Q1 Goal Report & Life Update

Well things got crazy this past quarter, and it threw a wrench in some of my goals. I hope all my readers are staying safe (and keeping our most vulnerable safe) by doing what they can to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

All things considered, I think we did pretty well this last quarter. I’ve been working from home for 3 weeks now, and it’s been quite the adjustment. To review, these were the goals outlined for 2020 Q1:

• Increase net worth $10,000
• Sign up for a 5k
• Going to bed within an hour of the kids
• Read technical work related books and retake an old online course (professional development).

Financial

In one sense we didn’t reach out goal to increase our net worth by 10k, because the stock market has dropped substantially to make this impossible. On the other hand, we did contribute over 10k to qualified investment accounts. I think that is probably a better way to set goals going forward.

Here’s the breakdown:

401k And HSA

The 401k was pretty normal. I only put 6% to get the company match. We don’t make enough to max the HSA, our Roth’s and the 401k and those other accounts come first, they are in general better for retirement. Maybe one day we will make enough to fill the 401k up all the way.

The HSA was gains value quite fast, my company matches $1,000 dollar for dollar up front. I’m only able to invest anything over 2k though.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

My Employee Stock Purchase Plan is a pretty good deal. I get company stock 15% under the listed price, plus dividends, and then I can sell after one year.

I’m putting in the minimum amount possible but may increase this in the coming years.

The stock price has not been affected very much by the economic turmoil as it’s related to the insurance industry.

Later on I might consider putting 4-6% of my pay in. The plan lets me sell after one year, which I will do, pay the taxes, and use it to fund a down payment or vacation.

Roth IRA’s

Originally we were going to save up some cash for a down payment on our next home, and invest in our Roth IRA’s later in the year, but we couldn’t resist the opportunity to catch multiple falling knifes, and have been buying all the way down (and currently back up).

I don’t believe in “market timing,” but recognize that is basically what I’m doing. At the same time, there’s this:

“Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble”

Warren Buffet

So we put a lot in and will dollar cost average in throughout the rest of the year.

Real Estate

Finally our mortgage goes down about $150 a month, so that’s easy money.

We will keep this goal going forward but probably won’t be able to put another $10k to investment accounts, some of it will go into a dedicated savings account for our next home. This will be helped immensely by the stimulus checks coming soon.

Physical

I was going to sign up for a 5k towards the end of the quarter but it got cancelled along with everything else. Luckily I ran a few on my own and have been improving my mile time (nothing spectacular, about 7.5 minute miles).

I want to start adding push ups, crunches, lunges, planks, and other body weight exercises to my routine, but so far haven’t managed to get my motivation that high.

Bedtime

Going to bed within an hour of the kids has not been a success most nights. There’s always more articles to read, tweets to twitter, dirtbike videos to watch and these blog posts don’t write themselves either.

There’s never enough time for all the things I want to consume and try, I have to consciously stop these to start creating. The weather is warming up and getting outside with the kids is important to us.

Overall we’ve done okay with this, but I haven’t really measured it. Just in the last week we’ve been getting up at 6am, so we have been getting to bed earlier than normal. Getting enough sleep is probably the single best thing you could do for your immune system and health, aside from sheltering in place as much as possible.

Professional Development

I was doing pretty good reading a technical book on Pentaho. It’s a new development tool to me, but unfortunately it’s been sitting alone on my desk the last month. I also never went back to my old SQL course to sharpen my skills back up.

On the plus side, there are several sites offering free training for various things related to my work. I figure I should expand my training to these other sources because I will always have access to my old training course.

Goals Going Forward

They’re pretty much going to be the same, but just focused on 90 day sprints. For that reason I won’t be posting on it again unless my goals significantly change.

Right now it’s all about survival, mentally, physically, financially and emotionally for many people. With a million people getting laid off each day for the past 3 weeks, this is going to take some time to get close to normal.

I hope we can all either get the help we need or offer help to others at this time and that we can do our best to keep safe and healthy.