Happy 2019 and Goals for the Year!

2018 came and go in a flash and i am "shocked" that my last update on this blog was on 26 Aug 2018! My sincere apologies and one of my 2019 resolutions is to blog and share my thoughts more often before my 'fans' forget who Mr. IPO is (of course the boring IPO market here is not helping)! 😂

Having said that, why have I been so quiet .. ? well, my current job requires me to travel quite a lot and so much so that i am out of the country at least once every month... One of my "goal" for 2019 is to earn at least 200,000 miles from both work and credit card spending. It is funny i set targets for everything including the air miles ✈ 

Since this is the start of 2019, let's take a quick stock of how my 2018 goals performed. You can read about my goals for 2018 here. Let's do a quick review (sounds like a work appraisal and performance review 🙄

Goal 1 for 2018: Increase net worth by $250,000 - Achieved 

This goal is achieved as i had a good year where i had a good bonus after meeting targets at work and given that my portfolio has also grown to a decent size, it generated decent dividend and interest income. The CPF also helped generated a fair bit of interest income. I have blogged about the portfolio crossing the magical $1m in my last post here. I will keep the same goal for 2019

Goal 1 for 2019 - Increase net worth by $250,000

Goal 2 for 2018: Create a portfolio that will generate a passive income of $60,000 per year - achieved 

I added more bonds to my portfolio in 2019 (instead of stocks) and using bank leverage. I was able to borrow against my existing portfolio and arbitrage 3% in interest rate even though my borrowing cost was around 3.5%. As such, i managed to increase my passive income each year to $84,852. I will likely increase my exposure to bonds as i become "old". On the other hand, if you are in your 20s-30s, you should pursue a more aggressive strategy and invest in properties when the timing is right...

My CPF balances also enjoyed a full year of interest since i repaid the CPF used for purchasing my property in 2017. I will blog about it another day when i receive the color statements from CPF. In this regard, i will have a more stretched target to increase my passive income to $100,000 a year.

Goal 2 for 2019 : Passive income of $100,000 per year

Goal 3 for 2018: Generate valuation and trading income gain of $25,000. This excludes the gains from goal 4. - Failed 

I failed miserably in this aspect, losing close to $100,000 in my portfolio value. I wrote off my investment in Hyflux and my SRS positions also declined in value, especially where UMS started to fall dramatically from its height. I will hope to maintain my target of making a capital gains of $25,000 for 2019.

Goal 3 for 2019: Generate valuation and trading gain of $25,000 

Goal 4 for 2018: Generate IPO Tikams gain of $20,000 - achieved

I made about $33,000 in 2018. This is due to outsized gains from the RTO in Memories Group. You can read about my IPO tikams here. I don't think 2018 can be repeated and with the current IPO drought, i will be shocked if i can even repeat the $20,000 target. In this regard, the goal will remain the same. 

Goal 4 for 2019: Generate IPO Tikams gain of $20,000 

Goal 5 for 2018: Limited in what I can do here. Probably to max out the balances in CPF through voluntary contributions 

The above goal was not achieved as i have already hit my FRS and cannot contribute voluntarily anymore. In this regard, i will not pursue this further.

Goal 6 for 2018: 5 new cities, places and/or experiences - achieved

2018 was a great year! I managed to:

•  See Sakura in Japan during a work trip

 

•  Drove my friend's red Mustang in the USA when i visited them 

• Watch Liverpool played against its arch rival in Anfield. Liverpool is probably going to win the League this year and i may be part of that history

• Visit the Alpine route in Japan and see the Autumn leaves!

• Went Truffle hunting in Italy with a truffle dog 🐕

Now you know why i wasn't blogging from September to December... 2019 is going to be another busy year for me but this goal is probably the one that keep my sanity intact...

Goal 5 for 2019: 5 new places or experiences 

Goal 7 for 2018: unchanged. Slim down to 80.8 kg - failed

I have decided to give up on this goal (Other than age, what goes up never comes down?)...  For 2019, i am just going to maintain my weight at below 83kg! That should make it achievable (i hope).

Goal 6 for 2019: maintain weight at below 83kg

Goal 8 for 2018 - Invest in US stocks (not met)

I traded some US stocks but i am going to give this up as well and my two new non-financial goals are:

Goal 7 for 2019: Read 6 books and write at least one blog post every 2 weeks

I hope i can achieve this... i have not been reading books for a while and it is time to pick it up and i would like to blog more regularly as well...

Goal 8 for 2019: Earn 200,000 Krisflyer miles from work and credit cards spending

 As i mentioned at the beginning of my post, i travel a lot for work... as such, it would only make sense if i set a target that is related to travel as well. 

Here is a sneak preview of how much i travel... It is only 3 months (Nov to mid Jan) and i have already ...

Here is wishing all my readers and "fans" a Happy 2019! I hope you have already set the goals but more importantly, reviewed the goals you have set in 2018 to see if you should continue or change them for the better! Don't be lazy and start your goal setting today...