by Aussie Firebug | Dec 30, 2016 | Financial Independence, Mindset
As 2016 comes to an end I’d like to reflect back on what was achieved and set new goals for the coming year.
I’m a big believer in setting goals and making deadlines for them.
One of my favourite quotes:
I really like it because everyone has dreams, but very few actually put in the work required to realise those dreams. Too many people (myself included) think of doing something great but it just never happens because you don’t put any pressure on yourself and rely purely on motivation.
Motivation only lasts so long and when it runs out you should be relying on habit/routine to get the job done. “I’m just not motivated today” is the wrong attitude. Everyone starts the project with motivation, but it’s the habits formed that will see the project completed.
It’s so important to actually map out a plan of attack for your dream no matter how small it is and say to yourself:
“I’m going to have X done by this time next week/month/year”
And then break the task up into smaller sub tasks if it’s a big project. But make sure you set a time and date that you want it completed by or else it will get pushed to the side every time.
I have a rule with this blog that IÂ MUST write a minimum of two posts per month no matter what! No excuses!
This has led to me publishing a new post at 11:30PM once with work on the next day. That’s the price I pay for not being more organised.
What Did I Achieve In 2016?
2016 was a huge year for me personally and financially.
I
- Moved into a share house
- Watched as the RBA cut the cash rate twice to 1.5%
- Watched Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal party get elected
- Had 2 properties gain and one lose value over the course of the year
- Joined financial forces with my partner
- Bought around $50K worth of ETFs
- Moved in with my partner
- Broke into the $200K net worth club (so close to the $250K damit!)
I originally wanted to buy another investment property and dip my toes into ETFs for 2016. But the more I thought about it, the more I was leaning towards ETFS.
2017 Financial Goals
My big financial goals that I want to achieve by the end of the year are
- Obtain a savings rate of 65% or better
- Reach $100K in ETFs
They are both very measurable goals and are something I can review monthly to track how I’m going.
My big goals for the blog are:
- Try to release a podcast every month. It’s the number one thing I get requests for. I love doing them too I just find it hard to find guests
- Revamp the home page
- Write more about Super
What Are Your Goals?
What do you hope to achieve financially on your way towards FIRE in 2017?
by Aussie Firebug | Dec 9, 2016 | Net Worth
It’s that time of the year again.
But now with the combined powers of Miss Lady Bug on board, we did managed to save a bit of money in November.
And in even bigger news.
This guy was elected as the leader of the free world
Does anyone else follow US politics? I was GLUED to the updates when it was all going down in America. It was honestly more exciting than most action movies.
In the right corner, weighing in a 250 pounds, the king of sting, Agent Orange, Cheeto Jesus. Reality TV star, businessmen and real estate investor….THE DONALD!
In the left corner, former first lady, Goldman Sachs speech specialist, feminists hero… HILLARY CLINTON!
The entire election has played out like a movie script. You have this guy that NO ONE is taking seriously and considered a joke by the entire world. His popularity keeps building and building but still no one honestly considers him an actual chance. He wins the Republicans nomination and everyone laughs at them for picking a candidate with 0% chance of being elected.
The entire campaign is a circus with Donald Trump saying the most ludicrous things that would instantly end any other running campaign in history. He says his going to build a wall and get Mexico to pay for it?!
LOLWUT!
And then he gets even more popular!
And talk about twist and turns all the way to the end.
Hilary with the whole email case that gets reopened A WEEK BEFORE ELECTION DAY.
Oh lordy!
I tell ya, it’s riveting stuff people.
And of course the fall out was just as interesting. There I was going around the office telling everyone that The Donald is now the leader of the free world. Their reactions were priceless. Some were nearly brought to tears (calm your farm people) and the anti politically correct were seen celebrating…and some couldn’t care less.
Back To Finances
I was keeping a close eye on the stock market because I knew that historically it usually dips when a controversial president is elected. And now that I have investments in the stock market through ETFs, this is of great interest to me.
All the experts were saying that the Dow Jones (basically the US Market) would dive if by some miracle Donald Trump was elected.
So what does any astute investor do if they know there could be a crash? Wait on the sidelines with money of course.
I had about $5K to put in anyway so it wasn’t like I was varying too much from the original strategy. But I wanted to see what would happen.
And sure enough, when Donald Trump was confirmed to be the president elect, the US market or more specifically ASX:VTS (Vanguards ETF for the US market) dived around 10 points from memory.
IÂ had to wait until 10AM for the market to open so I could buy in and as soon as the market opened, VTS had already shoot up 5 points! I bought anyway and since then I have made around $600 bucks and it continues to rise!
ASX:VTS During Election Month
So it just goes to show that 99% of ‘experts’ out there cannot predict the market swings correctly. They all said the index would go down. And although it dipped, it shot straight back up and has continued to be up since. It just strengthens the strategy of investing periodically and not to try and time the market. Even my little ‘win’ is extremely irreverent in the long…but I can’t help it ?
Weddings and Christmas took up majority of expenses this month.
Fingers crossed I can get through December relatively unscathed.
PS. I have updated all the graphs and pie charts. The are interactive now so hover (or touch if on a smartphone/tablet) over them to get more info.
Properties
No change in the property values this month
ETFs
Below are our current splits (hover over each pie slice for more info)
Networth
