Happy new year! Looking back on last year's "short term financial goals" posted here about the same time I think I got all checked off my list except one...
-Reduced family spending below goal. Last year we spent $36,000 (I don't count principal paid on mortgage as spending). We have a little room to reduce this further but I don't think it will be by much unless we move to a low cost of living area
-opened a Roth IRA
-Diversified 401k portfolio
-opened a health savings account for 2019
- >20% paid down on mortgage
- However, mortgage principal paid is 35% of our total assets. I originally wanted this down to 25% but this won't happen until the end of 2019
****Goals for 2019****
Get sober. Although I am no longer the same person from college, and I definitely made improvements in 2018, I want more in 2019. There are too many skills I want to improve outside of a demanding job and family and I need to be hyper-focused to make gains. I am also not super happy with my job so I am hoping this helps with my day-to-day mood. Not to mention this could save me around $600 / year that I could apply to more productive endeavors.
The above is my only "New Years" goal for 2019. I think if this works out everything else will fall into place.
Slowly making progress on this guy. This equates to something like a 28% SWR. I remember reading somewhere on this forum that people tend to hang out in forums that help them aspire to what they want to be, even if it is idealized. So even though we are MMM level spending I look to ERE to help try and get us to the next level. FWIW my wife thinks ERE is ridiculous and has no plans to get us lower than MMM levels. I'm still working on her (:
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/jqbjeHv.png?1)
x-axis in months; y-axis is 24 month rolling average of monthly spending
I started using personal capital a couple months ago and mostly I think it is great, especially for tracking overall portfolio performance.
Currently I am sitting on a couple $10k more in cash / short term cash equivalents than is showing up on this asset allocation. I have been setting us up defensively for the past 8 months or so and will continue to add more to cash equivalents. Definitely more nervous about losing principal than missing out on stock returns at this moment. If stocks keep climbing from their recent lows I will pull more out of the stock market to try and lock in gains. Either way I need to get my picks ready for when the market eventually takes its needed dive.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/ojhLkMU.png?1)