Aussie Firebug

Financial Independence Retire Early

Just like last year, and the year before that. It’s time again to take a step back and see what we achieved over the last 12 months and set new goals for 2019!

 

2018 GOALS

Have a savings rate of 65% or better 

Achieved = No ❌

 

Total expenses for 2018: $60,742

Total money made (post-tax): $142,957

Savings rate for 2018 = 57.5% 😓

This one isn’t really a surprise for us. The two big factors that lead to an increase in spending was all the flights and accomodation we booked for our trip overseas and Mrs.FB having her wisdom teeth out was not cheap either. Even though we earned $12k more this year than the previous, as always, the expenses are the biggest factor in a healthy savings rate and not your income!

I’m not overly devastated by this because I know that these big expenses were sort of a one-off and not exactly lifestyle creep. Tbh, 55% is not that bad considering how much we booked for our trip. If I cut out the money we spent on flights and accommodation our savings rate jumps to 67%… Not bad.

 

Reach $200K in ETFs

Achieved = No❌

 

Technically this wasn’t achieved. We had around $194k in ETFs/LICs at the end of December 2018. But we could have had heaps more in there because we sold IP1 last year and currently have a big cash reserve we’re drip-feeding into the market. It also didn’t help that December was a really bad month for the markets but oh well.

If I actually remembered this goal in December I could have just put in an extra $7k to hit it haha.

Always next year!

 

Get to $550K+ in net worth

Achieved = Yes✅

 

Woohoo first tick! We managed to end 2018 at $600k mostly due to the sale of IP1. Very happy with this one.

 

Make monthly checks to the above goals as part of my monthly net worth posts

Achieved = No ❌

 

I don’t know how I forgot about this one but I can’t remember referencing these goals at all during the year. It was maybe something that sounds good last year but not something I ever think about with each months update. Maybe I’ll remember this year 😂

 

Redesign homepage and the whole site

Achieved = Yes✅

 

I changed my WordPress theme at the start of 2018 to make it easier for me to update the site and for you guys to navigate around. The older readers might remember, but the old theme was a bit clunky and for me to add things into the site use to take ages and was extremely buggy. So happy I made the switch to the new theme. Really fast and very customisable.

 

Find a Super expert to interview on the podcast

Achieved = No ❌

 

Ugh! I’m so over this one. I was really close to getting a Super expert for MONTHS to come on the show and they never did. I won’t name any names but I got over it really quick after I tried pretty hard to land some other quality guests.

So I’m changing my strategy.

If you know someone who would like to contact me to come on the podcast, then I’m all ears. But I’m after someone who will provide expert info about Super in regards to FIRE. What I don’t want is some random from their financial consulting company coming on to talk about how good their company is. It has to be specifically in regards to people looking to FIRE or FI that are close to their preservation age. SMSF is of great interest.

[email protected] if you know someone 🙏

 

Update the Australian FIRE Calculator

Achieved = Sorta yes ✅

 

I made some minor changes to the calculator last year (didn’t update the changelog) but nothing major. There are actually other calculators that are based off mine that have expanded it greatly. If you’re one of those people who has made amendments to it, please contact me as I’d love to release a better version and give you credit and some exposure to whatever site/content you may have.

I came across one version that had the ability to enter in multiple people’s numbers and stuff like that. Really cool stuff and something I’d love to get out there officially without having to further develop this myself as I’m pretty much moved on from that.

 

Get to 500 Facebook likes

Achieved = Yes ✅

 

Currently sitting on 940 likes 😁

Who will be the prestigious 1,000 like?

I feel that pages and groups have so much more authority when they hit the magical 1K mark.

Although there’s plenty out there who pay for likes 🙄. Just look for the pages who have over 1,000 likes yet only have 5-7 reactions each time they post. I take pride in saying the Aussie Firebug page has never ever paid for likes and on top of that, doesn’t have a single friend or family member liking the page. Mostly because they don’t know about it! But I reckon that’s an easy 100-200 likes right there getting the old friends and family on board 😂

 

And that’s it for the recap for the last 12 months. Heading into 2019, these will be our main focus financially/blog-wise.

 

2019 GOALS

The big financial goals are:

  1. Obtain a savings rate of 20% or better
    • I honestly don’t know if we will be able to save anything whilst on our trip this year. But that of course was never the goal. I’ve set 20% as a little goal just to be a bit more accountable. A lot depends on our housing situation and how good the jobs we’re able to land are.
  2. Reach $420K in ETFs
    • We’re putting in $15k into ETFs/LICs each month over the next 16 months from the big pile of cash left over from the sale of IP1. This means at a minimum, $165K will be going into the markets for us this year. Maybe we can continue to add a little bit from savings and perhaps the markets will do ok. I don’t think this goal is unrealistic but a lot will depend on factors outside of our control.
  3. Get to $700K+ in net worth
    • Maybe a bit unrealistic since I don’t think we will be able to save that much but you never know.
  4. Sell another property if the lending condition changes and the market picks up
    • I could be waiting a decade for this one but the two IPs are currently cash flow positive so I’m in no rush.

Website goals:

  1. Bring back AFF and aim to release an episode on a regular basis once I’m up and running overseas
  2. Release a webapp I’m been working on
  3. Get to 2,000 Facebook likes

 

That should keep me pretty busy this year.

 

 

What about you? How did you go with your financial goals in 2018? And what goals are you setting for the next 12 months?

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