Author Topic: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?  (Read 10769 times)

Hirondelle

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #50 on: December 19, 2018, 02:24:04 AM »
Easy goals:
- Visit 2 countries I've never been (in case I happen to travel to the US, a state I've never been) Made it! 2 new countries and several new places in countries I'd already been
- Loose 5 kgs - not particularly easy but I've just started exercising again so the first pounds should get off easily. Nop. Not sure where I'm at now but it's no more than 1 kg.
- Make friends in my new city Worked out pretty well! Socially life is getting better by the week lately :)

Challenging goals:
- Get to 30k net worth (25k is the easy one - 30k will require more frugality and a bit of luck with the markets) Made it thanks to a forgotten windfall. Without windfall I'd probably be there after my last salary of the year (if markets don't tank further).
- Be able to do a full split Still as far off as I used to be
- Move into a better apartment Didn't happen and I'm actually quite happy with the current one so not planning on moving within the next year

zeli2033

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #51 on: December 19, 2018, 07:59:03 AM »
Goals for 2018:

1) Max out DH's and my 401ks and Roth IRAs; stretch to include HSA but we'll see
2) Reduce Student Loans from ~$64k to less than $40k
3) Choose next fitness goal to accomplish

1) Almost accomplished! Due to when DH was able to start contributing tp these accounts, we will be just a couple grand shy of maxing both 401ks and the HSA. Which is pretty great, we thought it'd be a stretch to get this far!
2) Done! Right around 38k, hoping to get it around 35k by end of year if possible
3)Erm...completely didn't think about this all year! Although did meet some new 1RMs for some key lifts

Jaayse

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #52 on: December 19, 2018, 12:49:35 PM »
A few goals, hopefully all completed in 2018:

1) Hit 325k in my investments (at 225k right now, single person).  Done with help from the sale of the condo, I'm at 370k but would have been more like 310k without the 60k from the condo.

2) Sell my condo after the litigation ends and hopefully before any housing market fall.  Done as noted above, bought at 295k and sold at 319k.

3) Re-designate to Human Resources Officer.  Done, but due to the re-designation I am now in the process of moving early to my new job.  Good for continuing in the career, bad for losing out on the great overseas pay and travel opportunities.

4) Get into better shape.  About a net wash, I will work on this more next year.

5) Travel a lot more of Europe while I'm living here without having too big of an impact on my savings.  In 2018 I went to the UK, Spain, Djibouti, Israel, Netherlands, Bahrain, Austria, Czek Republic, Germany, and of course Italy.

6) Max my TSP and IRA (combined total of 24k).  Completed.

To be continued...

Cookie78

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #53 on: December 19, 2018, 02:02:02 PM »
My ONLY priority goal for 2018 is to sell my rental house. I call this Freedom phase 2 (Phase 1 of course being FIRE).

Other secondary goals are:
Continuing to get in better shape
Canoe trip leg 3
Max TFSA

I forgot anther one!

Build outrigger sailing canoe


Failed on the main goal. Hopefully next year. I say hopefully, I mean almost certainly. Even if the market stays as bad as it is, I will have an extra year of saving under my belt and can sell anyway, at a lower price.

Canoe trip was partly successful. The weather didn't cooperate and we only made it about half way.

TFSA goal was easy peasy.

Getting in shape goal still needs some work. :p

haypug16

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #54 on: December 21, 2018, 07:53:07 AM »
Year end update;

1. Pay off all Credit Debt (looking like April) - Done
2. Max out 401k by year end - Got closer but not maxed yet. I'm about 75% of the way there I think
3. Reach $50k in Retirement accounts - Nope, with the market taking a couple down turns this year I was not able to reach this goal but I did continue to invest so I'm hoping next year I'll blow past this mark and hit $75K
4. Get yearly expenses to $21,600 or less ($1,800 per month) - Coming in around $30K for the year. $21,600 was just way to low, I'm setting my 2019 number to $25K
5. Ride bike to work - I did this a few times this year. Not nearly enough. I'll be changing my work schedule next year as I'm having a baby so biking to work will not be possible but I'll only be driving 3 days a week so there's that.

Looking forward to 2019 and hitting some more goals.

Morning Glory

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #55 on: December 21, 2018, 08:38:54 AM »
My goal is to work less in 2018, and still grow my stache on a lower income. I would like to at least max out my 403b, my Roth IRA, and hubby's Roth IRA. It was easy this year because I worked .9 at my nursing job plus taught 2 semesters of clinical. We just had a new baby, so I am going to take the spring semester off from clinical (unpaid) then possibly cut down the nursing job to .75 when the fall semester starts. I am on paid leave from the nursing job until February.

Other goals are to lose the pregnancy weight , get my abs back (for strength, not just looks), and possibly run a half marathon.

Funny, I didn't even remember this post until the thread was revived, but I did meet most of the goals. My 403b is set up to Max on the last paycheck (I lose the match if I do it early), my Roth IRA is fully funded, and hubby's is almost there. I put 3k in my son's 529 first to get a state tax credit because I have until March to fill the IRA.
My weight is back to pre pregnancy level s and my abs are better but not quite there. I have slowed down on running in favor of strength training so I do feel much stronger.

Slow road to freedom

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #56 on: December 21, 2018, 02:29:52 PM »
Is it too early to think about 2018?

I’ve heard many times that it’s easy to overestimate what can be achieved in one year, and underestimate what can be achieved in ten years. Well, I think ten years is too long for me. So I will focus on 2018 to accelerate / catapult me into a great position.

I’m about halfway to achieving FI. At a base level. I’ve plumped for the 2023 Cohort, a great bunch, but I would dearly love to say ‘hi’ to the 2022 Cohort. To do that, by my calculations, I need to save £80,000 in 2018. It’s possible. It’s a challenge. But boy, am I determined...

That’s the big one for me.

I would also love to lose a little weight (well, ok, body fat), spend more time helping my kids at school - and develop their own mini Mustache - and read some well-crafted books.

What’s your big one for 2018?

Funny .... I forgot about this post. But something must’ve happened this year, because:
- Saving £80,000 ... tick
- Losing a little weight ... tick (thanks DietBet!)
- Helping kids ... well, not sure they needed it - doing well without my help
- Reading book ... not so much

Oh, and paid off our mortgage - officially debt free!

Yep, pretty happy with 2018.

nawhite

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #57 on: December 31, 2018, 08:30:25 AM »
1) Selling our rental. We have rented it for 2 years so far and so this year we either sell it or lose the "primary residence exclusion" on capital gains taxes from the sale. It's looking to be about $30k in saved taxes by selling in 2018 vs later so this year it goes.

2) Starting a second job/personal business as a kayak instructor. My goal is $5000/year in revenue in the first year. Ideally I'm about 2-3 years from FIRE and I'd like to turn this into my "job" in "retirement". I know I'm going to have OMY syndrome bad so something like this will be great to have something to think about going to, instead of just thinking about leaving.

3) Volunteering more. I've done some with a couple organizations off and on over the past 10 years but usually just when things fell in my lap through a big work volunteer push or something. For 2018 I'm registered to volunteer with Junior Achievement (ja.org, financial education for kids) and trying to sign up with VITA (Income Tax prep help for low income people).

1) Sold! That said, the sale sucked. We ended up needing to do about $20k in asbestos mitigation to get it sold and the way we did the contracts for doing that made it much more of a hassle than it needed to be. But it's gone now and we paid off the last of the student loans and I've been dollar cost averaging the remainder into the stock market for the past 3 months and will continue for another 4 months or so (thank god we didn't just put everything in the market once the sale settled in October).

2) Starting a kayak instruction business was fun and eye opening and I did make about $5000 in revenue (which basically all went to insurance and buying new boats and other gear :-) ). The biggest surprise has been the ability to leverage the "I own a kayak school" fact into other things that I (unknowingly) wanted even more than to own the school itself. A) I was invited to teach at the most prestigious kayak schools in the country for a week which is now an awesome resume point but I also learned a ton about the state of the art in teaching techniques. B) I've gotten a seat at the table to help manage the local section of river that I'm passionate about.

3) I did volunteer with JA which was a good experience but I don't know that I'm cut out for working with large groups of students. Going to need to come up with a different way to have that impact. And VITA again didn't return any of my calls. Too bad for them.

runbikerun

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Re: 2018 - What will you be FIREd up about?
« Reply #58 on: January 01, 2019, 02:07:15 PM »
My goals for 2018 are partially work-related, partially FIRE-related, and partially fitness-related:
1: finish the graduate diploma I signed up for through work, and do well enough to convince my bosses to finance the additional modules in 2019 that will convert it to a full MSc;
2: get bored in work. I was told by a boss some time ago that I should move roles every 18 months unless I found something I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing, as just about every non-professional role should be possible to learn in 18 months. If I find myself getting bored towards the end of 2018, that means I'm right on schedule and ready to look for the next challenge.
3: get to a large enough savings figure to cover six months' expenses independent of any state assistance, then meet with my workplace pensions advisor to max out my pension tax benefits.
4: knock another minute off my 10k time. I'm down to 42:49, which is already ahead of the sub-44 I wanted to get to by April 2018, so the new goal is 41:XX by this time next year.

Partial credit for these:
1. Graduate diploma has been finished, and I'm hopeful that mid-January will confirm that I managed to hold onto my 3.8 GPA. I will not, however, be moving onto the MSc: I was at lectures or exams on twenty Saturdays this year while also working full-time, on top of frequent solo and group assignments, and I'm exhausted. The option remains to go forward with the last three modules in a year's time, but for the moment I'm quite happy where I am academically.
2. Did just a bit too well on this front. After my job became a bit routine, I successfully transferred to a related role over the summer, and it's been a baptism of fire. Hoping to get bored by the end of the year, but I sure as hell am not bored at the moment.
3. Have made it to the six months' expenses in an emergency account, but have yet to max out my pension contributions. Planning to do so before April.
4. This one was a casualty of my academic work. All those Saturday lectures and evenings spent working on assignments meant that I didn't train nearly as much as I should have, and my 42:49 from late 2017 remains my personal best. I still have three months to go before my April target for a sub-42, so we shall wait and see on that front.

 

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