Goal Setting for 2019 - Part II
As I had left off in my previous post, I have been in the goal setting mood as of late. To be quite honest, I never was much of a goal setter, so this is kind of different for me.
It all stemmed from a conversation I had with my girlfriend late one night in December. Neither of us could sleep, and we laid in bed talking about anything and everything. New Years was approaching, and my mind got on the subject of where I'd like to be a year from now. So I asked her, did she have any new years resolutions? Sure she did - she's the type of person who always has a plan, who's always trying to get to the next big stage in her life.
And although I do a lot to track a lot of aspects to my life - I track my investment portfolio and calculate my annual dividend income, I calculate my net worth every month, I write down my exercises, weights, and reps every time I work out - I am not the same type of person who is always trying to get to that next stage. I really almost feel like I'm kind of floating by in life, enjoying my time where I am right now.
That's not to say that I don't feel like I have control of my life. I have a strong believe that I have great control over most aspects of my life. No, it's not a lack of control, it's more a lack of worry. I believe that if I practice good habits, do my best to treat others how I'd like to be treated, and then the rest will really take care of itself. To speak in cliches, I really try to go with the flow as much as I can, and not sweat the small stuff.
Without much thought, I started to brush off the question when she returned it to me. "I'm not really a resolution guy". But after a little more prodding from my girlfriend (she probably just wanted to keep the conversation going rather than try to go to sleep) I came to realize I did have some goals I'd like to achieve before I let yet another year pass me by. I told her about some things I'd like to see improve in my health, in my job, and I even told her I'd wanted to start writing (hence the creation of this blog).
These were all general frames of goals at the time. I had a time frame, but nothing measurable. What did I want to write, and how much? Did I want to lose weight? And how much? Since then, I've really thought a lot more about setting some goals for myself. I mean, this is really the time for me to do it. I'm in the sweet spot. Mid twenties, not married, no kids - now is the time I should really be able to devote my time and energy to get where I want to be in life!
So without any more rambling about how I got here, here are my goals for 2019.
Increase my Annual Dividend Income to $3,750
Surprise surprise! We start the list off with a financial goal. At the time I'm writing this post, my current projected annual dividend income (see a link to my portfolio here for my calculation) stands at around $2,500. This means if I don't make any purchases or sales, turn off my dividend reinvestment, and there are no increases/decreases to the dividend rates on my holdings, my portfolio will add $2,500 of cash every year.
Now there's no guarantee the stocks I own will continue to pay their current dividend, or even continue to pay it at all, but I happen to take a company's dividend history into consideration most of the time I make a purchase. If you invest for dividends, and aren't aware of the term 'dividend aristocrats', I'd suggest you check it out (here's a good place to start). The 'dividend aristocrats' are stocks that have not only maintained, but increased their dividend for 25 consecutive years or more. Some examples are AT&T, Procter and Gamble, ExxonMobil, etc. Anyway, I happen to hold a few of these, and some others who seem to be on their way to that 25 year mark.
After considering where my income currently stands, I started formulating my goal by thinking about what I can do to increase this income. First, I already take steps to increase this income by re-investing all my dividends. The compounding effect of reinvestment over time makes a world of difference. I earn about 3% on my portfolio, so reinvestment alone would get me an extra $75 this year (actually, a little more since most of my dividends pay quarterly - but $75 is a nice round number). On top of that, let's be conservative and say I get somewhere around a 3% overall dividend increase this year as well. There's another $75. If these assumptions are correct, without any new purchases, my baseline is $2,650.
Next, I can reasonably guess that I'll be contributing somewhere around $20,000 between my 401k account, my HSA, and my Traditional/Roth IRA. With my biggest holding being essentially an SP 500 mutual fund, I'll assume about a 2% yield on these contributions. This adds another $400. New baseline: $3,050.
Now the harder part. How much extra do I plan to put away in investments? I started with my income - assuming I get a raise later in the year that's been on par with my last few raises, my salary should be somewhere around $70,000 (including bonus). Take away the contributions from above, and that leaves $50,000. My predictable expenses/outflows (loan payments, income and property taxes, insurance, etc.) should be right around $20,000. My other personal spending (utilities, groceries, gas, etc.) comes out to probably around $10,000 per year. That leaves me with $20,000 to add to my savings and investments. Let's say I tuck away a little cash, maybe $5,000 or so? This extra $15,000 invested should net me somewhere around $450 (3% yield assumption).
After all of the above, my actions would get me to $3,500 in annual dividend income. However, I want to push myself a little bit. I want to see if I can add some extra income in there on the side (account opening bonuses always come in the mail), and maybe cut some costs (that internet bill is a little expensive). Also, with the uncertainty in the market there really are some attractive high yield opportunities at the moment. Taking that all into account, I figured I'd push that goal up to the next round amount - $3,750 it is!
Focus on my Health
I wanted to group a few goals together in this section, as they're all related to a common theme. I feel that in the past few years, I've spent a lot of time improving many aspects of my life. I work hard, try to excel in my career, spend time with the people I love, save and invest my money, and it sometimes seems that I barely have time to get to the gym or cook myself a healthy meal. This is something that a lot of my peers struggle with as well. It almost seems that you have to let your health (physical and mental) take a backseat to everything else in order to be a successful, independent young professional. It seems that we all lose sight of the fact that without our health, none of what we're working for matters.
I used to be somewhat of a health buff myself. In high school I ran, I played sports, I was active all the time. It seemed like every day after high school that I didn't have practice, my house was either the meet up spot for a pickup basketball or football game, and on the days where neither happened, I was at the gym. I would go to the library and read nutrition books - I even majored in dietetics for a little while in college (I ended up taking business classes instead).
Fitness used to come easy to me. Little did I realize, I wouldn't always have that kind of free time/metabolism/energy that I did in college. My gym time turned into long days in the office or traveling for work, and my lean frame turned to a beer gut quickly. While I don't consider myself to be too out of shape, I know that I'm nowhere near as fit as I used to be.
I've recently started making positive changes for my health. I drink less, I now track my calories (I use the free app 'Lose It!'), and I try to take some time to myself every day/night to just relax a bit, or check something off my personal to-do list rather than always focus on working. I am currently in my busy season for work, so a few minutes of peace and quiet does wonders for my sanity after a full day of work before bed. While I don't always kill it on my workouts, or cut out enough stress in my day, it's important for me to keep in mind the importance of building good habits, as staying healthy and in shape will only get harder and harder in the future.
To quantify these goals a little, I'd really like to get my weight down to around 165 pounds. Along with the weight loss, I want to continue lifting so I can tell if I'm losing strength and muscle along the way. The plan is to lose as much fat as possible, with as little muscle loss as possible. 165 is right around the weight I was when I felt I was at my healthiest in my early twenties, and would be about a 10 pound drop from my weight at the beginning of the year. Getting to 165 doesn't seem too difficult over the course of a year but the most important part of this goal is to maintain that weight going forward.
Another health goal I have, more on the mental side, is to cut out undue stress in my life. This is not so easy to quantify or monitor, but my plan is to attack this goal a couple different ways. One, I want to open up more free time in my life. An easy way I can make strides toward this goal is to work from home more often. My workplace has a great mobility policy, allowing us to work from home when we don't have to be at a client's office - but some people at work frown upon those who don't want to come into the office. It's about time to start ignoring the noise of office politics and saving myself about an hour and a half (that could be a whole workout!) of travel time everyday. Along with this comes a little extra sleep too, which can never hurt. Another way that I can, and already have been working towards putting more free time back into my life is by avoiding time wasters. I've gotten rid of my facebook, twitter, and most other apps I used to find myself checking over and over again throughout the day, and I can honestly say I do not miss them.
There's one big stressor in my life that I'd also like to try and improve upon this year, and that is my job. In my quest to cut stress, I'm not necessarily looking to make a dramatic career change, but I want to at least explore my options this year. Can I move into a job that better aligns with my goals? Can I even find something within my current company that intrigues me and keeps me motivated? Can I find something where I don't have to work insane hours for 3 months of the year? Ok, maybe I'm just a little tired of working 12 hour days this week... But regardless, if I do nothing, my stress at work will continue to weigh on me, so it's time to at least try to make it better for myself. If nothing more, maybe I can get a raise that will help push my income goal further along.
Write 30 Blog Posts
So I've never been a great writer. I remember taking my ACT test in high school and getting great scores on math and science - then I looked down to that writing score... let's just say it was pretty sorry. Part of the reason I ended up going into business in college was because it sounded so straightforward - all numbers, no writing. After working in public accounting, I now know that to be almost the exact opposite.
But even though I've never been very good at it, I've always liked writing. Since I've started posting on this blog, the time I spend writing is almost therapeutic. Often, it comes later in the night after I finish up my work, so it's a nice way to unwind. As I've come to realize it's something I want to continue doing, I have set a goal for myself to write somewhere around a post every week. So far this year, I've been right about on track to hit the goal of 30 blog posts by 2020. As posting on a blog is something that is still new for me, I figure the best way to get better is to be consistent. So please, if you have read some of my posts and have topics on which you'd like to hear my opinion, drop a comment below! I've got plenty of posts left to hit my goal!
--
As I make progress toward achieving my goals listed above, I will be sure to leave updates throughout my posts this year. Please, leave a comment below with any feedback, comments, or questions you have. Let me know what you like, what you don't like, and let me know if you have any goals of your own for 2019. I'd love to hear!
- FI Anon
It all stemmed from a conversation I had with my girlfriend late one night in December. Neither of us could sleep, and we laid in bed talking about anything and everything. New Years was approaching, and my mind got on the subject of where I'd like to be a year from now. So I asked her, did she have any new years resolutions? Sure she did - she's the type of person who always has a plan, who's always trying to get to the next big stage in her life.
And although I do a lot to track a lot of aspects to my life - I track my investment portfolio and calculate my annual dividend income, I calculate my net worth every month, I write down my exercises, weights, and reps every time I work out - I am not the same type of person who is always trying to get to that next stage. I really almost feel like I'm kind of floating by in life, enjoying my time where I am right now.
That's not to say that I don't feel like I have control of my life. I have a strong believe that I have great control over most aspects of my life. No, it's not a lack of control, it's more a lack of worry. I believe that if I practice good habits, do my best to treat others how I'd like to be treated, and then the rest will really take care of itself. To speak in cliches, I really try to go with the flow as much as I can, and not sweat the small stuff.
Without much thought, I started to brush off the question when she returned it to me. "I'm not really a resolution guy". But after a little more prodding from my girlfriend (she probably just wanted to keep the conversation going rather than try to go to sleep) I came to realize I did have some goals I'd like to achieve before I let yet another year pass me by. I told her about some things I'd like to see improve in my health, in my job, and I even told her I'd wanted to start writing (hence the creation of this blog).
These were all general frames of goals at the time. I had a time frame, but nothing measurable. What did I want to write, and how much? Did I want to lose weight? And how much? Since then, I've really thought a lot more about setting some goals for myself. I mean, this is really the time for me to do it. I'm in the sweet spot. Mid twenties, not married, no kids - now is the time I should really be able to devote my time and energy to get where I want to be in life!
So without any more rambling about how I got here, here are my goals for 2019.
Increase my Annual Dividend Income to $3,750
Surprise surprise! We start the list off with a financial goal. At the time I'm writing this post, my current projected annual dividend income (see a link to my portfolio here for my calculation) stands at around $2,500. This means if I don't make any purchases or sales, turn off my dividend reinvestment, and there are no increases/decreases to the dividend rates on my holdings, my portfolio will add $2,500 of cash every year.
Now there's no guarantee the stocks I own will continue to pay their current dividend, or even continue to pay it at all, but I happen to take a company's dividend history into consideration most of the time I make a purchase. If you invest for dividends, and aren't aware of the term 'dividend aristocrats', I'd suggest you check it out (here's a good place to start). The 'dividend aristocrats' are stocks that have not only maintained, but increased their dividend for 25 consecutive years or more. Some examples are AT&T, Procter and Gamble, ExxonMobil, etc. Anyway, I happen to hold a few of these, and some others who seem to be on their way to that 25 year mark.
After considering where my income currently stands, I started formulating my goal by thinking about what I can do to increase this income. First, I already take steps to increase this income by re-investing all my dividends. The compounding effect of reinvestment over time makes a world of difference. I earn about 3% on my portfolio, so reinvestment alone would get me an extra $75 this year (actually, a little more since most of my dividends pay quarterly - but $75 is a nice round number). On top of that, let's be conservative and say I get somewhere around a 3% overall dividend increase this year as well. There's another $75. If these assumptions are correct, without any new purchases, my baseline is $2,650.
Next, I can reasonably guess that I'll be contributing somewhere around $20,000 between my 401k account, my HSA, and my Traditional/Roth IRA. With my biggest holding being essentially an SP 500 mutual fund, I'll assume about a 2% yield on these contributions. This adds another $400. New baseline: $3,050.
Now the harder part. How much extra do I plan to put away in investments? I started with my income - assuming I get a raise later in the year that's been on par with my last few raises, my salary should be somewhere around $70,000 (including bonus). Take away the contributions from above, and that leaves $50,000. My predictable expenses/outflows (loan payments, income and property taxes, insurance, etc.) should be right around $20,000. My other personal spending (utilities, groceries, gas, etc.) comes out to probably around $10,000 per year. That leaves me with $20,000 to add to my savings and investments. Let's say I tuck away a little cash, maybe $5,000 or so? This extra $15,000 invested should net me somewhere around $450 (3% yield assumption).
After all of the above, my actions would get me to $3,500 in annual dividend income. However, I want to push myself a little bit. I want to see if I can add some extra income in there on the side (account opening bonuses always come in the mail), and maybe cut some costs (that internet bill is a little expensive). Also, with the uncertainty in the market there really are some attractive high yield opportunities at the moment. Taking that all into account, I figured I'd push that goal up to the next round amount - $3,750 it is!
Focus on my Health
I wanted to group a few goals together in this section, as they're all related to a common theme. I feel that in the past few years, I've spent a lot of time improving many aspects of my life. I work hard, try to excel in my career, spend time with the people I love, save and invest my money, and it sometimes seems that I barely have time to get to the gym or cook myself a healthy meal. This is something that a lot of my peers struggle with as well. It almost seems that you have to let your health (physical and mental) take a backseat to everything else in order to be a successful, independent young professional. It seems that we all lose sight of the fact that without our health, none of what we're working for matters.
I used to be somewhat of a health buff myself. In high school I ran, I played sports, I was active all the time. It seemed like every day after high school that I didn't have practice, my house was either the meet up spot for a pickup basketball or football game, and on the days where neither happened, I was at the gym. I would go to the library and read nutrition books - I even majored in dietetics for a little while in college (I ended up taking business classes instead).
Fitness used to come easy to me. Little did I realize, I wouldn't always have that kind of free time/metabolism/energy that I did in college. My gym time turned into long days in the office or traveling for work, and my lean frame turned to a beer gut quickly. While I don't consider myself to be too out of shape, I know that I'm nowhere near as fit as I used to be.
I've recently started making positive changes for my health. I drink less, I now track my calories (I use the free app 'Lose It!'), and I try to take some time to myself every day/night to just relax a bit, or check something off my personal to-do list rather than always focus on working. I am currently in my busy season for work, so a few minutes of peace and quiet does wonders for my sanity after a full day of work before bed. While I don't always kill it on my workouts, or cut out enough stress in my day, it's important for me to keep in mind the importance of building good habits, as staying healthy and in shape will only get harder and harder in the future.
To quantify these goals a little, I'd really like to get my weight down to around 165 pounds. Along with the weight loss, I want to continue lifting so I can tell if I'm losing strength and muscle along the way. The plan is to lose as much fat as possible, with as little muscle loss as possible. 165 is right around the weight I was when I felt I was at my healthiest in my early twenties, and would be about a 10 pound drop from my weight at the beginning of the year. Getting to 165 doesn't seem too difficult over the course of a year but the most important part of this goal is to maintain that weight going forward.
Another health goal I have, more on the mental side, is to cut out undue stress in my life. This is not so easy to quantify or monitor, but my plan is to attack this goal a couple different ways. One, I want to open up more free time in my life. An easy way I can make strides toward this goal is to work from home more often. My workplace has a great mobility policy, allowing us to work from home when we don't have to be at a client's office - but some people at work frown upon those who don't want to come into the office. It's about time to start ignoring the noise of office politics and saving myself about an hour and a half (that could be a whole workout!) of travel time everyday. Along with this comes a little extra sleep too, which can never hurt. Another way that I can, and already have been working towards putting more free time back into my life is by avoiding time wasters. I've gotten rid of my facebook, twitter, and most other apps I used to find myself checking over and over again throughout the day, and I can honestly say I do not miss them.
There's one big stressor in my life that I'd also like to try and improve upon this year, and that is my job. In my quest to cut stress, I'm not necessarily looking to make a dramatic career change, but I want to at least explore my options this year. Can I move into a job that better aligns with my goals? Can I even find something within my current company that intrigues me and keeps me motivated? Can I find something where I don't have to work insane hours for 3 months of the year? Ok, maybe I'm just a little tired of working 12 hour days this week... But regardless, if I do nothing, my stress at work will continue to weigh on me, so it's time to at least try to make it better for myself. If nothing more, maybe I can get a raise that will help push my income goal further along.
Write 30 Blog Posts
So I've never been a great writer. I remember taking my ACT test in high school and getting great scores on math and science - then I looked down to that writing score... let's just say it was pretty sorry. Part of the reason I ended up going into business in college was because it sounded so straightforward - all numbers, no writing. After working in public accounting, I now know that to be almost the exact opposite.
But even though I've never been very good at it, I've always liked writing. Since I've started posting on this blog, the time I spend writing is almost therapeutic. Often, it comes later in the night after I finish up my work, so it's a nice way to unwind. As I've come to realize it's something I want to continue doing, I have set a goal for myself to write somewhere around a post every week. So far this year, I've been right about on track to hit the goal of 30 blog posts by 2020. As posting on a blog is something that is still new for me, I figure the best way to get better is to be consistent. So please, if you have read some of my posts and have topics on which you'd like to hear my opinion, drop a comment below! I've got plenty of posts left to hit my goal!
--
As I make progress toward achieving my goals listed above, I will be sure to leave updates throughout my posts this year. Please, leave a comment below with any feedback, comments, or questions you have. Let me know what you like, what you don't like, and let me know if you have any goals of your own for 2019. I'd love to hear!
- FI Anon
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