Another month, another update

This update comes a bit early since May 31st is a weekend, so there's no update in the exchange today. Not much changed this month except for the Korean Won. In fact, it passed the 1000 mark this month, but my regression model has it not happening until July. I'll leave it on here to see what happens. Also, although the model predicts the Yen benchmark being met next month, the Yen has actually fallen in value the last two months, so it seems unlikely to happen.

In other news, the Mexican Peso has started to rise in value, so it now has its own benchmark.

Jun. 2008: 100 Japanese Yen > $1 US (unchanged)
Jul. 2008: 1 Swiss Franc > $1 US (unchanged)
Jul. 2008: $1 US > 1000 Korean Won (5 months sooner) already achieved
Dec. 2008: $1 Aussie > $1 US (1 month sooner)
Feb. 2009: 1 Euro > $1.75 US (unchanged)
May. 2009: 5 Swedish Kronor > $1 US (1 month sooner)
Sep. 2009: 6 Chinese Yuan > $1 US (1 month sooner)

New Benchmarks:
Jul. 2009: $1 US > 1100 Korean Won
0ct. 2009: 10 Mexican Peso > $1 US

My second quarterly report

This is the first month where I had a big scare as at the end of calculations, I had over 20,000 won missing. It took some time, but I eventually came to realize that I somehow managed to take 35,000 won worth of bus trips on a card with only 20,000 won on it. Basically meaning, I had put 20,000 on the card and forgot to record it (I alway put 20,000 won on my card when I recharge it).

Anyway, my numbers for this report have been greatly damaged by the change in exchange rate. Whereas in February, I recorded a savings of $5112.31, that is now worth only $4656.26. So I've lost $456.05 in three months. Bloomberg calls the Korean won "the world's worst-performing major currency this year".

Anyway, for my second quarter, my revenue was down slightly, $6093.65 (over 99% from my paycheck), and costs went way up to $2245.19. The reasons for this rise in costs is the fact I had to buy a new computer, which by itself cost more that what I usually spend in a month. So my savings for this quarter were only $3848.46, giving me a savings rate of about 63.16%.

My expenses break down for this quarter:
Food: 35%
Computer: 31.5%
Utilities: 15.2%
Transportation: 9.4%
Entertainment: 2.5%
Other: 6.4%

I take great pride in the fact that over the past 6 months, only 0.1% of the money I've had is unaccounted for.

Two Benchmarks Reached!

This month I was surprised by the Chinese Yuan and the Swedish Krona as they both exceeded my expectations. For the Yuan it was a photo finish, it's average exchange rate this month was 6.99969 Yuan for $1 US. Another Canadian benchmark has been removed. The exchange has been pretty level the last few months. The Korean Won continues to sadden me as it declines in value. The Korean government has been purposely lowering the value of the Won to boost exports. According to other calculations I've done, the equilibrium exchange rate should be 820 Won to $1 US.

Apr. 2008: 7 Chinese Yuan > $1 US (2 months sooner) Achieved!
Apr. 2008: 6 Swedish Kronor > $1 US (2 months sooner) Achieved!
Jun. 2008: 100 Japanese Yen > $1 US (unchanged)
Jul. 2008: 1 Swiss Franc > $1 US (1 month sooner)
Dec. 2008: $1 US > 1000 Korean Won (9 months sooner)
Jan. 2009: $1 Aussie > $1 US (1 month sooner)
Feb. 2009: 1 Euro > $1.75 US (3 months sooner)
Jun. 2009: 5 Swedish Kronor > $1 US (3 months sooner)

New Benchmarks:
Oct. 2009: 6 Chinese Yuan > $1 US

Removed Benchmark:
$1 Canadian > $1.25 US