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My financial goals: one year in

Roughly a year ago now, I set myself three financial goals for the next eighteen months; no, they are not modest and, possibly, they are not SMART. Then again I have never believed that modesty is a virtue; and you all know what I think about the SMART model for goal formulation.

I haven’t been reporting on progress every month but this doesn’t mean that I didn’t keep my eye on the ball. I year is a serious landmark, however, so today I decided to do a little and honest update.

Generate £1,644 ($2,584) passive income

I have absolutely no idea where the number came from – it was probably important at the time. Two thirds of the way we have achieved slightly over one third of the goal. Our ‘passive’ income at the moment stands at roughly £650 ($1,021) per month. This is likely to change later this year: I would like to hope that The Money Principle will start generating a bit more and we are also planning to increase our rental income.

So far, so good!

Non-income generating real estate to income generating assets

When I first calculated our net worth, it was clear that we have quite a bit of wealth but the structure of it is wrong. There is too much non-income generating real estate on our balance sheet. This is why we decided that we will sell some of the real estate we own in Bulgaria (mainly through inheritance) and will invest the money in income generating assets. The properties were put on the market but unfortunately nothing much has happened – I suspect it is because we are not there to move things. This summer we’ll have another go at finding a proper estate agent to do this.

Fail

Reduce liabilities by £100,000 ($157,109)

When I was setting these goals this one sounded like the most audacious one: because this is not about increasing net worth but purely about reducing liabilities. I am very pleased to report that this is actually the one where we are highly likely to meet the target: during the last twelve months we have reduced our liabilities by over £50,000 ($78,500).

Watch this space!

5 thoughts on “My financial goals: one year in”

  1. Setting goals is the easy part, the real work occurs afterwards!  You monitor your progress and adjust your efforts.  When you fail, you have another opportunity to try something else.  In your case, find the time to locate a good agent to sell the properties.  Another choice is to find a way to make the properties profitable.  A buyer will figure out a way which means you reduce your price.  I would rather have more control.

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  2. Well done.  I don’t agree that you have failed on selling the real estate.  

    It has not sold YET.  You have set things in motion, given time for the strategy to work and now may need to change tack to try something else.

    Pat yourself on the back and don’t even think of saying ‘fail’ when the option to succeed is still there. 

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