Monthly Status

Goals for Year 2009

Jan 5th, 2009
by Sean.
4 comments

Welcome all to the year 2009. I hope you had a great New Year’s Day.

This is the time of the year where I will post my goals for this year. Here is a list of things I want to achieve by the end of 2009.

Rental Property

Evict My Bad Tenant. I expect my eviction process to be completed by early 2009. I will have to inspect the house for the severity of the damages the bad tenant has done.
Rent Out the House. After I received possession of my property back and repairing any damages, I will put the house up for rent again. In the future, I will screen my tenants more carefully.

Financial Blog

Write More Posts. I have many articles in mind, but I need to find the time to write them.
Increase Traffic for Blog. I will have to do some research and find ways to increase traffic to this blog.
Find New Template for Blog. Even though I have switched to this (Architectural Digest) blog template recently, there are some limitations. I will either look for a more dynamic template or create my own.
Stock Portfolio
Rebuild Portfolio. My stock portfolio took a huge hit during last year. It’s time to pick out good investments again.

MBA Program

Take GMAT exam. I would like to enroll in an MBA program. The first step would be to study and take the exam. I would have to do some research on the schools and decide which specific program I want to join. Then I would have to fill out all the paperwork for all the schools.

Travel

Go on vacation. My current consultant project is expected to end during the late summer/ early fall. I plan to take some time off, and probably go on a vacation before committing to another job/project.

Career

Update My Resume. I have to tweak my resume and add update my current skill sets. It is always a good your resume up-to-date.
Social Networking. I will expose myself to more business people. First thing I will do is sign up with LinkedIn.
Find New Job/Project. I will search for a new job/project during late spring. The job market is very limited and competitive now, however I will try different ways to land a job / project.

Entrepreneurship
This year looks like a good year to work on the things I want to do, especially if I do not find a new job/project. There are also many business ideas I want to explore. Here are some of my options:

1. Dedicate more time to updating financial blog or become a pro blogger.
2. Trade in the stock market or become a day trader.
3. Create an e-store and sell things online.
4. Freelance. Find odd jobs that I can do at home.
5. Create YouTube videos and aim to be a YouTube Celebrity.
6. Join ventures with my business contacts.

Reduce Expenses

Minimize Monthly ExpensesI will review my recurring monthly expenses and see what I can eliminate.
Cut Back On SpendingsBecause of financial uncertainty, I will have to be conservative during this year and think twice before making purchases.

Build Savings

Short Term Savings Goal. I lost most of my money in the stock market last year and expenses in my rental property. I plan to rebuild my savings again. My target is $50,000 by the end of this year.

What are your goals for this year?

Monthly Status – October 2008

Oct 20th, 2008
by Sean.
No comments yet

The Monthly Status is to update my readers about myself, my goals and my progress.

Stocks
I have been trading frequently in this volatile market and try to catch the up and down waves of the market, however, luck was not on my side. Every time I buy, the market goes down; every time I short, the market goes down.
My stock portfolio has taken a very heavy hit this year. I can no longer expect to break even by the end of this year. I can only expect to cut some losses.

Job/Career
I am still working at the same place for my full-time job. Fortunately, the project I am working on is funded by the government, therefore the project is shielded from the financial crisis and economic downturns.

House Hunting
My house hunt for this month has been halted by the financial crisis. As the stock market was plummeting, I focused mainly on my stock portfolio and have taken a break on house hunting. The financial crisis has also made me second-think about buying a house during this year. I will consider buying a house in 2009, depending on the real estate conditions. There are many concerns about the real estate market and there are no signs of recovery in the near future. The sub prime crisis has taken a tremendous toll on real estate, banks, Wall Street, jobs and every thing in between.

Rental Property
I am having a lot of problems collecting money from my tenant. He owes me money for rent, late fees and water bills. I have applied for a business and rental license in PA and prepared myself for the eviction process. I have called an attorney office in PA that will help me take care of the eviction process. I have yet to send the attorney office all the necessary documents and information.

I have recently renewed all the insurance for the rental property. The Fire Insurance was $407.20 and Liability Insurance was $160.00. I have not calculated the capital profit/loss amount for the rental property for this year, but I expect to see a capital loss.

Bank Accounts
I am not withdrawing any money because I am worried about the banks closing down. Conversely, I have been depositing money in my bank account. All my banks are FDIC insured and I trust the U.S. government that my money is safe.

Credit Cards
I have reduced my credit cards to a manageable amount of cards. I pay all my credit card balances in full by the end of every billing cycle and currently have no overdue credit debt.

Growing Money Blog
I am trying to find a new template that will display the contents correctly in IE and Fire Fox, and the template should also load faster. I plan on updating to the latest Word Press by the end of this year.

Website/Stock Forum
I have been communicating heavily with an email list of people about stock trades on a daily basis. The amount of email traffic prompted me to create a forum where people post and discuss their trades. The posts will not only serve as a history but will also allow newcomers to easily interact with everyone.

I have registered a domain for a new financial website and have installed a forum template. I will post the link later.
Previously, I had a Yahoo/Google group (Stock Picker Elite) on stock trades, and I will close that group or let it expired.