2018 Goals and End of Year Status*
(with actual numbers!)
End of 2017
*These numbers include funds from my contract extension through Jan. My income is so sporadic that thinking of it in terms of each job's net is the easiest for me. (With my best effort this coming year, this is the last contract in this field, but that is another section.)
Also, before I start, I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself.
I've just about doubled my net worth since 2013 (Edit: I DID double my NW! Woot). I know back then I was married, so those numbers were technically for two, but most of it I brought to the marriage, and took away again, thanks to the prenup. (Don't worry about the ex - his NW went from negative in loan debt, to a net positive in savings, as well as a future career he would never have had if left to his own devices. No reason for guilt.
)
Assets
403b $8700 (rolling over this year)
Tradition IRA $271,585
Roth IRA $68,027
TSP $54,047
AU $27,200
Taxable** $108,600
Total $538,159
Liabilities
None (yay!!)
** This number includes allocations for living expenses for 2018 (16.8k), as well one time expenses, such as 12k in dental work I have finally earned the money for, funds for a birthday trip with a good friend, and 4k in start-up funds for writing business which I hope to not use (but it's there if I cannot find other ways to accomplish my tasks. I'm not planning on doing something stupid like splurging on a large advertising budget for my first book, or other money pits that abound for the novice.)
Budget
My monthly budget is $1400, which includes $365 for health insurance. I might get ~$309/month in credit back, or I might get zero, which means I've been successful in earning some cash through writing. I sincerely hope to get zero back.
I'm not going to split the details out, because (insert fake reason here so don't have to admit embarrassing reason), but I will say I spend $300 on groceries and $45 on eating out/coffee (or just fancier groceries). This will probably drop with my having more time but I too have run into unintentionally losing weight due to frugality. I am not trying to lose weight! Hence more treats.
Forward Tax planning for 2018
Of the net income I'll have for 2018 (as of right now), I'm planning on stashing 24.5k into my Roth 401k and the rest (~10k) into a split of traditional 401k and traditional IRA. Why not all into tax-sheltered, you ask? Because in Minnesota a person is not eligible for the Tax credit for health insurance unless they make twice the poverty level (there are other options instead, including Medicare). And I have no idea how much total money I'll make in 2018. Hopefully some from writing, but in case I'm an utter failure, this is the plan right now. It will wipe out my ready cash down (besides spoken for allocations) to a little over one year's worth of expenses (19k) for 2019, but it will net me 24.5k in Roth. Oh yes, please.
Leaving the Current Career
I have approximately a year to a year and a half to ignore my current career without repercussions. Some places are really picky that you've worked within the last year, some don't care. Most agencies *I* don't want to work for since they insist on hiring me as a W2, for less than stellar pay. And going forward, it's even less attractive due to the tax law change - and the huge savings afforded by Solo 401ks that they just cannot compete with. Plus, I've had bad experiences with them sharing my SSN willy nilly. No. Now is the time to be my own business. My last two contracts have been 1099 and it is the way to go.
My current job though might be getting some new (like first one the west coast new) technology, that ironically enough I am ideally suited for because of my PhD project. How often does a decade plus old PhD come in handy? This also re-enforces how far ahead thinking my advisor was. Have I mentioned he's had projects on the space station?
(proud much? Yes, yes I am) They might call me for an interview if they get the new thing. As much as I'm planning on leaving the field, I'd consider it - because shiny new many million dollar toy!
Reducing Fragility
This is my big, big goal for 2018. It comes in two parts: 1. Getting my Italian passport and 2. Getting a second income stream from writing.
The Passport
The Italian passport is actually going to be a lot less work than I somehow recalled. I've already found a company that will secure all the documents for me (an Italian couple), I just need to get them the full names, dates, and locations of the relevant events. Yes, I could probably do this myself. But I'm willing pay to not have to deal with government agencies, especially in Italy. I started this in 2016 and sort of just dropped the ball due to work. I think I can do this by the end of the year.
Going to Iceland this year was educational. I didn't realize just how restrictive some countries are towards American visits, rather than say a Mexican passport. Being able to enter a place on an EU passport could be very handy.
The Writing
This had been my goal for 2017 (three books) and I failed completely. In true procrastinator fashion, I went and worked and made money instead. So, my goal for 2018 is to fix this. I want to do five novels in a series for the first year (at least three in a series, and two in a different series if I end up hating the first one, or it doesn't sell anything). Thanks to Cimorene12 from this forum (and Jacob for pointing her out), as well as some online resources, I know exactly what I need to do.
I'm planning on starting my efforts the first week in Feb. I'm considering starting today, but know I can't do the word counts I want while working this job. Do I start now and do a little each day? Or should I wait? The procrastinator in me says to wait. And it might have a good reason to since the switching costs between tasks is so high - I swear, I spend most of my time thinking "okay, where was I?" and by the time I'm rolling again it's time to go and do some chore, like going to work. But it's only five weeks from now. I think what I might do instead is continue the research and see if I can outline my first two books. Or outline the first book in great detail, do the character sketches (this first, actually), and figure out the series arc and write the loglines for each book. I learned this process from a TV writing class. There is something about the writing (for me) that changes when it is done a lot, in an immersive style. I once wrote twenty percent of a full-length script in one day - and it was some of my best writing ever.
My three-year goal is to make 3k net per month from writing that I can use for living expenses and do things like going to writer's conferences, traveling to a warm place for the winter and all sort of luxuries like that. I'd like to be able to live off the writing income and just let the rest of my savings grow. And add some savings to the total each year. Why not just live off of what I've already got? Well, it took so much to earn that money, that I really don't want to spend any of it(!) and two, I like challenges. Becoming a successful author will really cement that FI status so I never have to work for others again.
My goal for the first year is much simpler - get producing content, get the books completed and make something *net*.
This first year is all about getting the foundation in place.
I feel like I probably repeat myself a lot in this journal. Sorry for that folks. Happy New Year!
---
Edited (many times) for grammar. Always the frickin' grammer. (Yes, I want to be a writer....
)