Thankfully, I have been on vacation since NYE until now.  I didn’t take any laptops.  I turned off my e-mail notifications on my phone.  I uninstalled Facebook.  I didn’t even answer the phone.  All I used was my Uber app and Google Maps to get around and some mobile games to fill up time as needed.  I wanted a minimally intrusive vacation (for once) and ended up with some incredible travel memories without any stress from “the real world”.

My wife, however, was not as willing to let some technology go and spent some time on Facebook, which brought up the topic of resolutions during our trip.  Resolutions are a “touchy” subject for me.  

Normally, I loathe the phrase “NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION”.

I feel that if you want to change something, you don’t need to wait until 1 January to start making those adjustments.  Start NOW.  However, I realize that not everyone feels that way and likes to have the slate “wiped clean” so to speak, before they start.

As always, what works for me may not work for you.  With that being said, instead of having resolutions specifically for the new year, I like to take some time envisioning what I am doing that year to achieve my ultimate goals.  Since most people read this for financial related musings, I will address that specific subject.

Main goal: Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE)

Sub goal: Achieve 100k annual income through investments and pension

The following are the steps I hope to take this year to contribute to the above:

1. Continue with 10% TSP contributions.
2. Max ROTH IRAs for myself and the wife.
3. Save enough to purchase an additional investment property to rent out (~25k on a purchase price of 120k).
4. After the above is met, raise TSP to 30% or more.

Things that are preventing me from achieving the above:

1. School costs.  My wife is going back to school as she is unable to work at our location.  Paying for college classes themselves, textbooks, misc supplies, and even potentially a new laptop – if necessary – is going to result in thousands of dollars of bills.
2. Travel.  We are stationed overseas, which means there is a plethora of options to travel, if we would like to.  Spoiler alert: we like to.  Our anniversary is coming up this spring and the plan is to take a week or so and have another amazing vacation.  Additionally, potentially going back to The States to visit family/friends as well as smaller scale (weekend) trips.  All in all, I would guess this will cost us another ~$5,000 for the year.
3. Gadgets/home stuff.  I’ve had the same camera for over 6 years.  I’ve outgrown its limited options and yearn for something better.  Because of our frequent traveling, I also want something that’s a bit more rugged and weatherproof.  Additionally, capturing these moments is important to me, so I want something a bit better than the regular consumer.  I’m shooting for a D850 before our big trip within 4 months.  After the body and lenses, that will probably be another ~$5,000.  My phone is also going haywire.  I’ll be waiting for Black Friday deals on that, but even still – that’s another $2-300.  The wife needs a few things for the house and would also like a Fitbit.  Add in some video games for me and we’re looking at about $1K for all that too…Yikes!
4. Misc emergencies.  Our second car is currently in the shop with a brake job.  I’d love to do it myself, but I don’t have the tools or the space at our house.  While I wouldn’t mind going to the auto shop on base, I haven’t done brakes in over a decade and it’s a bit more of an advanced job as I also need to replace the front caliper.  I don’t trust myself to finish within a day or two, and because we’re in a foreign country, I have no idea who to call in case things take a turn for the worst and the car becomes un-drivable.  I’m guessing $600 for parts and labor.  Things like that always add up – and it sucks!

Things that are helping me achieve the above:

1. Being overseas.  COLA is incredible.  So is the OHA/utility allowance.  While I can’t keep my unused rent money, I do keep all of the utility funds I don’t use.  This means we generally use thick blankets and walk around our house in sweatshirts to keep heating costs down, as an example.  There are folks who have spouses or kids at home and keep their houses at 70+ degrees 24/7.  They also get hit with a monthly gas bill of $800.  To me, that is unreal.  On the flip side, we pay about 2k/year in our gas costs.
2. Rent income.  While this doesn’t play into my goals this year (as my rent costs are just slightly higher than the mortgage – and I use the extra as my maintenance fund), it does greatly help with my main/sub goal.  A third house will further snowball things for me down the line and give me a little more diversification in case one is vacant for a few months.
3. Cryptocurrency.  Instead of buying the D850 camera upon return from deployment, I put a few thousand dollars into various coins.  I’m fortunate to say that my initial investment has been quadrupled within 4 months.  While half of that money has been converted back into dollars, the other half is still fluctuating daily with hopes of new highs.  I’m still debating if I want to jump back in or not, but with various stop losses for my coins, I will still be in the black if I choose to do so.
4. My wife’s accident.  While visiting the states, my wife was involved in a hit and run.  There were witnesses and one managed to take a picture of the offender’s license plate.  She had some injuries because of it and reached out to a lawyer.  We are looking at collecting anywhere from $5-15,000 right now, and significantly more if the doctor agrees to sign a statement that her additional issues are likely stemming from the accident (which to us seems very obvious, but apparently some military doctors don’t like signing anything to that extent). 
5. Basic budgeting.  While we don’t have a strict budget, we do adhere strictly to the golden rule of “don’t spend more than you earn“.  With that said, all of our living expenses (home, car insurance, gas, utilities, food) total at most $2,500.  My current monthly take home pay is in the $5-5,500 range.  If we are able to save $3k/mo (or $36,000 for the year) that covers the house and IRAs.  Hopefully, the speculative investments I have made continue to perform well and the wife’s school is cheaper than we believe it will be!

So there you have it.  My continued financial goals for the year.  Hopefully, you are able to better your financial future this coming year as well!  Just like the gym, everyone has to start somewhere.  Just because you are not able to save 3K/mo, or even $300/mo does not mean you should give up.  I started my career 7 years ago with a NW of negative $10-15K and even after blowing my first year’s paychecks on nonsense, I have crossed over the $100K mark in assets a few months ago.

As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions and have a kick-ass 2018!

– Art