For this post, I will be sharing my 2019 financial goals.
It has been many years since I last shared my new year financial goals on my blog. Life has been really occupied especially in the past few years.
But, I told myself I can’t use that as an excuse for not properly setting up, writing down and sharing my financial goals on my blog.
I know the importance and effectiveness of sharing my financial goals on my blog. Because once I shared these goals on my blog, I feel accountable for them. It keeps me moving and wanting to complete these goals. The next thing would be I will try my best to materialize them.
So, instead of keeping my financial goals on my smartphone notes like the years before, I am going to share my 2019 financial goal in this post.
My 2019 financial goals
Over the past few months, I had been thinking about my 2019 financial goals.
I had many of them. But I choose to concentrate on 8 financial goals as below.
1. To have an annual income of at least 50% of my income during my last employment (To be completed by December 2019)
One of my major 2019 financial goals is to have an annual income of at least 50% of my income during my last employment.
I temporarily left my full-time employment in July 2018 to spend more time with my toddler.
In other words, I am currently on my mini-retirement. And I fund my mini-retirement from:
- my own savings
- dividend and profits from some of my investments
- earnings from my personal finance blog
Aside from that, my husband also takes bigger responsibility for household expenses including expenses for my toddler.
To be honest, sometimes, I miss the stability of having a regular paycheck during my previous employment. Then, I quickly remind myself that my current priority is my toddler.
My plan is to go back to employment when my toddler is more independent.
Thus, if I can make money during this mini-retirement period, it will be a bonus.
So, for 2019, I gave myself a goal to earn at least 50% of my income during my last employment.
Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star
W. Clement Stone
Perhaps this goal is a bit tough for me. But, as the saying goes, Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.
Update on 31st December 2019: For 2019, I only managed to earn about 25% of my income during my last employment. And a big portion of this comes from my investments.
All I can say is life as a full-time stay-at-home mum can be very challenging, and unpredictable and it’s never easy.
Nevertheless, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to spend a wonderful time with my toddler.
2. To start investing in stock (to be completed by June September December 2019)
I had long wanted to start my stock investment. I think it has been more than 5 years ago.
But, I have not started any investment despite I opened a CDS (Central Depository System) back in 2012.
The main reason is I am not familiar with stock investment. Because I had put aside doing research on stock investment due to other commitments.
The second reason is that I read that stock investment is very high risk. I am afraid of losing my hard-earned money.
The third reason is that I want things to be easy by investing in the unit trust. Because I trust the fund manager will make a wiser decision on which stock to buy or to sell to improve my portfolio.
Until recently, after reading up sharing by Leigh from Dividend Magic, I gained more knowledge on stock investment.
I missed out a lot due to not investing in stock on my own
I am also more aware of the things I missed out on due to not investing in stock on my own.
Now that I have some time to do more research on stock investment, I can’t see any reason for not starting my stock investment.
So, among my 2019 financial goals will be to start my stock investment.
Update on 18th November 2020: I decided to put the stock investing on hold until I am more familiar with value investing.
3. To move at least one of my existing unit trust funds to a robo-advisor (to be completed by June 2019)
With the launching of Stashaway Malaysia in early November 2018, I am excited to try out using the robot to monitor my investment!
No, actually not using the robot. But using mathematical rules or algorithms to provide investment advice with moderate or minimal human intervention.
Furthermore, I am not happy with the performance of one of my unit trust funds. So, might as well, move this unit trust fund to the robo-advisor platform.
Robo-advisor come with lower sales charge compare to traditional investment
In addition, there are many advantages of using a robo-advisor compared to the traditional unit trust investment.
One of them is the lower sales charge due to less human intervention.
Once I’ve started my robo-advisor investment, I shall be sharing a whole list of their advantages over traditional unit trust investment.
In my planning, I am allocating a minimum of RM1,000 to try out my robo-advisor investment. And from there will gradually increase my investment amount, from time to time.
Update on 31st December 2019: I signed up and made my first StashAway investment in the middle of February 2019.
In March 2019, I redeemed one of my unit trust funds and moved the fund to my StashAway investment. Glad about this move as I can see a positive result from the investment.
4. Diversify and double the value of my cryptocurrency investment (to be completed by September December 2019)
I strongly believe that cryptocurrency has a place in the near future. Thus, last year I started to invest in a small amount of Bitcoin.
For next year, one of my financial goals is to double the value of my cryptocurrency investment.
Currently, I am also eyeing cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin (referral link) to diversify my cryptocurrency investment.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
I am practising one of the famous investment advice, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Aside from that, I am also aware of the high risk of investing in cryptocurrency.
Update on 31st December 2019: No diversification and no doubling in Bitcoin owning except for some addition to my Bitcoin wallet.
5. Monitoring my family insurance coverage plan and amending accordingly (to be completed by September December 2019)
I believe there is a change in the insurance industry now.
With the launching of many online insurance availabilities, I see the strong need to monitor and perhaps switch my family insurance coverage.
Currently, insurance premium holds a huge portion of my monthly expenses. But, I feel like the coverage is not up to what I need.
I know the importance of having sufficient insurance coverage.
Thus, I am giving myself until September December 2019 to shop for better deals on insurance coverage.
Update on 31st December 2019: All I can say is I read and understand a lot about insurance in 2019 compared to the years before. I checked out the online policy but I still prefer our existing policies.
So, no major changes in our insurance policy.
6. Register for EPF i-Saraan and contribute on a monthly basis (to be completed by March 2019)
In December 2018, I accompanied my husband to register for his EPF i-Saraan as part of his retirement planning.
Initially, we both wanted to register for EPF i-Saraan at the same time.
But, then I delayed my decision because there were other urgent commitments that required my attention.
Furthermore, both my EPF contribution and life insurance premium is already more than the tax relief of RM6,000 for the financial year 2018.
I must register for EPF Self contribution i-Saraan by first quarter to reap the many benefits of this scheme
Thus, in 2019 I must register for EPF i-Saraan by the first quarter to reap the many benefits of this scheme.
My target is to make a monthly contribution of RM50 or RM600 for the whole of 2019.
Update on 31st December 2019: I completed my EPF i-Saraan registration in January 2019.
And since then, had made a total contribution of RM600 for 2019.
7. Write a will (to be completed by December 2018)
in 2018, I heard one of my ex-colleague hit by a car when she crossed the road. The accident left her coma for a few hours and then she passed away.
Life is so unpredictable. Anything can happen anytime.
Thus, for 2019, I am forcing myself to write a will as my financial goal.
I am not rich.
I am not rich but I do have valuables things for my loved ones
But, I do have some valuable things I want to make sure these valuable things go to the right hand in case anything happened to me.
Without a will, the process of transferring the ownership of these valuable things will be tough and time-consuming too.
Furthermore, I believe parents who have children of their own will think far and plan far ahead for the benefit of their children.
Update on 18th November 2020: My husband and I are still discussing this. I read that we can also prepare a will on our own. Does anyone have any idea?
8. Invest in me (all year long)
Lastly, in my 2019 financial goals, I want to continue to invest in myself.
These are things I want to do to invest in myself:
- Read 4 books for 2019. That will be one book in 3 months. Seems like quite a lot as it’s hard to even finish a book in a year since the past 3 years. But, let’s see if I can do it.
- Back to taking a good quality health supplement. Since the birth of my baby in 2016, I somehow had neglected my own health. So, I want to go back to taking good quality health supplements and nutritious food.
- Visit a new place. It does not matter whether locally or abroad.
I just want to go to a new place. - Monitor and keep track of my spending and expenses. Since September this year, I started to track and monitor my expenses using an App. I hope to continue doing this for 2019 as I can see the benefits of monitoring and tracking my spending.
Update on 31st December 2019:
- Managed to finish 2 good books: Knowledge development in early childhood by Tanya Kaefer and Bringing up children in troubled times by Datuk Dr Chiam Kheng Heng.
- Started to take the supplement but there were days when I still forgot to take them.
- Had a great 4D3N trip to Cameron Highland in early July 2019.
- Since I accidentally uninstalled the App in June 2019, I stopped tracking my spending and expenses. Instead, I went back to budgeting for my monthly expenses. I find it is easier and less time-consuming.
Final thoughts
Now I feel more at ease after writing down my 2019 financial goals above.
I am feeling inspired too.
Let’s quickly take a look if my 2019 financial goals are S.M.A.R.T:
S – Specific: Yes, all financial goals are specific.
M – Measurable: Yes, except for financial goal 5 (insurance package).
A – Achievable: Yes, all 8 financial goals are achievable. Probably financial goal 1 is the toughest to achieve.
R – Relevant: Yes, all 8 financial goals are relevant.
T – Time-bound: Yes, all 8 factors are time-bound.
Even though there seems to be a lot of work to do, I am really looking forward to starting and completing these goals.
What about you? Have you got your 2019 financial goals written down? If yes, feel free to share your 2019 financial goals below.
With that, I wish you a Happy New Year 2019. May you have a happy, healthy and fruitful year ahead.
Update on 31st December 2019: I only managed to achieve about 50% of my 2019 financial goals. Nevertheless, I explored and learned many new things while working towards completing these financial goals.
And I am truly grateful for that. For the remaining financial goals, I shall bring forward to the year 2020.
