Goals for 2022

It was a rainy start to 2022 and has been raining non-stop. If only the rain can wash away Omicron. The cool weather does help in making you sit back and ponder what the goals for 2022 should be. 

My friend just fired her boss over Christmas! 

Over the weekend, my friend said she resigned during Christmas and will do nothing for a while. She has been with the same firm for more than 15 years, so this is not a 'rash' decision. Isn't it a great feeling to be able to step away and "do nothing" in life because you have planned for this day?

I guess this sums up the purpose of this blog - the pursuit of financial freedom, being able to step away from work and call it a day. You can only do that if you have planned for it - i.e. your passive income exceeds your expenses.

Don't just plan to retire, do it with style (and know exactly what you want to do next)

Everyone can plan to retire, but retire on your own terms. Please retire only if a few conditions are met:
  • You know what and where to spend your free time (e.g. some prefer to spend it on the golf course , some on charitable work and some in the metaverse - i.e. online gaming) but how much golf or online game can you play?
  • Your lifestyle is not going to take a big hit. No point retiring if you can't even maintain a certain standard of lifestyle as your mental well being will probably take a hit
  • Your passive income (cashflows) is well above your lifestyle needs
I am definitely not ready to retire yet !

I took two weeks of leave leading up to the year end and I concluded that I am not ready to retire for a few reasons. 
  • I am one of the lucky few who is passionate about what I do for a living. Until the day where work becomes a chore (i.e. if I get a bad boss), then I know my time is up
  • I can't do gaming full time. I tried to play a few games but I really can't do what AK71 does and retire into the virtual world! I prefer the real world
  • I don't want to trade full time either. When I was younger, I loved to trade and am quite good at it but this is not the retirement lifestyle I want too!
Because of Covid, we have all forgotten what travel means and I definitely still want to see the world in its splendor - so yes, the only thing that I will do for retirement is to travel around the world.   

Goals for 2022

I just reviewed the goals for 2021 a few days back. (see post here)

I am glad to have reached a certain stage in my life where my goals can be more inspirational and motivational rather than financial as money is no longer (and has never been) the most important priority. Money is just a means to an end for me. In this regard, I am going to re-order my goals for 2022 as well.

This is only possible if you have sowed the seeds while you are young and I would continue to encourage you to pursue financial freedom fervently. So here are my 9 goals for 2022.

Goal No.1 -  Donate all my blog income to Charity

My goal no.1 this year is to donate all my blog income to charity. Based on the earnings for 2021, it will be around US$1,000 or S$ 1,350. I will likely end up donating more than that but the goal is to inspire others to donate as well.



Goal No.2 - Write 32 blog articles

Since the articles are supposed to educate and inspire, I should increase the output by 25% from my goal  of 26 last year (not 25% increase from the actual performance of 50 articles like what would be in the real world).

Goal No.3 - Walk average daily steps of 5,000

This is pretty embarrassing as I failed in my goal for 2021. Hahaha. As such, I will have the same goal of exercising daily and having 5,000 steps. It is going to get more challenging as my firm will revert to a hybrid mode in 2022

Goal No. 4 - Maintain weight of 80kg or less

The only thing that came out well for Covid was that I ate more healthily (thanks to Mrs controlling my diet) and had less client engagements. I also exercised more so I would like to "improve" this goal from 82kg or less to 80kg or less.

Goal No. 5 - 8 new places or experiences

I was hoping to resume traveling (before Omicron struck). I am of the optimistic view that Omicron variant will not be as "dangerous" and travel will start to resume by Spring (April 2022)  

Goal No. 6 - IPO tikams of $18,000 

Given that 2021 was a record year for IPO tikams, I am going to increase the goal to $18,000, which was the average over the last 10 years.



Goal No. 7 - Scout for a second property 

Since we have gone through all the hassle of de-coupling, I better have this goal to at least "scout" for a property so that my spouse doesn't feel that she has been conned...lol... of course whether I will pull the trigger or not depends on the price, location, en-bloc potential and more importantly, whether I can get any leverage from any banks! Maybe I will have more income and "eyeballs" reviewing new property launches instead

Goal No. 8 - Increase passive income to $192,000 (including CPF Interest)

Assuming the two of us need around $8,000 each month, that would translate into a passive income target of $192,000. I have decided to include CPF interest as part of the passive income computation given that I am working towards generating a passive income for retirement

Goal No. 9 - Build a stock portfolio of $1m by 2025

I have put the long dated goal as the last goal given its investment horizon. My stock value (both SRS and non SRS) stands at $315k. You can track my SRS portfolio as I do share them regularly on this blog. I am not overly concerned as I do have a good exposure to private equity, so having public equity exposure is not a "must-have" for me given my asset allocation.  

Summary

Here you go, my 9 goals for 2022 for easy reference in future - 

Goal No.1 -  Donate all my blog income to Charity
Goal No.2 - Write 32 blog articles
Goal No.3 - Walk average daily steps of 5,000
Goal No. 4 - Maintain weight of 80kg or less
Goal No. 5 - 8 new places or experiences
Goal No. 6 - IPO tikams of $18,000 
Goal No. 7 - Scout for a second property 
Goal No. 8 - Increase passive income to $192,000 (including CPF Interest)
Goal No. 9 - Build a stock portfolio of $1m by 2025

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