It is shocking to think about being half way done with 2019! I usually don’t give much thought to a half year update, but with the craziness that has been happening with regard to buying a new home and selling our current home, I thought it may be a good idea to take a step back and re-read my 2019 goals and objectives post. Maybe see if I can get realigned despite the balls I am currently trying to juggle.
My overarching goal for 2019 was/is to get back to the basics! It is with that lens that I take a look at the specific goals, objectives and action items.
Professional Life 2019 Goals
This is broken down into two parts: my career and my law practice.
My Career
So I have two actionable goals I am going to work on:
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Create a Quarterly Sales Tool/Idea for the financial planners in my office. This is already in the works with the first one to be approved next week. I already have 2 more ideas, and then I just need one last one for Q42019.
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Meet with planners that I just don’t know to see how I can help their practice. My office currently has over 100 planners. If I interact regularly with 25 of them that would be a lot. If I could bump those numbers up even a tiny bit I could effect real change in the bottom line of the company.
I have been doing both of these projects! Off to a great start.
My Law Practice
My goal is to follow up on known opportunities.
Half way through 2019 and I don’t think I have been following up as much as I could be. I have continued to be too passive.
Blogging World
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I need to seek out like minded bloggers and discuss what is on their mind. I have not been active the in the PF blogging world in quite some time. My 2019 goal would be to comment more on other sites.
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Continue to work through old posts to make sure they are optimized for SEO purposes (well, at least to the best of my abilities).
I have absolutely failed on the first goal but have worked on the second. I think for the second half of the year I need to get some outside help on item number two.
Online Income World
In addition to this personal finance blog, I own a bunch of other sites that I don’t discuss often here. After speaking with my business partner we decided our joint goal for 2019 was to expand our mini-business. Once a quarter, at the end of each quarter we are going to contact dying/dead personal finance blogs and see if we can purchase them (buy low).
Completely hit that for quarter one picking up what may be a great site, however, it has fallen off in quarter number 2.
Financial Goals
The first has to do with paying down some long term debt. I have reasonably sized student loans and an outstanding HELOC, and while the interest rates aren’t particularly high I would like the cash flow back (not enough to liquidate out of the market and pay them off, but enough to make it my first goal for 2019).
I was making a fantastic dent, until we finally found a house we wanted to buy! As anyone who has bought and sold a home in the past, I doubt I’ll be able to actually put a dent in long term debt by 2020.
The second goal would be to continue/build on two asset classes I haven’t given much attention. The first are my whole life policies. I’d like to continue to proactively build this non-correlated asset, and I think the easiest way for 2019 would be to make a concerted effort to convert some of my blended policies. Additionally, I would like to continue my physical gold purchases.
Again, I was doing well, until we found the house!
The third goal is to get back to the basics with my dividend investment portfolio. Despite being one of the smallest parts of my financial world, it is easily my favorite. Last year, I made my $500 to $750/mo investments and I’d like to continue to do so in 2019. The difference between 2018 and 2019 I want to reduce the risk I have been taking with selling naked puts. I think if/when I am able to roll out of the positions I am holding because of being assigned shares (as of this post $BUD and $LB) my plan is to only sell naked puts in companies that pass a similar screen that I use for my dividend purchases. This way I know that if I am assigned at least it’ll be at a good price (theoretically ). That being said, I am done selling naked puts until I am out of the positions I am in today.
Absolute win here.
The fourth goal would be to keep myself open to real estate opportunities. I have talked about becoming a landlord for 7 of the 10 years of owning this site, and I really thought 2018 was going to be it (until it wasn’t), but I don’t want to just ignore that asset class.
I have not been really pursuing anything because of the house (wow is this getting old lol).
The fifth goal is really getting back to the basics – CHECK ACCOUNTS MORE OFTEN. Back in the beginning of this blog I would sign into all credit cards and bank accounts daily (if not more to the annoyance of The Wife), well as evidenced above, that just doesn’t happen anymore and it needs to!
I am meeting this goal so far.
Personal Life
With regard to general health I have two goals. The first to participate in more workouts that I know I am going to suck at, and those, are often those that have anything to do with high reps/high cardio. The second is to work on my flexibility/mobility. I am pretty sure it is byproduct of getting older, although I was never particularly flexible, but I find myself getting injured more due to bad form based on shitty mobility. This needs to be fixed. I am thinking once a week some type of intentional mobility/yoga routine should help.
While I have been pushing WODs that I know I’ll be terrible at, I have had zero drive to work on the flexibility part of it. I am thinking about signing up for an online service which would provide me with the guidance I absolutely need when it comes to the topic.
Last, and absolutely the most important thing, is time with my family. I don’t have any goals except to continue to be as involved in my kids life as much as I can which is way more than most I know (see above re: job). If I had to give myself a specific goal it would be to make sure they continue working on their sign language (my brother’s deaf so their eventual fluency is important to me).
Sign Language is a go, and I even turned down an amazing opportunity that may have taken time away from my kids.
Overall
The house buying has absolutely thrown me a curve ball when it comes to my annual goals. Notwithstanding, over the course of my life maybe 2019 becomes a bust in terms of a one shot goals and objectives post, I think overall it is the right move for my family (but only time will tell!).
