NOTE: Fourth Quarter, 2017 Update….on 12/22/2017

I started my humble journey towards Financial Independence in 2014. But, I really did not have any formal goals for 2014. I just wanted to create multiple passive income streams, protect my family with life insurance, etc. I established what Financial Independence means to me and what the goals were. I accomplished all the implicit goals I had for 2014.

For 2015, I was a little bit more formal about goal setting and set my 2015 goals and updated my progress quarterly (here). In addition, I also tracked my progress via a Monthly Progress Report (here). At the end of year 2015, I reviewed my progress towards FI and I was happy to have reached and/or exceeded most goals I set (here).

For 2016, I achieved most of the goals I set out for myself (here). The two goals where I failed badly are: Keep eating expenses under $200 per month & Estate planning. I will try again this year i.e. in 2017.

The Financial Independence criterion for me (2017) are:

Financial Independence Criterion

Emergency Fund	$60k (as of 2017)
College Fund	$80k
Passive Income Streams	$4000 per month
Retirement Fund	$900k
Roof for our Family	$750k….HCOL area 😦
Medical Fund	$100k
Life Insurance	To protect my earning years…..

For 2017, I have thought about the following goals to get me closer to the above financial independence goals. What is the current status of the goals:

• Ones in Red are not complete
• Ones struck-through are complete

Financial Goals

1. Keep scouting for a possible home/multi-family residence/rental real estate
   1. 03/31/2017        Visited many open houses…single/multi family…prices still crazy
   2. 06/30/2017        Visited two open houses….prices even more crazy this quarter…
   3. 09/30/2017        8 more….we finally know what we want….need the $$$ now 🙂
   4. 12/31/2017        0 homes….prices shot up & pushed most houses out of our budget
2. Contribute $15000 towards Home Downpayment Fund
   1. 03/31/2017           $10272/$15000            $4728 remaining
   2. 06/30/2017           $13772/$15000            $1228 remaining             
   3. 09/30/2017           $16701/$15000            Done..but price rises outpacing savings 😦
   4. 12/31/2017           n/a
3. Contribute $3600 to 529 College Fund 2 
   1. 03/31/2017        $305/$3600 done                     $3295 remaining (behind…)
   2. 06/30/2017        $1966/$3600 done                   $1634 remaining 
   3. 09/30/2017        $3467/$3600 done                   $133 remaining
   4. 09/30/2017        $3600/$3600 done                   $0 remaining
4. Contribute $3000 to 529 College Fund 1
   1. 03/31/2017        $605/$3000 done                    $2395 remaining (behind…)
   2. 06/30/2017        $1767/$3000 done                  $1233 remaining
   3. 09/30/2017        $2427/$3000 done                  $573 remaining
   4. 12/31/2017        $3000/$3000 done                  $0 remaining
5. Contribute $16k to Passive Income Streams (stretch goal of $24k) 
   1. 03/31/2017        $10150/$16000                       $5850 remaining ($13850 for stretch)
   2. 06/30/2017        $29970/$16000                       $0 remaining 
   3. 09/30/2017        n/a
   4. 12/31/2017        n/a
6. Max out 401k contributions for both me and my wife ($36K total)
   1. 03/31/2017        $10489.19/$36K                     $25510.81 remaining
   2. 06/30/2017        $19774.94/$36K                     $16229.06 remaining  
   3. 09/30/2017        $33890/$36K                          $2109.47 remaining    
   4. 12/31/2017        $36K/$36K                              done
7. Keep eating out expenses under $200 pm
   1. 03/31/2017       $358.61                                      Way above budget…
   2. 06/30/2017       $401.83                                      Out of control 😦 
   3. 09/30/2017       $301                                           Pulled in the expense some…
   4. 12/22/2017       $273                                           Pulled in the expense a little…
8. Start and finish Estate Planning (Will, POD beneficiaries, Caretaker for children, etc)
   1. 03/31/2017  No progress yet      
   2. 06/30/2017  No progress yet
   3. 09/30/2017  Set up an appt with a financial planner….will discuss and decide
   4. 12/31/2017  Financial plan done; Will, POD, etc next year

Personal Goals

Starting this year, I am trying to track some personal goals. Without adding all the details and boring everybody, I will try to keep this simple. I am hoping tracking this in my blog will keep me motivated to reach my goals. Here they are:

1. Health Body goals (healthy eating, gym visits, popping multi-vitamins, etc)
   1. 03/31/2017       21.4% success rate  ….nothing but improvement ahead 
   2. 06/30/2017       17.1% success rate ….oh boy…eating too much/no exercise…. 
   3. 09/30/2017       20.0% success rate….behind on flossing, popping vitamins mainly
   4. 12/30/2017       14.1% success rate ….no exercise…. 
2. Simplify Life: Donate unused books once a month
   1. 03/31/2017       0/3 done                                
   2. 06/30/2017       3/3 done
   3. 09/30/2017       2/3 months done….got my kid to donate old books 🙂
   4. 12/31/2017       2/3 months done….books donated to two libraries  
3. Simplify Life: Donate unused (old and new) clothes once per quarter
   1. 03/31/2017       1/1 done 
   2. 06/30/2017       1/1 done
   3. 09/30/2017       3/3 done….this time, it was clothes, toys and garage junk!!
   4. 12/31/2017       1/3 done…big kids toys cleanup done; waiting for donation  
4. Simplify Life: Shred all unnecessary documents once a month
   1. 03/31/2017       1/3 done
   2. 06/30/2017       2/3 done….only 10 folders left…even found 10 year old docs! 
   3. 09/30/2017       1/3 done….a few more folders done….cabinet is so empty now 🙂 
   4. 12/31/2017       1/3 done….did not get to work on this much this qyarter 

Possible candidates for 2018 Personal Goals

I decided to start this section in the last quarter of 2017 (Oct-Dec) so that I can capture possible candidates for Personal goals in 2018.

• Get together with a Financial Planner and checkpoint the overall state of our finances.
  • My goal was to generate $1000 pm in dividend income and then purchase our primary residence. I am close to the former but way behind the latter.
  • So, I want to set a plan for the next five years and getting a plan review from a qualified professional is timely now.
• Prepare to find a new job with a better compensation package.
  • To support the house purchase, I need something more that the salary. I would like to add some additional options like a better bonus option, stocks, etc
  • This means I need to do really really well in the interviews…need solid preparation before I look into the market.
• Get into a PE class of some sort and get my health in order.
  • Need the disciple of a class to help my will power.