A new year and new set of goals/target to set. Lately, I’ve been dwelling on goals to set — not just financial but also personal and professional goals. To make steady progress on a regular basis requires determination, patience and of course a target in mind. Setting and writing down goals and working towards them are one of the best ways to make progress. As far as financial goals go, the long term goal still remains the same — achieve financial independence that will provide us with more freedom to do what we want out of life. Following are the goals that I am setting for 2017.
Goals for 2017
- Total passive income of $10,000 – This may not seem like a big jump compared to the $9,000 goal from 2016. But regular readers may be aware that I have gotten more defensive in my investing and moved to a cash-heavy position, which means that heavy lifting will have to be done by another stream. I have always followed a multipronged approach to generating passive income. Majority of the passive income was generated via investments (dividends)…but there are plenty of other sources too. I am looking at other ideas such as trading/writing stock options to plug the hole and make the difference and if I can reach $10K in passive income, I will consider it a successful year.
- New portfolio for our daughter – In 2016, my wife and I welcomed our daughter. Time to set things in motion for the financial well being of our baby daughter.
- We have opened up a new RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) account, which allows us to save and invest for her post-secondary education. The plan allows us to get education grant money from the government and is tax-deferred on the income generated. We intend to start investing this money soon and will post an update on which stocks/ETFs we chose.
- In addition to the RESP plan, we intend to start a DRIP plan to put away a small amount of money each month (starting off with $100/month for now) that will be her nest egg when she is an adult. Time is one of the most powerful weapons in an investor’s arsenal and starting off a DRIP plan allows us to let the investment compound over the course of 20-ish years. I’ll post an update soon on which stock I am picking for this plan.
- Pay down more than our minimum dues on mortgage debt – One of our long term goals is to pay down our mortgage well before the current 25-year amortization schedule. We have been homeowners for a couple of years now and feel that paying down faster is better for us psychologically and want to work on putting more payments towards that goal in 2017. In 2015, we were able to pay an extra 21% easily. We will aim to pay an extra 25% in 2017 and hopefully grow that number over the coming years.
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