2020 Financial Independence Goals review

 This extraordinary year came to the end.  My portfolio went up by 15%.

Financial goals:

- Save 20% on the income - Accumulate $25 K a year and invest it either in one of the existing funds or new one. – This goal is only partially complete. I accumulated $24 K but not invested. The markets are all time high, so it is no point to invest it now. I have not selected where I want to invest them.

 

Portfolio:

- Develop additional income source in full, potential reward about $2,000 a year. Target sites to be developed in full this year.  This is “make it or break it”. If I am not able to do this year, I will wind down niche sites and focus elsewhere.  My personal preference is to make it, despite disproportionate amount of time I might spent. – This did not happen. The main financial independence site generated some income. However, combined niche sites did not reach $2K a year. I need to re-focus the time elsewhere.

 

Blog:

- Regular monthly updates. – This complete.

- To cover 6 themes on financial independence, including mortgage one.  –  This goal is complete. Networth change past 10 years,  Mutual funds spreading, The rich vs. Poor, Junior ISA, Market Charges, Dividend Aristocrats,  Four percent rule.

 

Educational:

- Read 12 books from the list.  – Read only two. One of them is Enough by John Bogle.

- Publish the books reviews.  – Complete for the books that I read.

- Corporate finances to study in detail. – This did not occur.

 

- Be happy.  Run 1,000 miles during the year. BMI at 26.3 by December. Loose 2.5 pounds a month. – Ran only 240 miles. I thought that last year with 253 miles the lowest possible one.

 

What are your 2020 goals? Is it something you recommend I do more or stop doing?

 I need to think how to make this year goals smarter and to make sure that I will complete them.  How was your year and the goals achievements?

2018 Financial Independence Goals - Review

Financial goals.

- Accumulate $10 K a year, with $4k of them towards long term house maintenance. – Complete.

- Portfolio – no changes. Keep investing in the pension/retirement fund – Complete. Invested $19K (this is 2018 and 2018 cash).

- Develop additional income source in full, potential reward about $2,000 a year. Target sites to be developed in full this year. – This is not achieved.

Blog:

- Regular monthly updates.- Complete. Although sometimes I was loosing will to do it.

- To cover 6 themes on financial independence, including  30 year forecast scenario. – Partially complete. I covered four themes – Financial Advice on a Card, Return on Loft Insulation, Family Budget for the past 10 years, 10 years Networth Change.

 

Educational:

- Read 12 books from the list. – This is not achieved.

- Publish the books reviews. – Complete, although not a lot of reading happened.

- Corporate finances to study in detail. - This is not achieved

Family Budget:

-          As long as the savings goal is made I do not mind the rest. Aim to stay under previous year budget. – Complete. The savings goal is complete but I was unable to send under previous year budget.

-          Be happy.  Run 1,000 miles during the year. BMI at 26.3 by December. Loose 2.5 pounds a month. – This is not achieved. Only ran 400 miles. As the result BMI is not achieved.

Overall the year was a good one but I wish I would do more progress on educating myself and developing more skills in Financial Independence, looking after my health.

I spent too much time at work and although this resulted in extra $3K as a bonus I am not sure that it worth it.

How was your year? What do you think was the most impactful for you?

2017 Financial Independence Goals ($482,266 +$94,434 or +24%).

2017 Financial Independence Goals ($482,266 +$94,434 or +24%).

Financial goals.

- Accumulate $10 K a year, with $4k of them towards long term house maintenance – Partially complete.  We did not manage to save $4K towards the house maintenance, instead invested it during the year.

- Portfolio – go 0% cash for savings as of end 2016.  Generate $10K in dividends. Portfolio to be $430 K by end of the year – Complete.  There has been a change, as with going to Vanguard it reinvests all dividends automatically.

- Develop additional income source in full, potential reward about $2,000 a year – Not achieved, although some measurable progress made.

Blog:

- Regular monthly updates – Achieved.

- To cover 6 themes on financial independence. Two of them : mortgage, 30 year forecast scenario – Not achieved, covered only four:  “Transfer to low cost investment”, “Loft insulation and energy cost”, “Zero based approach”, “Mortgage”.

- Publish easy tracker for the long-term portfolio performance- Not achieved.

 

Educational:

- Create list of books to read - 12 books is minimum - Not achieved.

- Read the books – Partially achieved.

- Publish the books reviews Not achieved.

Family Budget:

- Stay under 110%  of 2016 budget. Increase is due to additional cost of commuting -  Not achieved. Previous year budget exceeded by 26%.  We spent too much money on the house, that we should have. 

Real life portfolio performance 2015 and retrospective

2015 Values	Performance indicator		Comments
Absolute return	$, K	%	This is without taking into account accumulated $ 48 K
	-25	-9
Relative return	S&P 500, %	Portfolio, %	Exposure to emerging markets and energy sectors
	0.8	- 9
Cash accumulated in 2010 money	Planned $, K	Actual $, K	On target.
	48	48
Personal plan in 2010 money	Planned $, K 330	Actual $, K 244

The  target is not becoming currently achievable, as at the beginning of the year I have had only $244 K in 2010 money, so I had to reduce it for 2016, so it is realistic:

Year	2008	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Money of the day actual	153,400	119,800	165,600	226,800	298,400	288,608	295,536
Target						370,000		350,000
Inflation %		2	3.5	3	4	4	3	4
Cumulative inflation		1.02	1.06	1.09	1.13	1.18	1.21	1.26
2010 money	153,400	117,451	156,967	209,032	265,244	244,583	244,244	277,777

In another words if in 2010 you would have $ 10,000 and keep it, it worth $7,930 today.

2015 Financial Independence Goals ($295,536 +$22,649 or +8%)

Financial:

- Accumulate at least $48,000 (This is  $40,000 in 2010 money)  or $4,000 a month for investments during 2015, beginning  2016. – Complete. This has been done, $4,000 a month like a clock work.

- Portfolio should be able to generate   $9,000 a year after taxes in the money of the day  (In 2014 it was $7,500). Stretched target – $10,000.  NO. Actual dividends were $6,000 after taxes, which less  to the previous year. Two main reasons:

#1 I am sitting on a pile of cash, not investing them, i.e. not translating them into dividends (~ $100 K).

#2 USD is stronger, so the companies with operations outside US struggling to deliver performance.

Dividends for 2015:

S&P 500 Index fund ~ 740 USD after taxes or 1.7%

Emerging markets fund ~  500 USD after taxes or 3.5%

Rosneft ~ 250 USD after taxes or 3.3%

Gazprom ~ 4,500 USD after taxes or 4%

Average dividends 3% after taxes.

Financial Independence Annual Goals Achievements – 2013.

These were my goals for the last year:

Financial:

- Accumulate at least $42,000 for investments during 2013, beginning  2014 – Achieved. I have accumulated $47,000.

Year	2008	2010	2011	2012	2013
Money of the day	153,400	119,800	165,600	226,800	298,400
Inflation %		2	3.5	3	4
Cumulative inflation		1.02	1.06	1.09	1.13
2010 money	153,400	117,451	156,967	209,032	265,244

- Continue to diversify the nest egg – Achieved. The nest egg is diversified. I went from 39% in stock market and the rest in cash to 85% in the stock market and 15% in Cash. It will continue to increase, as I am re-building my emergency fund.

- Think about additional source of income – Not achieved. I have been heavily involved in the current job and manage to get some additional work in my time off. This converted in the income that pushed  my investments. Albeit it was short term, undiversified measure.

Blog:

- Regular monthly updates – Achieved.

- To cover  6 themes – Achieved. Rate of Return vs Inflation, Rate of Return on Investment, Energy stocks screening, Portfolio performance, Real Rate of Return, Currency wars. There is additional one – is ready but no published- to buy or not to buy. To be published soon.

Educational:

-  Create list of books to read  & read them- 12 books is minimum- Not achieved. No excuses. Need to make time for it.

-  Publish the books reviews – Not achieved.

Family Budget:

- Stay under $80,000 with the family expenses -  Achieved. The actual expenses was $81,505 which is within margin of accuracy.

- Accumulate $7,000 towards durable goods replacement over 10 years – Achieved. Kept separately.

Be happy.  Run 1,000 miles during the year – Not achieved. Ran only 700 miles. Happiness was intermittent as well. I am generally satisfied with my life.