It’s the first day of the new year 2017! We had a great time last night having dinner with good friends and counting down at their place. Stayed up late having drinks, playing board games and chatting before heading back in the early hours of the day.
Slept in until the afternoon today and it’s been a lazy day. But we should be heading out soon for another gathering. Always nice to have fun over the long weekend before going back to work!
Anyway, I considered having a post about 2016 in review, where I write about hitting or missing my financial, professional and personal goals. Might do a short summary instead to have a quick look at the past year 2016 but more importantly, to welcome in the new year 2017.
Financial goals (Met all my targets for 2016)
Net worth: Increased by S$150,000 for the year. Mainly from reduction in mortgage principal, increase in retirement funds & cash savings and investments into a mostly flat Singapore market and trending upwards overseas markets.
ETF portfolio: Increased by S$37,000 for the year. Made investments in overseas ETFs in the first half of the year and Singapore ETFs in the second half of the year.
Share portfolio: Increased by S$33,000 for the year. Averaged down on telecommunication, oil & gas, engineering and financial services stocks.
Other portfolio: Increased by S$31,000 for the year. Mostly from cash savings with some growth in the surrender values of the wholesale life policies.
Total assets: Increased by S$128,000 for the year. In addition to the above additions to the portfolios, growth in retirement funds due to being employed for the full year.
Passive income: Average monthly dividend & interest income of S$1,000 for the year.
Savings rate: Average monthly savings rate of 40% for the year.
Spending multiple: Increase spending multiple by 1x for the year.
Expenses: Annual expenses of S$120,000 for the year. Shocking and unsustainable. That’s all I have to say.
Professional goals (Change jobs in 2016)
I changed jobs after having to deal with the conflicts and stress in my previous work environment. Plus my learning curve had plateaued and these push factors triggered my move. I’m doing more interesting stuff and get along better with my colleagues at my new job. But the longer and more intensive hours at work are affecting my personal life.
Personal goals (Overseas travel, exercise & sports and went out more in 2016)
We enjoyed our trips to Penang, Korea and Italy this year. Will be heading to Bali and US in the first half of next year. Tried to go the gym or for a run at least once each week and went for weekly badminton sessions in the recent months as well. I made an effort to go out more with my wife, our families and friends. Going for such gatherings and meetups is important to my relationship building with them. I have a tendency to isolate myself, which is not good even if I sometimes prefer the company of myself.
Aims for 2017
I should have a more detailed post about my goals for 2017 eventually. For now, let’s keep it simple. I hope both of us can continue to stay employed this year because that will already allow us to progress further in our financial goals. Most of the cash savings and investments have already been automated and I should only make manual investments when there are significant market dips.
It would be good to gradually lower our expenses as we better manage our spending and time on the various aspects of our lives. We should try to exercise more often or at least lead a more active lifestyle. Finally, I wish for us to be happier, less stressed, more fulfilled & accepting in whatever we choose to do and whatever happens to us this year.
Happy New Year 2017 everyone!
Stoical Keynes says
Hi TFS,
The fact that your networth increased so much would probably mean that it's ok that your expenses is higher than usual.
Especially if you can increase your income and maintain your expenses in the next few years.
Finance Smiths says
Hi SK,
I doubt our salary income will increase much over the next few years. In fact, I reckon we will be lucky to maintain our salary income. A portion of the increase in net worth comes from the reduction in mortgage principal, hence contributing to the high expenses due to the housing loan payments.
The aim is to keep trying to reduce expenses, which is something we are not good at. We can easily get into trouble the moment one of us gets retrenched/loses our job and the salary income drops significantly!
Cheers,
FS
Richard Koh says
Hi TFS,
Bit lost with the numbers (reduction in mortgage principal means liability is reduced but that would come in the form of reduction of cash since you pay cash for your loan and not via cpf) and you are still able to come up with such a huge increase in net worth. Good for you!
I get the feeling that 2016 was a super tough year for you. Well it is the same for everyone (including me). We can only hope for a better 2017:)
Finance Smiths says
Hi Richard,
Yes, reducing the mortgage principal results in a corresponding reduction in my cash balances. And I include the mortgage loan payments in my expenses. However, our salary income is sufficient for these payments and still have savings, thus contributing to the increase in net worth. Let’s hope 2017 is a better year for everyone!
Cheers,
FS
Kevin says
Happy new year! Taking a sneak peek here haha. Genesis Framework rocks! I’m sure 2017 will be even better for you 😉
Finance Smiths says
Happy New Year to you too! Yup, changed it to the Genesis Framework and child theme. Definitely looks better than the previous blogspot domain. Hope 2017 goes well for you too!
Creed says
Happy New Year! Man, this is one nice looking page!
Finance Smiths says
Happy New Year to you too! Haha, it does look nicer and cleaner yeah. Decided it was time for me to spend some money on this blog as a personal hobby and interest.
My Investment Machine says
A saving rate of 40% is amazing! With that expenses amount I thought that it would be sustainable considering your high ssaving rate!