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Fatherhood Reflections XLVI - School Kids

The kids are so old now.

One’s in K2 while the other is in P2.

Time passes SO fast as a parent while they’re growing up.

Now they’re attending so many enrichment classes.

Sometimes I also feel bad that this is their life.

Heguru.
Berries.
Ballet.
Piano.

I hope it will pay off when they grow up, without neglecting a playful childhood.

22 Degree Celcius In Singapore

The weather in Singapore these past few days has been crazy!

Climate change is real.

We got hit by some seriously crazy rain about three days ago, where certain places in Singapore experienced flash flooding. And then ever since that, the weather's been on a very light perpetual drizzle. And slowly the temperatures been dipping to the wet and windy 22 deg C that it is now.

Brrr.

Seriously cold.

Resolutions 2018

So 2017 has been such a fantastic year, I need to plan my resolutions for 2018 so that I steer myself to have an equal or even better year.

See here for 2017 review.

Again, I will try to adhere to my management learned technique of setting myself SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, Time-factored goals.

Here they are in no specific order.

1) Achieve >20% Return On A Key Investment Account
This is a recycled resolution from last year which I failed to achieve. This time around, I will define a Key Investment Account. They are any of my investment accounts which house any of my savings for investing. This means speculative accounts are not considered. My Saxo account has a performance tracker so that makes things easy to track.

2) Score At Least One Big Positive Life Achievement In 2018
2017 looks hard to beat, but I'll keep things simple and achievable by aiming for just one. It could be the year end Standard Chartered Marathon, it could be something to do with the new home, or it could be something to do with the kids too.

3) Exercise 3 Times A Week
This has been a fixture in my resolutions since forever. I am closer to achieving this on a regular basis than ever before. Hopefully this can continue in 2018.

4) Achieve Passive Income Of At Least $200/mth
Again, trying to keep things realistic. Considering that almost all my funds have been poured into the new house and renovation and furniture, this should be attainable. $200 per month means $2,400 in dividends for the year (I have no other passive income sources anymore). IF I can find something that yields me 5% PA, then we are looking at an investable AUM of $48,000. Hopefully I'll have at least that by year's end. I will try to blog on my passive income regularly on my other blog.

5) Spend More Time With Kids and Family
This is rather difficult to measure, but it would be great if I could devote more time to what is really close to me. At this stage, I feel like this is very achievable.

Hopefully I can score a perfect 5/5 come year end!!!

HUAT AH!!!

Hello 2018, Goodbye 2017!

What a year 2017 has been!

And how fast it has gone by!

Generally 2017 has gone by really well. There have been so many memorable events that happened over the course of the year:

- Went to Metallica concert
- Went to Guns N Roses concert
- Went to Coldplay concert
- Sydney family trip which was our best trip ever!
- Saxo Bank 25th Anniversary in Copenhagen
- Bought a new home
- Completed a half marathon
- Won the Saxo Atlas Award

Really, it has been one great year for me, and I can only hope that 2018 will be as good or even better.

Anyway as with tradition, here was last year's review.

And here were my 2017 resolutions.

So here're my resolution reviews after the year's gone:

1) Have 6 Month's Pay In Cold, Hard Cash FAILED
This has been another year of failure, although not for wont of trying. The new home basically sucked every single drop of cash and CPF I have currently have. So though it failed, it might not have been a bad thing.

2) Achieve >20% Return On Key Investment Account FAILED
What Key Investment Account? POEMS? StanChart? Saxo? IG? All failed miserably, with none producing any return remotely close to a positive return. I have to say that financially, 2017 has been nothing short of draining. Hopefully this aspect of things will improve come 2018.

3) Exercise Three Time A Week PASSED
For what it is worth, I have achieved this, specifically in the second half of the year when I began long distance running more seriously. I may not have slimmed down as much as I wanted, but the regular exercise is now becoming a good habit.

4) Score At Least One Big Positive Life Achievement PASSED
This was easy. Just see what I achieved above. Watching GNR, was super significant. The experience, the level of fandom in me, and the fact they are getting too old to tour, makes it ultra special. Coldplay was also such a dream come true. The rush to get the tickets, having given up on attaining them initially and being able to share the experience with the kids, was such an achievement. Sydney was probably the best family trip insofar for our little family. Well planned, everything went smoothly with so many upside surprises, and the kids enjoying themselves so much, made it so memorable that it may be difficult to top. But ultimately the most positive for me on a personal level came in the final month of December. Completing the half marathon was simply a feat I didn't think was very possible after my ACL surgery. The Saxo Atlas Award also came as a huge surprise though maybe it had to do with me being with the bank for so freaking long.

5) Less Online Games, More Time With Family PASSED
This I will list as a marginal pass, because I still maintain 3 Clash Of Clan accounts and 2 Pokemon GO accounts. Yet I have spent less time on them than before. These are crucial years as the kids go into their schooling years. So I definitely want to be as much a part of it as I can.

And there you have it, 3/5 passes makes 2017 has been a fantastic year for me. All I need to do now is to make more money and 2018 would be even more special for me.

So here's wishing myself and my family great health, wealth and prosperity for 2018!!!