2017 Goals (1st Quarter Update)

 2017 GOALS (1st Quarter Update)

Overall, whether the increases are big or small, the main goal is to keep move forward. I've been writing both annual and long-term goals since my early twenties. I can say with confidence that our family would not be were we are today without having accomplished the short term goals along the way. Sure, like everyone else, there were setbacks along the way.  But the goals have always helped us get back on track.  They keep us accountable and help ensure that we always progress.

2017 has been a great year so far.  Hope it has been the same for you and your family. With three full months behind us, below is where we stand with our goals as of March 31, 2017:

DIVIDEND STOCKS:

1.  Earn $3,550 in dividend income.

• 1st quarter: $818.70

2.  Increase projected annual dividend income to $3,750.

• 1st quarter: $3,133 

3.  Bring value of dividend stocks accounts to $90,000 total.

• 1st quarter: $75,045.81

BLOG:

4.  Write at least 100 posts (8.33 posts/month).

• 1st quarter: 22 posts

5   Reach 575,000 total hits by end of the year.

• 1st quarter: 484,861 hits

6.  Reach 1,800 Twitter followers by end of the year.

• 1st quarter: 1,631 followers

7.  Reach 400 all-time earnings from Google AdSense.

• 1st quarter: $294.28

FINANCIAL MILESTONES:

8.  Increase value of retirement accounts to $500,000.

• 1st quarter: $468,092

9.  Increase Net Worth to $675,000 (excluding home equity).

• 1st quarter: $647,754

10.Reduce mortgage balance to $270,000.

• 1st quarter: $285,424

FUN GOALS:

11.  Try out 12 "new" restaurants/dessert place.

• 1st quarter: $5 new restaurants

12.  Go on 26 "new" hikes (1 every other week).

• 1st quarter: 15 new hikes completed

13.  Visit 3 new parks.

• 1st quarter: 1 new park visited

14.  Volunteer for two project/event (ex. beach clean up, clear hiking trail, race event, serve food, etc.)

• 1st quarter: 0 volunteer project/event completed

15.  Get kids outside more - A total of 52 activities (run, walk, hike, etc.) as a family, with a minimum of 1 mile and 30 minutes each.

• 1st quarter: 8 activities completed

Below is a landing page for our 2017 goals (with quarterly updates provided).  Please feel free to follow along and see our progress!!

2017 GOALS PAGE



A Frugal Family's Journey - 2016 Goals (Recap)

Recap of 2016 goals!!

With another year on the books, our family is blessed to say that we did see some progress. The largest gain came from our home. In 2016, our family saw our mortgage balance continue to decrease while our home value saw a nice recovery. And with the recovery of the housing market well underway, supported by nice growth in the stock market, our family's net worth continued to grow this past year.  We saw gains in our retirement accounts, kids college funds, and dividend stocks account. All in all, we saw a roughly $46K (or 7.3%) gain from the year prior.  

As for the goals we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year, it wasn't a total failure, but we certainly wished we could have done much better.  In all, we managed to accomplish only 7 of our 15 goals this past year.  We may have set the bar too high (and while likely dial it back this coming year), but we had just figured that even if we came close on some goals that it would be a success. And that is exactly what we did on several goals!  

BELOW IS A LIST OF OUR NEW 2016 GOALS AND ALONG WITH A NARRATIVE OF WHERE WE ENDED UP:

DIVIDEND STOCKS:

1.  Earn $3,600 in dividend income.

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - Although we did (barely) receive more dividends than our 2015 total, we fell short of our goal by $460.58 with a total of $3,139.42 in dividend income.  I must admit that our buying activity was not quite what we had hoped for. With a few unexpected expenses this past year, a toddler in pre-school a few days a week, and living off just one income, we simply didn't have as much left over as we would have liked to invest into our dividend stocks portfolio.  It should be noted that we still, however, consistently invest monies into our retirement and kids college funds.  Our retirement portfolio is something we are trying to build on side (on-our-own) to help supplement our retirement income. 

2.  Increase projected annual dividend income to $4,100. 

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - With such little buying activity this past year.  In fact, I believe we may have sold more stocks than we purchased this past year! In the end, we finished with a projected annual dividend income of $3229.22 which is pretty close to the total dividends we received this past year. 

3.  Bring value of dividend stocks accounts to $90,000 total. 

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - Although we saw tremendous growth  in our dividend stocks portfolio (approximately 26%), our buying activity (or lack thereof) resulted in yet another unfinished goal.  We ended the year with our account valued at: $82,291. Really hoping our buying activity can increase significantly this coming year!

BLOG:

4.  Write at least 100 posts (8.33 posts/month).

• NOT ACCOMPLISHED - Due to a six week hiatus and a slow end to the year (with 6 posts in November and only 4 in December), we only managed to complete 86 posts this past year. With some consistently, this goal is reasonable and certainly achievable.     

5   Reach 350,000 total hits by end of the year.

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - We finished the year with 370,402 total all-time page views! Thank you everyone who have stopped by or follow us. We hope you continue to stop by from time to time to see the progress we've made on our journey to financial freedom! 

6.  Reach 900 Twitter followers by end of the year.

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - We finished the year with a total of 1,376 followers on Twitter! I'm pretty sure that it was with the help of tweets and our twitter followers that also helped us reach our page views goal. Thanks again everyone.

7.  Cash out $200 from Google AdSense.

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - Although I did cash out once this year, I did not have enough money accumulated to cash out a second time.  I fell $36.04 short of reaching the $300 mark! Not sure if other bloggers are experiencing lower revenue stream from Google AdSense but we certainly have seen a decrease in activity and overall gains in the last few months.  Who knows, maybe its related to our 6-week hiatus.

8.  Join DIV-NET or Seeking Alpha.

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - To be honest, I just couldn't find the time to take on another task. There were certainly ups and downs felt on our blogging journey this past year.  Although we ultimately decided to press forward, I will be the first to admit that the blog has taken a back seat to other things in our life. 

FINANCIAL MILESTONES:

9.    Increase value of retirement accounts to $450,000.

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - Consistency is the key! Even though we were not able to buy many new stocks for our dividend stocks portfolio, we still diligently put away money each and every paycheck towards retirement.  With this effort, we managed to increase the value of our retirements to $453,633!

10.  Increase Net Worth to $675,000 (excluding home equity).

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - We ended the year with just a little over $625K.  Not bad, but well short of our goal for the year.  Maybe we were simply being to optimistic. Either way, since we have so far to go still to reach this goal, we are thinking of simply repeating the same goal. 

11.  Reduce mortgage balance to $292,000.

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - Really proud to say that we managed to hit this goal as we finished the year with our mortgage balance down to $291,145.  Not bad considering our home value is just north of $800K!

FUN GOALS:

12.  Try out 12 "new" restaurants/dessert place.

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - What can I say, we like to eat! This past year, in addition to destroying our goal to try out 12 new restaurants, I am proud to say that I become a Yelp Elite in the process! I like to think that it was my quality reviews and photos taken, but I'm pretty sure the quantity played a small part. In all, we ended up trying out 37 new restaurants and/or dessert places! I know what you are thinking, this probably didn't help the budget.  But the reality is, whenever possible (almost half the time) we generally try to use a paper coupon (from newspaper of Retailmenot website) or online coupon (like Groupon or Living Social).  Best of all, I am able to expose my kids to a huge variety of foods! As a result, my kids are far from being picky eaters. I say that is worth every penny!

13.  Go on 26 hikes (1 every other week).

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - We started the year with a goal to complete one hike every other week but finished the year with much, much more.  I have to admit we thoroughly enjoyed the progress we made on this goal as is evident in our final tally. I am proud to say that we completed 55 hike this past year (an average of more than 1 hike per week!).  Along the way, our family had many great adventures and stories that will last a lifetime. And best of all, the fun times were had with very little money out of our pocket! Not sure with we will even come close to 55 hikes next year but we definitely plan to continue hiking.  

14.  Visit 3 new parks.

• (ACCOMPLISHED) - We managed to barely complete this goal with our 3 visit to a new park coming just a week ago.  I really like this goal because I want to raise my kids as adventure seekers.  So what better than trying out a few new parks each year! If you have little ones, I highly recommend it.  It amazing to see how much different playgrounds and park equipment are from city to city or even state to state (if you have the opportunity).

15.  Volunteer for a project/event (ex. beach clean up, clear hiking trail, race event, serve food, etc.)

• (NOT ACCOMPLISHED) - No excuses here.  We really should have given more effort and made time for a volunteer project.  I'm thinking, as a penalty, I may double this goal for next year to make up for the lack of effort! :)

If we were being graded on the amount of goals we had accomplished, we would have ended with an F. Thankfully, in life, it is not always about the grade we receive (or even what others think) but rather it is about we we ended up compared to where we started.  In my opinion, even though we only completed 46.6% of our goals this year, I still consider this past year a success! Here is why:

1. Our total dividends, albeit not as much as we would have liked, still grew.
2. Our dividend stocks account, although didn't reach our goal, still saw a roughly 26% gain year-over-year!
3. Even though we did not post as much as we had hoped, our blog continues to reach more and more readers.
4. I was able to get outside and enjoy various places around me. The sights, sounds and taste that I experienced on my restaurant trips and hikes were quite memorable.  
5. I took my kids on am amazing road trip that include a total of 4 different states and 5 State Parks! We did, however, stay at 7 different hotels (which we learned that we will never do again). haha
6. I learned that blogging is fun but it isn't the end of the world if I took a break from it. 
7. And best of all, I can still say that our family remains on track to pay off our home and retire in less than 10 years!

Hope you all had a great year as well!

BEST WISHES AND CONTINUED SUCCESS ON YOUR PERSONAL JOURNEY

May 2017 bring you good health and great wealth!!

Fun Goals (Update) - Just finished hike no. 21

Life has been hectic lately for the this Frugal Family, but the journey is so rewarding when you can find just the right balance between work and fun. I'm not sure what all of you do for fun but our family loves to hike every chance we get. In fact, we are planning an 8-day road trip this summer to hike Nevada, Arizona, and Utah!   

Below are some photos of our recent hikes:

Hellman Wilderness Park - Whittier CA

These photos were from a recent hike I did before work one morning.  I took a few hours off in the morning to enjoy this short but challenging hike.  If you go to both water towers, the trail is roughly 5.5 miles long. Believe it or not, I jogged this trail.  Jogging served two purposes: 1) It made it more challenging; 2) I ended up getting to work only 2-hours later than normal (costing me only 2 hours of my vacation bank).    

View from the top of trail

About half-way up

Buddhist Pagoda in nearby Rose Hills Cemetery

One of destination H2O towers on the trail

Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park - Laguna CA

Last weekend, my wife and I enjoyed a local hike (without kids). My in-laws were in town for my son's birthday so we took advantage of the free baby-sitting to enjoy a nice morning hike. My wife doesn't hike as often as I do so she though this one was pretty challenging.  There are trails ranging from .75 miles to 11.7 miles. My wife and I ended up doing roughly 6 miles. 

Ocean views from "Top of the World"

One of several tree canopies

One of several natural caves

Car Wreck destination

Narrow path

Including these two hikes, I just completed my 21st hike.  I am now only just 5 hikes away from completing my 2016 fun goal of 26 hikes!  Since I think I'm going to blow right past the 26 hikes goal, I've decided to take the 52-week hike challenge.  Although I'm not posting them here, I log in each hike to see how many different hikes, total distance, and elevation climb I will end up with at the end of the year.  Can't wait to reflect back on the many adventures of our journey...making memories to last a life time! 

Thanks for following along on your journey. Once again, I hope everyone is enjoying the added personal touch to our blog. :)

Best wishes, AFFJ

Fun Goals (Update) - Easter Weekend Adventures

I know I'm a little late with this post but I truly hope that everyone had a great Easter weekend.  I can tell you that our family sure did!  First, since I work a 9-80 schedule and have every other Friday off, started off my holiday weekend with a solo hike up Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, CA. Saturday was a continuation of the fun with a trail run with a few buddies around the Claremont Loop in Claremont, CA.  On Easter Sunday, we all went to a sunrise service and then decided to do a family hike at El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, CA. In all, I logged in a total of 11 miles this past weekend and I'm now up to hike no. 15! 

MT. RUBIDOUX

Since last Friday was Good Friday, I decided to hike up Mt. Rubidoux becuase of the iconic cross at the top (approximately 805 feet from the base)! It was such a scenic hike that, unlike most hikes that I have come across, was entirely paved from start to finished.  It was very family, pet, and stroller friendly. It would consider Mt. Rubidoux a beginners hike as it was just under 3 miles. Enjoy the photos!

Sign at the Entrance to the hike

Freedom bridge and tower

View of the cross from a distance

Cross with rock stairs leading up to the base

Close up of cross and gorgeous backdrop

View of the city and mountainside from the top

CLAREMONT LOOP

On Saturday, I ran a 5.5 mile loop in Claremont. Because of the distance and incline (approximately 1,300 foot climb from the base).  I'm actually training for a 10K trail run later this month so this was a nice test to gauge where I am at with my training thus far.  I did not run the entire way up but ran 99% of the way down. I finished the 5.5 mile loop in 1 hour and 10 minutes.  I'm hoping to be close to an hour for my upcoming 10K so have a bit more training to do. Enjoy the photos!

Probably the only tree canopy on the entire trail

Approximately 1/3 of the way up

Approximately 2/3 of the way up

At the top

EL DORADO NATURE CENTER

Then on Sunday, after going to sunrise service at our church, the entire family went on a really nice trail we found in Long Beach. It is safe to say that my son can now consistently handle 2+ mile hikes. On Sunday, we did a paved 1/4 mile hike as well as a 2 mile unpaved loop. Slowly but surely, we plan to increase the miles and elevation so that we can one day join me on the bigger hikes.  Took lots of pictures so enjoy the photos! 

Nice bridge near the entrance to the Nature Center

Just in case you weren't sure

Nice tree canopy that hung over part of the trail

One of several bridges throughout the trail

The wife and kids

Nice bridge/water/shadow photo

Our state flower in bloom

More flowers on the trail

After completing 3 hikes this past weekend, I just completed my 13th, 14th, and 15th hike.  With 3/4 of the year left, I am just 11 hikes away from completing my 2016 fun goal of 26 hikes!! 

Thanks for following along on your journey. Once again, I hope everyone is enjoying the added personal touch to our blog. :)

Best wishes, AFFJ

Fun Goals (Update) - Mud Run & Hike No. 12

As promised, I am trying to add a more personal touch to the blog this year. Hope you enjoy the various posts and pictures from our family adventures. Thank you for following along with us on our journey to FI! 

WARRIOR DASH

Well, after being sick for two weekends straight, I was certainly glad to get back outdoors. On Saturday, I did a new mud run or OCR (obstacle course race) as some would call it. It was just a beginners course with 3.2 miles and 12 obstacles but it certainly didn't lack in the "fun" category.  I'm still waiting on some action photos from the race but it was definitely the muddiest I've been after a race and this was my 3rd mud run too!

Entrance were everyone is still clean!

The Goliath

Another shot of the Goliath

Sign where everyone goes after the race for a photo

Sorry I didn't take many photos but I wasn't sure how I could take along my cell phone without the risk of losing it or getting it damaged in mud and/or water. Wished I had a GoPro because I would have taken some pretty cool shots! Maybe when we are Financially Free! :) For now, I'll have to settle for the photos taken along the way by the race organizers. 

OSO CREEK TRAIL

Then on Sunday, the entire family went on our longest trail to date.  I'm very proud of my 3 year old son who did 2.88 miles (without being carried!) on Sunday.  Yes...it took us almost two hours, but considering this was his longest trail to date, he was a champ!

The hike we did was in Mission Viejo, CA called the Oso Creek Trail. It was a very family friendly hike with trails ranging from just short of a half mile long to ones that were close to 6 miles. There were so many people out that day either walking their dogs or taking a nice stroll with their families. We even found a really cool park and playground for the kids. Surprisingly, they still found enough energy to play for a short while after our hike. As you will see from the photos, it was a very scenic trail with several unique points of interests. We will definitely be back later this year!  

Art columns and tile walkway

One of several bridges to cross the creek

View of the creek from the trail

 My daughter getting a better view

 Cool circular maze along trail

 Kids excited to go down and go through the maze

 Bridge view from creek level

 flower lines walkway

Small decorative bridge that doesn't cross the creek

Awesome playground with 3-story slides

So with Sunday's hike, I am happy to say that I am on my 12th hike and now just 14 hikes away from completing my 2016 fun goal of 26 hikes!! 

Hope you all had a great weekend! Hope everyone is enjoying the added personal touch to our blog this year. :)

Best wishes, AFFJ

Fun Goals (Update) - Hike No. 6, 7, & 8

Another fun filled weekend in the books.  It was a nice 4-day weekend for dad so the family all enjoyed a few more local hikes. The best part, aside from gas maybe snacks for the trail, it was FREE entertainment! 

Our first hike was the Pumpkin Rock Trail in Norco, CA.  It was a short hike but the kids were excited to reach the top and see the big pumpkin rock sitting at the peak of the hill. As you can imagine, this is a popular hike during the month of October. I hear people even do this hike in costumes during that time!

PUMPKIN ROCK TRAIL

(Pumpkin Rock from local residential streets)

(Pumpkin Rock close-up)

(views from the top looking into Norco and Corona)

Our second hike was the Graffiti Falls Trail in Corona, CA.  It was another short hike that ended at a small waterfall.  Not sure what to expect with the kids. Graffiti is not generally something you want to celebrate and acknowledge as a good act to a 3 1/2 and 6/1/2 year old. It wasn't easy as you can see from the pictures, there was plenty of it. On the positive side, this was mainly at the destination point (the waterfall), as the rest of the trail was mainly trees, brush, and rocks. 

My wife and I did try our best to focus on the pictures (and not so much the words) and explained to them that it was somewhat like art. At the end of the day, we tried to remind them of the waterfall and recall how fun it was to jump and play in it to get them to hopefully forget about the graffiti images. Hopefully it doesn't leave a long and lasting impression. :)

GRAFFITI FALLS TRAIL

(Graffiti Falls)

(view from opposite hill to provide a sense of scale)

The third hike was the Murphy Ranch trail in Pacific Palisades, CA.  This was the longest and most challenging hike of the three.  We did not bring the kids to this one. Round trip was approximately 4 miles but the hardest part (that I could not imagine doing with kids) was a total of 500+ concrete steps!!  It was a good workout but worth every effort as the Ranch is set to be demolished by the end of the month. Glad we were able to visit before it went away for good! 

For those that don't know the history behind the Murphy Ranch, it was built and occupied by Nazi sympathizers and was essentially a refuge and/or self-contained stronghold. Murphy Ranch was designed to serve as a hold out for fans of the Third Reich waiting for America to fall to the Nazis. Instead, the Ranch was raided by U.S. authorities and closed in 1941.  The abandoned buildings were transformed into an artists' colony in the 60s and 70s, but were abandoned after the Mandeville Canyon Fire in 1978. Today, the grounds are uninhabited, dilapidated, and covered in graffiti. While much of the history is lost, several structures remain, along with several long cement staircases.   

 (remains of Murphy Ranch gate) 

(main road down to Murphy Ranch)

(remains of old barn)

(close-up of old barn)

(abandoned truck remains)

(one of many stairs)

(remains of power building)

(remains of machine shed and garage)

(view of 500+ concrete steps from bottom)

(view of downtown LA on way back to our car)

(view of southern California coastline)

So with the recent hikes completed this past weekend, I am happy to say that I am well on my way to completing my 2016 fun goal of 26 hikes. With just a month and half into the year, I am already roughly 1/3 of the way there! 

Hope you all had a great weekend! Also, hope everyone is enjoying the added personal touch to our blog this year. :)

Best wishes, AFFJ