A couple of days ago I've just posted a reflection of what I have went through in 2014. As we draw towards the end of 2014, a new year awaits us as we begin on a whole new journey. That means it's another round of objective setting as the goals we set give us a target to work on for the new year. I've been working hard to put some of these goals together to make sure that I don't keep myself too slack in the upcoming new year. I also made them very specific so that they are easily measurable rather than simply stating the general (For instance, improving better health conditions). Without further ado, these are my 2015 goals and objectives:
1.) Capital Injection of $36,000 and Networth of $333,105
I've blogged quite detailed on this not too long ago and you can view them here.
This is probably one of my biggest goal to work on as I began to scale down on my savings due to some family expenses. One other thing which I have not mentioned previously was that Mrs. B has tendered her resignation from her job to become a full-time housewife. She is currently serving her notice period and should be done by the middle of Jan next month. This decision was made ourselves in consensus to give little B a better focus in growing up as he ages older. What this means financially is things will get even tighter as we are one less income as a household.
The other thing I wanted to focus for this year was to track on what I can control. I used to track down my networth as my goals in the past but no longer so much the case from now on. While I would love to see my networth grow higher, I wouldn't put too much focus knowing that these are not within our control as they are very much dependent upon the market condition. What I would work hard on is to focus on the processes and savings rate that would enable my portfolio to do better over the long run, though I would reiterate again to myself that they would not be a walk in the park.
2.) Projected Dividend of $18,000/year ($1,500/month)
The projected dividend is based on a projected Networth figure of $333,105 and a dividend yield rate at about 5.4%. This should well be within the achievable range if everything goes according to plan. By having a dividend income of $18,000/year or $1,500/month, this should take off some of the burden in the expenses which is seemingly going to keep increasing.
I used to assign each dividend dollar to a specific job in the past, for example paying off the child medical expenses. This coming year, I am going a little aggressive by assigning them a role to be reinvested into the portfolio. In other words, on top of the $3,000 fund injection I am intending to make every month, I will be using part if not all the dividend income to be reinvested into the portfolio as well. However, if there are no good investment available at the time, I will put them into the warchest fund.
The dividend should also help in navigating my personal cashflow rotation so that the working capital remain active and healthy, if needed.
3.) Improving Personal Cashflow
This is going to be hard to track in numbers though qualitatively I have been wanting to improve on controlling my personal cashflow especially on a monthly basis. I've blogged about this issue here not too long ago and it is easy to lose track and control of our cashflow regardless of how much you are earning. More is less and less is more.
I think controlling my cashflow would directly relate to testing my patience, budgeting accuracy and dictating skills. On top of increasing the frequency of the cashflow, I plan to do this by specifically using last 2 months income to dictate my spending for both this and the next month income. This only means that should things go a little sidetrack, I would have at least the current month income to buffer for any unexpected increase in the expense.
4.) Writing more regularly and Blog content
One of the goals in 2015 is to keep writing with the same level of intensity as I did this year.
I expect to end the 2014 with a total of 124 posts which translates to about 12 posts on average a month. As always, the focus is on writing better content each year which will benefit the community as much as it benefits myself learning from the community. I strive to learn from both the new and seasoned investors or writers and I believe that there are always learning points to pick out from.
I doubt I will be able to do one better this year as I'm working on a personal project which I will described a little bit more later below. With time spent on the project, I will probably need to balance my time once again. We'll see if it works out at the end of next year.
5.) Reading at least 1 book a month
I think through reading books, I am able to pick out many capabilities and learning points which are shared by the author. These are very important to me because investing is more than just a capital injection or buy low sell high kind of theory. There are a lot more behavioral aspect which is not evident to me at this point in time which I need to self-realize when the time comes.
With realistically more time on my side this year, I should be able to pick up more books this year than the last. My goal is to read at least 1 book a month and I will start this off by keeping the goal realistic. I shall finally update My Books Trending page more frequently!!!
6.) Eat less than 8 instant noodles in a year
This is going to sound a little insane but I am going to start tracking the number of cup or instant noodles I eat in a year with effect from 2015.
Many of you know that instant noodles have the addictive nature of ingredients which want to make you come for more. I have been a fan of instant noodles throughout my entire life and I know how damaging it can have to your body over the long term. By setting this as part of the goal, I will be putting my resistance skill to the test, on top of a healthier body over the long run.
7.) Personal Mystery Project
As mentioned above, I'm going to work on my personal project in 2015 which I hope is going to work out by the end of next year. It's really something I hope to be doing and I'm going to put the goal as one of my own next year to attempt it.
As with all projects, they usually have a name attached to it. I do not know what to call them yet currently so I'll call them a Personal Mystery Project (PMP) for now. I'll work out the details in the coming months and hopefully it'll be a successful one by the end of next year.
So that's the end of 2014. With 2015 looming, I hope everyone stays healthy, safe and vigilant towards everything you do in life. This will be my last post in 2014. I'll see you guys again in 2015 in a few days time ;)
