Review of 2022 & Goals for 2023

Time flew past and I am glad Singapore scored an A+ for its handling of the pandemic and took advantage of the lock down in Hong Kong and China to establish itself as the MICE centre for a few key events in 2022. 

Another major event that took place in 2022 was the crash of crypto and the meltdown in prices of stocks and bonds. The rise in US interest rate also caused a dent in the passive income as it resulted in a negative carry. In other words, my strategy of borrowing against the bonds portfolio that worked well in prior years is no longer feasible. My immediate priority for 2023 will be to pay down the borrowings quickly given the high borrowing costs. With the increase in interest rate, the passive income suffered as interest from loans and mortgage now exceeds $60,000 per annum.

These events serve as a reminder that while we can plan meticulously for our retirement, there are always curve balls that are beyond our control and can derail our retirement plans. It is thus important to set goals and track your progress against them on a regular basis but don't forget to live a meaningful life, as what is the point of making all the money only for your kids to spend them. 😆 

My goals for 2022 can be found in the post here.  Let's do a quick review of the goals and see whether they were achieved.

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

The advertising income was pretty low this year at around $526.85 for 2022. I will donate it to one of the charities from the giving.sg website this year. 

Goal No.2 - Write 32 blog articles - Achieved

Considering that there are only 11 IPOs on SGX in 2022, I would consider it an "achievement" to have written 26 articles on SRS Retirement and 21 articles on Singapore IPOs blogs. 😆

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

Managed to complete 6,009 steps, which is an improvement from 3,858 in 2020 and 4,646 in 2021. I do find walking and hiking quite enjoyable as they are easier on the knees.

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

Maintained my weight at around 78 kg throughout the year until my recent trip to Japan where it hit close to 80kg. Better start to watch my diet again. 😬

Goal No. 5 - 8 new places or experiences - Achieved.

This is the goal which I will try my best to achieve annually as it enriches my life in many ways - from learning about new culture, experiencing new places. improve mental and physical well being and spending quality time with loved ones. I will cover this in a separate post.  

Goal No. 6 - IPO tikams of $18,000 - Failed

As mentioned here, the earnings for 2022 was around $6k. I don't think the "earnings" from tikams will improve anytime soon until 2H 2023.

Goal No. 7 - Scout for a second property - Achieved but "Failed" Big Time

As mentioned in my post, we managed to buy a second property.  Unfortunately, we haven't rented it out as Mrs IPO was too idealistic and took her own sweet time in doing up the place as if for her own stay. This is what I call "falling in love with your stocks". To make things worse, this is a negative trade given yields from fixed deposits crossed 4%.  🤕 Another example where you can plan all you want but things don't always go according to plans.

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

Managed to hit the target despite the increased borrowing costs.  Bond interest is approximately $222,398, Dividend from SRS around $14,373 and Interest income (including CPF) amounted to $43,136. Total passive income is around $279,907. Mortgage and Loan interest expenses amounted to $67,429, implying passive income for 2022 is around $212,478.

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

Once again, I am nowhere close to the $1m target. As of 31 Dec 2022, the portfolio value is around 30% of my target, so there is quite a gap. Having said that, I don't "regret" per se given how the stock market had performed in 2022. Even though I have set a 2025 timeline, I would consider having not attained this goal.

Conclusion

Managed to achieve 6 out of the 9 goals with 1 pending fulfilment. 

Goals for 2023

Let's set some goals for 2023.

Goal No.1 - Donate all my blog income to Charity (no change from 2022)
Goal No.2 - Write 32 blog articles  (no change from 2022)
Goal No.3 - Walk average daily steps of 6,000 (increase from 5,000 from 2022)
Goal No. 4 - Maintain weight of 80kg or less  (no change from 2022)
Goal No. 5 - 8 new places or experiences (no change from 2022)
Goal No. 6 - IPO tikams of $10,000 (decrease of $8,000 from 2022)
Goal No. 7 - Rent out the second property (New goal)
Goal No. 8 - Increase passive income to $228,000 (including CPF Interest) (Increase from $192 and factoring in Goal 7)
Goal No. 9 - Build a stock portfolio of $1m by 2025 (no change from 2022)

Hope this article inspires you to set some goals for yourself. Take baby steps each time and set achievable targets and it will create a virtuous cycle and "snowballed" into financial freedom for you and your loved ones.

Happy Goals Setting!