New Year Resolution 2009
I have met 4.5 out of 9 resolutions that I made in 2008. This time round, I am not going to have many many small resolutions but just three big ones. Anyways, along the years, I have been trying to do too many things and in the end I always only complete half of what I had set out to do.
Goal Number 1.
Lose 15 kgs over 1 year. I am going to do this by:
1) Doing regular exercise, three to four times a week of running, cross-training, resistance training etc. Consistency is really important.
2) Keeping a healthy diet. I will still eat things that I like but in moderation. No coke, but orange juice. Less oil and salt.
3) Trying my best to keep a good work-life balance. I heard that added stress also causes obesity for some people, even if their diet stays the same.
4) Drink more water. Sometimes, people get confused if they are hungry or simply thirsty. So I will try to first quence my thirst before filling my stomach.
5) Eat 4 small meals and not 3 big meals.
Goal Number 2
Pass CFA Level three, get my CFA designation. This time round I am going to stay very disciplined. I have already signed up for lessons (which I invested $3,500 in and will start to do my readings and notes before each lesson starts). What is my game plan?
1) Study on Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. During weekdays, I will study 2.5 hours from 10pm to 12.30pm. On Saturdays I will study 5 hours from 2pm to 6pm. That would be a total of 10 hours per week.
2) I will start studying in December. From December to April 2009, it would be studying. Leaving May for revision. So that is about 5 x 4 x 10 = 200 hours of studying.
3) Sundays would be days that I have lessons from 10am to 5pm. After that probably, I will go to the gym, shopping at Orchard or really just rest.
4) Take more leave in end May and early June. Take occasional Tuesday and Wednesday leaves during January, February, March and April.
5) Maintain a healthy body so that I will be able to concentrate on my studying.
Goal number 3
Have 20% return on my portfolio for 2009. How would I track and judge this?
1) Putting what I have learnt, preached and experience into practice, is what I would do here. So I will have a starting value of all investments, including equities and funds as 1,000 and start tracking from 31 December 2008.
2) Over the past two years, I found myself much better at picking funds than stocks. So I will have an 70-30 split of my portfolio between funds and equities.
3) For the 30% of my money that I invest in equities, I will choose to invest in the large caps or blue chip companies. These are not long term holdings. I can choose to sell them out 1 month to 6 months down the road.
4) Within the 70% of my money that I invest in funds. I will invest in 1 Asia ex-Japan fund, 1 Global equity fund, 2 single Asian country funds, 1 Latin America fund, 1 sectoral fund and 1 corporate bond fund. These are medium term holdings of 2-3 years.
5) Rebalancing will be done in June and December.
In a later blog, I will share my portfolio in greater detail. I need to rebalance and organize the investments first. I really think that the second half of 2009, will be a time that markets will start to rally. So I believe that my goal will be met.
There you go, my three goals for 2009.
I will be hitting the big 30 next year. I think I have been taking up too many aspirations and goals till I am not able to really able to concentrate on just a few main ones. I just really need to concentrate to meet these three goals first and then go on to meet other bigger ones, like having a child, writing a book, lecturing part-time etc.
This time round, I will meet all the three resolutions I have set out. One resolution represents every 10 years of my time living, feeling and understanding life. I feel that to a certain extend, I have matured to become a happier person with clearer goals and objectives. Shedding off the image of a young woman that solely seeks entertainment to satisfy her life. It goes beyond the pay, achievements, how popular or well-liked I am by others. It is simply being responsible of my own life, to meet my own needs and objectives.
Alas, this is not a resolution for 2009 because I aim for it to be a resolution for lifetime. I aim to be a happy person 99% of the time. It is not easy being happy all the time, and I am allowed to be sad, to be grumpy, to be nasty 1% of the time. But I read a newspaper report from ST today that being happy spreads. If I am happy, my spouse will be happy and my family will be happy. Being happy, smiling, laughing is the best medicine to relieve stress, not the massage, exercise, food (these could help but only for a few hours).
I am happy now. And I will try to make others around me happy too, but never at the sacrifice of my pride (never trying too hard to please).
Thanks for reading my blog. I am really not too sure how many of you do read it and have thoughts about it but I realized that quite a number do read it and I am very touched. Don't hesitate to sms me your thoughts (if you have any) if you have read this. Any words of encouragement, care and concern is very, very much appreciated.
For those who give, you will be given.
Signing off...
CC
Goal Number 1.
Lose 15 kgs over 1 year. I am going to do this by:
1) Doing regular exercise, three to four times a week of running, cross-training, resistance training etc. Consistency is really important.
2) Keeping a healthy diet. I will still eat things that I like but in moderation. No coke, but orange juice. Less oil and salt.
3) Trying my best to keep a good work-life balance. I heard that added stress also causes obesity for some people, even if their diet stays the same.
4) Drink more water. Sometimes, people get confused if they are hungry or simply thirsty. So I will try to first quence my thirst before filling my stomach.
5) Eat 4 small meals and not 3 big meals.
Goal Number 2
Pass CFA Level three, get my CFA designation. This time round I am going to stay very disciplined. I have already signed up for lessons (which I invested $3,500 in and will start to do my readings and notes before each lesson starts). What is my game plan?
1) Study on Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. During weekdays, I will study 2.5 hours from 10pm to 12.30pm. On Saturdays I will study 5 hours from 2pm to 6pm. That would be a total of 10 hours per week.
2) I will start studying in December. From December to April 2009, it would be studying. Leaving May for revision. So that is about 5 x 4 x 10 = 200 hours of studying.
3) Sundays would be days that I have lessons from 10am to 5pm. After that probably, I will go to the gym, shopping at Orchard or really just rest.
4) Take more leave in end May and early June. Take occasional Tuesday and Wednesday leaves during January, February, March and April.
5) Maintain a healthy body so that I will be able to concentrate on my studying.
Goal number 3
Have 20% return on my portfolio for 2009. How would I track and judge this?
1) Putting what I have learnt, preached and experience into practice, is what I would do here. So I will have a starting value of all investments, including equities and funds as 1,000 and start tracking from 31 December 2008.
2) Over the past two years, I found myself much better at picking funds than stocks. So I will have an 70-30 split of my portfolio between funds and equities.
3) For the 30% of my money that I invest in equities, I will choose to invest in the large caps or blue chip companies. These are not long term holdings. I can choose to sell them out 1 month to 6 months down the road.
4) Within the 70% of my money that I invest in funds. I will invest in 1 Asia ex-Japan fund, 1 Global equity fund, 2 single Asian country funds, 1 Latin America fund, 1 sectoral fund and 1 corporate bond fund. These are medium term holdings of 2-3 years.
5) Rebalancing will be done in June and December.
In a later blog, I will share my portfolio in greater detail. I need to rebalance and organize the investments first. I really think that the second half of 2009, will be a time that markets will start to rally. So I believe that my goal will be met.
There you go, my three goals for 2009.
I will be hitting the big 30 next year. I think I have been taking up too many aspirations and goals till I am not able to really able to concentrate on just a few main ones. I just really need to concentrate to meet these three goals first and then go on to meet other bigger ones, like having a child, writing a book, lecturing part-time etc.
This time round, I will meet all the three resolutions I have set out. One resolution represents every 10 years of my time living, feeling and understanding life. I feel that to a certain extend, I have matured to become a happier person with clearer goals and objectives. Shedding off the image of a young woman that solely seeks entertainment to satisfy her life. It goes beyond the pay, achievements, how popular or well-liked I am by others. It is simply being responsible of my own life, to meet my own needs and objectives.
Alas, this is not a resolution for 2009 because I aim for it to be a resolution for lifetime. I aim to be a happy person 99% of the time. It is not easy being happy all the time, and I am allowed to be sad, to be grumpy, to be nasty 1% of the time. But I read a newspaper report from ST today that being happy spreads. If I am happy, my spouse will be happy and my family will be happy. Being happy, smiling, laughing is the best medicine to relieve stress, not the massage, exercise, food (these could help but only for a few hours).
I am happy now. And I will try to make others around me happy too, but never at the sacrifice of my pride (never trying too hard to please).
Thanks for reading my blog. I am really not too sure how many of you do read it and have thoughts about it but I realized that quite a number do read it and I am very touched. Don't hesitate to sms me your thoughts (if you have any) if you have read this. Any words of encouragement, care and concern is very, very much appreciated.
For those who give, you will be given.
Signing off...
CC
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