In just less than 1 week, we will bid goodbye to the year 2017 and welcome the year 2018. I looked back at my goals for 2017 here. Honestly, I didn't really remember what goals I set for myself. The best thing about having a blog is that I can read back on what I have written.
1. Buying a new home
This was the first goal I set for 2017. Yes, me and my girlfriend, now fiancee, have been actively discussing and applying for flats. Unfortunately, we still could not get the place which we wanted. Both BTO and sale of balance did not went as well as what was planned. We've continued to place a ballot for the November BTO exercise and should get the flat this time as we balloted for a non mature estate and its under subscribed. Just hope for a good queue number to choose a good unit.
The original budget I have for a flat is $500,000 but now if I go for this non mature estate flat, it will probably cost below $300,000 with subsidies. I've looked at the URA master plan and there are a few key developments around the area even though now its relatively secluded. Only time will tell whether its the right choice to go for a flat there.
2. Rethinking retirement
Honestly, I haven't been thinking much abut retirement this year. I've been thinking should I top up my CPF SA to get more interest and plan for my retirement but did not do so until now because its going to be lock in for a long time. It will probably be a good idea to put money in my CPF special account because I will get 5% interest. My CPF SA has not reached the first $40,000 yet. I will continue to give it a good thought and may top up sometime this week. There will also be tax savings through cash top up.
3. Focusing on my new job in 2017
This was a challenging year taking up a completely new role in a new company. The biggest challenge was when one of the team members left and I was tasked to take on his role which is the biggest among the others in the team. I was actually quite scared to take on such a big role just 2 months into my new job but still survived in the end.
I'm glad I stuck it out and persevered to the end even though it was really tough and I thought of giving up many times. The working culture was also very different from my previous company. I realised its through getting out of our comfort zone where we will really learn. I did learn a lot this year.
4. Saving for the future
In order to save more, I embarked on a journey to increase my income. I wrote it in a separate article here on the income I managed to create. Out of all my income, I managed to save about 64% even though expenses increased. This is more than the 50% savings I set out for. If i didn't create additional income, savings rate would have been about 30% only.
5. Relationship Goals
This is the toughest part personally for me this year. Not that I didn't have time for relationships but unforeseen circumstances happened to people around me this year. Life has its ups and downs. The people around us may no longer be the same or even may no longer be around before we know it. I learnt to not take for granted the things we can do now because we may not be able to do the same thing again in the future. Even simple things such as eating, walking we should not take for granted.
Life is short. Treasure the people around us and enjoy what life has to offer. Yes, planning for the future is still important but try not to over plan. There is a season and time for everything.
This should be my last post for 2017. Here's wishing all a happy new year ahead! May 2018 be a great year for you!
