Goals Update – July 2019

With half of the year gone, I figured it’s a good time to have a look at the goals I set to myself back in January. I had 10 goals in total, divided to three different categories. Let’s go through each of them and see where I am standing in the mid-year point.

Financial Goals

1. Grow passive income portfolio to €17000. At the end of June, my stocks portfolio was worth €16110. At the beginning of the year, it was worth less than €10k. Consistent additions and market performance were really great this year and it seems that I will be able to achieve this goal easily if nothing changes. Actually, the market would need to go to a big downtrend for me not to achieve this goal 🙂 Status – On Track.
2. Receive €480 in passive income. During the first 6 months of the year I already received €316 from passive income sources. This is already 66% of the goal. I had quite a few annual payers on the first months of the year, so the rate will be much lower during the latter part of the year. Anyway, I believe it should be enough to reach this goal and I should surpass this one as well. Status – On Track.
3. Raise PADI (Projected Annual Dividend Income) to $450 from US companies. At the start of the year PADI stood at $236. So far this year it increased by $137 (to $373) due to dividend raises announced by companies and capital investment. In order to achieve the goal, I should increase PADI by $77 (or $13/month) during remainder of the year. I will probably need to slow down the investment pace for some personal reasons but it should be enough to reach the goal. Status – On Track.
4. Contribute €600 to our daughter’s fund. This one is a simple one. We are contributing €50/month to an account I opened in ETFMatic. The fund already has €444 in it, made of €415 in our contributions and €29 from portfolio gains. Status – On Track.

Financial goals are looking really well so far. I am on track to achieve all of them, mainly due to increased savings and good performance of stock market.

Fitness Goals

1. Finish “Lithuanian Triathlon Cup” in top 20% of my category. So far, there were 4 stages of the cup and I participated in all of them. The results are not stellar, as I am not doing much training this year. Even with that, I am currently standing on the 35th place out of 200 participants, which means I am in top 18% of the field. This is mainly due to the fact that there are quite a few people who only participated in one or two races. Also, the calculation is not ideal for another reason. The first race was only in Sprint distance but it is also included in final results of Olympic category table. I would be much lower percentage wise, if it was not the case. Status – On Track. Individual event results:
   • I stage – Alytus (Sprint distance): 01:17:21, 95th out of 143 men;
   • II stage – Silale (Olympic distance): 02:45:23, 63rd out of 79 men;
   • III stage – Varena (Olympic distance): 02:44:49, 60th out of 70 men;
   • IV stage – Jonava (Olympic distance): 03:04:17, 75th out of 87 men.
2. Run a marathon in 3:45. In Spring I decided to abandon this goal. To run a marathon, you need to train a lot and I am just not doing enough this year. The longest distance I ran so far was 14km and I got a small injury after that, so my running performance is not great. Status – Failed.
3. Complete Half-Ironman distance triathlon in less than 5:39:43. Similar to previous goal, after the latest triathlon race I decided that I am not ready to participate in Half-Ironman distance this year. It would not be healthy with my fitness level and I would definitely not improve my time, so I decided to skip this race which was due in one week’s time. Status – Failed. 
4. Be able to do 20 pull-ups. I did some training with pull-ups this year but it’s not very consistent. At the beginning of the year I was able to do 3 pull-ups in one go and I am currently up to 7. The last few weeks were quite consistent and I was doing pull-ups 3 times a week, together with a colleague from work. I am lagging behind schedule with this goal but I am hopeful that I will be able to achieve it if I keep the consistency. Status – Behind Schedule. 

It seems that I was too optimistic with the fitness goals this year. I am trying to do all my training in the morning, to be able to spend time with family after work. Well, it turns out that I am often too lazy to wake up at 6am and do the training sessions. Anyway, I don’t have any regrets, as it’s not the most important thing in my life. The main thing is to stay active at least a little. Doing sports just a few times a week, compared to daily training, is maybe even better for your health in the long run.

This is how my training looks so far this year (as of 27th July):

Personal Development

1. Read 15 books. So far this year I only finished 5 books. Who would have thought that raising a baby leaves less time for reading? 😀 Anyway, I could have done better if I prioritised reading over other things during free time. There is still some time to catch up, though, so I am not giving up yet. Status – Behind Schedule.
2. New IT certification. I am registered for ITIL Foundation v4 training this year, so I should complete this goal by end of next month. Actually, I should have gotten this certification ~5 years ago but somehow didn’t manage to find time for it. Maybe I will add some additional certification towards the end of the year but I don’t have exact plan yet. Status – In Progress.

Summary

So far, only the Financial Goals are green and on schedule to be achieved. This is quite different to last year, when my Fitness Goals were the leading example. It seems that I will only be able to achieve around half of the goals I set to myself if nothing changes. There is still some time, though, so I will do my best to complete goals that are still achievable if I concentrate on them more.

How is your year looking so far? Do you have some goals you are trying to achieve? Do you write them down? I would love to read your comments!

Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash