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
- Keep scouting for a possible home/multi-family residence/rental real estate
- 03/31/2017 Visited many open houses…single/multi family…prices still crazy
- 06/30/2017 Visited two open houses….prices even more crazy this quarter…
- 09/30/2017 8 more….we finally know what we want….need the $$$ now 🙂
- 12/31/2017 0 homes….prices shot up & pushed most houses out of our budget
Contribute $15000 towards Home Downpayment Fund
- 03/31/2017 $10272/$15000 $4728 remaining
- 06/30/2017 $13772/$15000 $1228 remaining
- 09/30/2017 $16701/$15000 Done..but price rises outpacing savings 😦
- 12/31/2017 n/a
Contribute $3600 to 529 College Fund 2
- 03/31/2017 $305/$3600 done $3295 remaining (behind…)
- 06/30/2017 $1966/$3600 done $1634 remaining
- 09/30/2017 $3467/$3600 done $133 remaining
- 09/30/2017 $3600/$3600 done $0 remaining
Contribute $3000 to 529 College Fund 1
- 03/31/2017 $605/$3000 done $2395 remaining (behind…)
- 06/30/2017 $1767/$3000 done $1233 remaining
- 09/30/2017 $2427/$3000 done $573 remaining
- 12/31/2017 $3000/$3000 done $0 remaining
Contribute $16k to Passive Income Streams (stretch goal of $24k)
- 03/31/2017 $10150/$16000 $5850 remaining ($13850 for stretch)
- 06/30/2017 $29970/$16000 $0 remaining
- 09/30/2017 n/a
- 12/31/2017 n/a
Max out 401k contributions for both me and my wife ($36K total)
- 03/31/2017 $10489.19/$36K $25510.81 remaining
- 06/30/2017 $19774.94/$36K $16229.06 remaining
- 09/30/2017 $33890/$36K $2109.47 remaining
- 12/31/2017 $36K/$36K done
- Keep eating out expenses under $200 pm
- 03/31/2017 $358.61 Way above budget…
- 06/30/2017 $401.83 Out of control 😦
- 09/30/2017 $301 Pulled in the expense some…
- 12/22/2017 $273 Pulled in the expense a little…
- Start and finish Estate Planning (Will, POD beneficiaries, Caretaker for children, etc)
- 03/31/2017 No progress yet
- 06/30/2017 No progress yet
- 09/30/2017 Set up an appt with a financial planner….will discuss and decide
- 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:
- Health Body goals (healthy eating, gym visits, popping multi-vitamins, etc)
- 03/31/2017 21.4% success rate ….nothing but improvement ahead
- 06/30/2017 17.1% success rate ….oh boy…eating too much/no exercise….
- 09/30/2017 20.0% success rate….behind on flossing, popping vitamins mainly
- 12/30/2017 14.1% success rate ….no exercise….
Simplify Life: Donate unused books once a month
- 03/31/2017 0/3 done
- 06/30/2017 3/3 done
- 09/30/2017 2/3 months done….got my kid to donate old books 🙂
- 12/31/2017 2/3 months done….books donated to two libraries
Simplify Life: Donate unused (old and new) clothes once per quarter
- 03/31/2017 1/1 done
- 06/30/2017 1/1 done
- 09/30/2017 3/3 done….this time, it was clothes, toys and garage junk!!
- 12/31/2017 1/3 done…big kids toys cleanup done; waiting for donation
Simplify Life: Shred all unnecessary documents once a month
- 03/31/2017 1/3 done
- 06/30/2017 2/3 done….only 10 folders left…even found 10 year old docs!
- 09/30/2017 1/3 done….a few more folders done….cabinet is so empty now 🙂
- 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.
Humble FI 