Anyway, I celebrated with my wife on Fri night after going out for drinks with my colleagues. Although it has been a tough start to 2018 for the both of us, 2017 had been kind to us. Both of us got the treble and I’m glad my wife’s numbers are higher than mine. She’s more competitive when it comes to things like that and it helps to raise our household income as we push each other to be better.

My performance bonus should be credited into my bank account next week by the end of the month. My new salary should take effect next month and my additional CPF contributions should be credited next month as well. Good to have a boost to our savings and investments after having a few high spending months. It has been difficult watching the credit card bills eat up our salary income.

We were discussing our corporate strategy for this year during the dinner on Fri evening. Based on how badly 2018 has been going so far, we have come to the realisation that this is not our year. It’s important we understand our employment cycle and how to ride the upturns and weather the downturns. We can’t be putting in all of our effort (100% and above) every year because it’s not sustainable.

What we try to do is read the year in terms of expanding our job scope, how the economy is doing in general, possibility of promotion, etc. When the year seems to be going well, we commit more to our jobs to chase for the treble since we are more likely to get it. Because even if we fall short, the remuneration review outcome is usually positive in a good year and we don’t end up wasting our time and efforts.

When the year seems to be going badly, we ease up on our commitment to the job by taking our foot off the pedal slightly. Essentially, we conserve our limited time and energy for a better opportunity to make it count. After all, the remuneration review outcome is likely to be negative in a bad year anyway. During times like this, we focus more on taking care of ourselves, recharging and relaxing.

That’s how we navigate our careers and make the most of our jobs. We are not detailed planners but instead allow our progression to be flexible and go with the flow of how things are moving. Because we understand how they can turn for the worse quickly when you least expect it. Be present, happy with what you have and optimistic in the way you approach life. And hope for all the luck in the world because you are going to need it. Next major event for us to look forward to – my wife’s 30th birthday celebration!