2017 Dream Big.
2017 has started differently for me. It is my first New Year in the Southern Hemisphere. So it started 12 hours earlier than usual, given I am New Zealand rather than UK. The big bonus is, it is a lot warmer than Edinburgh, so that is a great start. We are on holiday, the jet lag is mostly history and I am with my son and daughter-in-law for the first time in two years, which is good.
So a great start.
Where does the Dream Big come from. In September 2016, I did a lot of reading on what brings about success, setting goals, dreaming big unrealistic dreams. If you don’t dream big, you never achieve your potential.
Arguably it is a bit late for me. At 61, I am supposed to be winding down into a lazy retirement, but I am not quite ready to do so yet. I am likely to have another 30 years ahead of me. I am not yet ready to sit in my chair and watch daytime TV.
Below are some of the things I am going concentrate on in 2017.
Increase Net Worth
My aim is to increase our net worth by 10% (my husband & mine jointly). I will put a proviso in here, I will take into account any gifts I give under current UK Inheritance Tax rules.
I will give a quarterly update on progress. This will be at the top level, but I may review breaking it down into pensions, ISA’s etc
Blogging
This is linked by the challenge to Increase my New Worth. I started blogging for the second time at the end of September 2016, with a view to creating a second income stream. By year end I was approaching 1,000 views. So my blogging goals for 2017 are
- achieve 50,000 views
- start basic affiliate marketing / monetizing the blog by June 2017, with an aim to build a second income stream
- post at least 1 blog every 2 weeks, including over my holidays
- achieve a email list of 100 subscribers
- get featured on Rockstar Finance
I will report how this is going on a quarterly basis
Metal Artist
Improve my visibility as a Metal Artist. As this happens, it should also contribute to building an additional income stream, and by definition increase our Net Worth
- Take part in at least 1 show.
- Consider setting up an online shop
- Sell items at 3 sales / fairs
- Design and create 3 statement pieces
Travel
- 4 weeks in New Zealand. Bay of Islands is on the list
- 1 month in a European City – possibly Rome tbc
- 2 trips within UK / Ireland
You’ll see these posted individually as Retirement Travels Blog entries
Get Healthy
I didn’t do too well with this last year, managing only a pathetic 3 kg. So this coming year,
- I intend to lose 10kg.
- I intend to walk 1 hour, 5 days a week
A quarterly update again
Learn 2 languages
Improve my fluency in both French and Spanish, Certainly get the Duolingo scores up to 60% each.
French recently hit this, quite a lot of upside possible
Spanish has been stuck here for months….
To help with this, I will consider a couple of short breaks, where I will force myself to try and communicate only in the language of the city, no matter how hard and awkward it is.
I’ll post my Duolingo update quarterly
Charitable Giving
Today I regularly give to a range of charities, church, education, cancer. It could be higher. It is about 2% of our net income (not including Gift Aid). I will report this at the end of the year.
When I start making income from my blog 10% of it will be given to charity. I will report this on an annual basis, saying how it has been donated.
I will also give 10% of any profit as a metal worker to charity. Just now my hobby is a cost centre, not an income stream, so this will be a major job to turn it around.
Sounds like it’s time to “Get Crackin’!” Great update on your goals, and I’m SOOOO envious that you’re BLOGGING FROM NEW ZEALAND!! I love the idea of quarterly updates on your achievement of the goals, accountability will go a long way in insuring your successful achievement! It was great “meeting” you in 2016, and I look forward to seeing how you do in 2017 against your excellent goals! Enjoy your time with your son and daughter-in-law!
Hi Fritz, thanks for the support. I agree that accountability will make me a bit more focused on a successful year. Likewise it was good ‘meeting’ you. It is amazing how friendly and helpful most of my fellow bloggers are. We have a lazy weekend planned, then off doing some more travelling on Monday, for a week, which will be fun.
Hey Erith.
Great goals, shows that one can dream big at any age! 🙂
The day I stop dreaming, I will be turning up my toes!! Age is no barrier, in fact it helps, you know what you have already managed to achieve, (almost without trying…), and you have more time to make the next dreams come true!
All my goal setting, up to achieving F. I., was to get financially independent. As each one was met, pay off house, save college fund for son, save cash for time until I can access pensions, it was exciting to accomplish the goals. I’m having a little more trouble setting new goals. This year 6 of my closets friends and I got together and set goals for the new year. Just checking in on them now, I had set 7 goals for the year and I have met one, in the progress of completing one, one isn’t due until August and one I already missed the beginning target date, but I can catch up, (now that I read the goal and realize I hadn’t started). Goals really help me move forward. Love how you broke out the categories of goals.
Hi Nancy, I love the idea of getting together with your friends and setting goals. What a great concept.
How long have you used DuoLingo, what do you like about it?
I’ve really enjoyed Duolingo. I have used it for about a year. I only found out about it just before I went to Barcelona last year, so I gave myself a 1 week crash course, as I had absolutely no Spanish. Since then I have also picked up French which I had learnt at school. I have now a pretty good chance of understanding simple written items, but my speaking is still poor. I hope to be able to use my Spanish shortly as I am about to book a month in Madrid. I think it will work best with some real practical conversation.