Roadmap Update: Year 1, December
Changes since last update:
The job
Whoah. What a year. The job cuts are coming, and seriously, nobody is safe. NOBODY is safe.
I thought “headcount reduction” was something that would happen to other teams, but not mine. My team handles a critical business function, and we have been doing really well despite the economy situation. Why let go anybody from such a team, right?
Wrong. No such luck.
Last week, my peer was let go on the spot. I felt really sorry for him, especially since his wife was on her way to getting retrenched too, but at the same time I’d be lying if I say I wasn’t relieved that it wasn’t me.
That made me add one important item to the Roadmap: do everything in my power to keep my job for now! This is important.
The emergency fund
I’m quite happy to find out that I was able to reach my February 2009 target of S$80k early. Because of this, I’m raising my target to S$110k by February.
The (non-existent) bonus & raise
With the number of jobs cuts happening in the market right now, I have given up my last sliver of hope of getting any salary increment or bonus for this year. Whatever I get, if any, will be a nice (and very welcome) extra.
The business
Is going slow, unfortunately. Most of my energy is spent navigating the storm in the workplace.
The wealth management
I cashed out all of my mutual funds, thereby realizing the paper loss and possibly missing the market bounce, if any. I believe that our current situation is a deep systemic problem and it’ll take more than just a few months to recover from.
A nice extra is that I can shop around for lower commissions. My previous financial planner insisted on charging higher commission because of the advisory services, but look where it got me now. I might as well manage it myself, at least I know that it is my fault.
I am looking into options as a strategic investment. Also I have found a place to put my cash that gives a reasonable interest rate, compared to other similar alternatives.
The path to CFA Charter
As you must have seen, this blog has become a lot more CFA-ish recently. My study is going well and I am confident I will pass the exam in June 2009.
Discussion with other would-be millionaires
It’s REALLY HARD to find a REAL millionaire who will have enough time, energy, and willingness to spend them for an extended discussion with a bunch of millionaire wannabes (like me).
I certainly don’t mean any disrespect when I say that any discussion with other wannabes like me is really just the blind leading the blind. It is not arrogance, it is fact when I say I can’t see how someone who has been at it for 10 years and still not being a millionaire can guide me in any way.
The December Roadmap
And finally, this is the updated roadmap:
