We are officially now halfway through the year and whether we choose to believe or not, it's happening. People are advocating that time is money, but to me time is a priceless piece of art - which is precisely why I seek for a financial independence.
2013 seems like a very far away back and it is only back then in December (My Investing Goal for 2014) that I set my usual yearly goals and targets to achieve for 2014. Since we are now officially entering the 2nd half of the year, it's good to review how these goals stand at the moment:
1.) Life Insurance
I've acted swiftly on this goal right at the start of January when I see the much needed use for a life insurance. The premiums I have to fork out amounted to $543/month and continously for the next 15 years, after which I do not have to fork out any amount left for the remainder of my life. The coverage that I decided for the policy is on $500,000 upon death, which I think is sufficient given our family financial structure.
Rating: A+
2.) Child Expenditure
I've been coping well so far on this and my child is officially into his 2nd month right now. If I had to put an amount to the costs incurred right from the day he was born until today (including hospital, injection, pampers, milk, nanny), it's probably around $18K. I can feel the pinch of how my savings are drained because of this but the moment of seeing how he smiled to me, I knew it's all worth the effort.
Rating: B+
3.) SMU MBA Graduation
The electives are now up and running which means that I had to go back for class perpertually everyday from Mon to Sat until the day I graduate in Dec. For most of the times, I had this feeling of having my energy drained like not even any amount of red bull will help. Imagine having to work full-time from 9 to 6, then continue with classes Mon to Sat from 7 to 11 and by the time I reached home, it's almost midnight. On top of that, there is the crying baby in the middle of the night (ohh yes, baby doesn't sleep as soundly as us adults).
Fortunately, I have not been failing any of the classes I took which means I am scheduled for graduation in Dec. YAY.
Rating: A-
4.) Other $20K endowment
This is a high risk high return sort of investment, probably having more risk than the "12% Return per Annum" scam you see outside.
With the world cup underway right now, I admit that I've been losing some money.
Habits are just hard to change isn't it.
Rating: C
5.) Dividend Investing Purchase
I've been accumulating some of the dividend stocks that I think still presents value in 2014, some if not all of them related to Mapletree Greater Commercial Trust, Stamford Land, China Merchant Pacific, etc.
I am also scheduled to hit my target of $16,000 dividend income for this year and given the overall bullish market sentiment, it is easy to see why everyone portfolio value has increased.
Rating: A-
Last but not least, there's a couple of additional goals I really would like to add this year which I thought was still fairly reasonable to achieve. And I'll be honest why they've not been my strengths thus far.
6.) Building more emergency funds
I don't usually build up much emergency funds in the past but I think I may overlook its importance.
I usually have about 1 month of income (equivalent to about 2 to less than 3 months of expenses) as my emergency funds but I'm really looking to double the amount, just to ensure no surprises along the way.
This means even lesser funds for investing in the future but I will try to overcome this as much as I can.
7.) Reading more books
I've been gaining more interests in reading books recently despite my already packed schedule. The latest book I'm currently reading is a book my wife bought entitled "The Fault of Our Stars", which I think is also currently premiering in the movie theatres. I also had a couple of books on hand which I highlighted in my Books Trending page recently. They should be good according to the reviews.
So there it is, my mid year review of the goals I had and it looks like it is going on fine.
What about you? How is your goals coming along in 2014?
