It is time to look at my 2008 accomplishments. Sometimes we did something good and sometimes we screwed up. Let’s see how I had have I done and what I have screwed in 2008:
What I Did Well (I Think So)
- I still maintain my yearly income raise at 7% rate or higher. In fact, it is a higher than that. This is my financial annual goal in order retire rich at 40 years old. If I’m staying at 7% or higher rate, the chances that I get retire rich at 40 years old is higher.
- I was getting promoted in management path in my company. When you’re a single contributor, whatever you contribute reflect directly to your accomplishment. This is easy as everything is within your control. Therefore, I’m getting exceed expectation most of the time when I was still in single contributor. Now is another story as my accomplishment now is the team accomplishments and every manager is used to be a top performer when they was in single contributor. Therefore, the competition within the management is also getting tough.
- I have been consistently staying out of comfort zone in 2007 and 2008. This is really something good news. I used to have a life stay in a comfort zone 2 years ago, before 2007. So now I’m in good track, staying out from comfort zone and consistently increase my learning curve and make sure it won’t slow down and keep up the momentum.
- I managed to convince my parents to move from their hometown to stay closer with me. We used to meet once a year and sometimes once in every 2 years. Now I’m seeing them every weekend. I can tell, they love the new place that I bought for them. Now the relationship with parents is getting closer again like it used to be. This takes 3 years for them to completely move here.
What I Screwed Up (Did I?)
- I still failed to build up my second income. In blogging, I earn averagely USD 100 in every 2-3 months. It is a way far from my main income. I started my 1:1 tuition business in 2006 and I didn’t continue it in until now. The thing is I can’t jeopardize my main income with my second income. Building a second income is still in second priority as for right now. Unless I don't get promoted last year, then I probably can still have more time and resources focusing on the second income. But at this point in time, I'm still struggling with my new role.
- Investment return is also not very impressive and less than 8%. 8% in my goal again for me to retire rich at 40 years old It seems like investing in Wawasan 2020 and ASN have the highest investment return among all other investments such as mutual fund, stocks and etc. These are the government mutual funds in Malaysia for those of you who may not aware of this.
- I have health problems which is the saddest thing. I did my medical check-up recently and found 3 problems that I do not meet the healthy guideline standard. First problem is my high cholesterol level. Second problem is my oily liver. The third problem is my high uric acid level. According to the doctors, all these happen because I really know how to enjoy and appreciate seafood. Guess what is my 2009 resolution?
What is Next? (2009 Resolution)
- To be performed in my new role in management path. As I said, it is going to be very challenging as your performance is no longer within your control. It is your team performance and now and the competition among managers is also getting tough. Also retain my sub-ordinates is also one of the biggest challenges that I faced in my current team.
- To be healthy again. I'm going to exercise at least once a week. I have been consistently exercise (play badminton weekly) for 3 months. I think I have start losing some weights which is a good sign. :) Exercise is the most effective way to burn your cholesterol in case you guys do not aware. Also I will try to eat as much as vegetable as possible and reduce the meat consumption. If I really want to eat meat, fish is the preferred option. Also, now I'm having a habit to drink Chinese Tea and Oats which I believe is the healthy one. Please correct me if I'm wrong or any ideas for me to stay healthy. :)
- To improve the quality of my blog content. I have 2 blogs. This blogs is a little bit messy as it contains almost everything of my life journey toward financial freedom. Not 100% of the content belongs to personal finance. I wonder if I should make any major changes to it. The second blog that I have is more specific on reviewing any useful freeware. Anyway, sometimes when I look at the old post, I find that it is very funny. Therefore, I decided to take some time to review them again see if any changes are required.
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