Welcome to 2008!!

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog!

I know the last post was somewhat ominous, especially followed up with a long period of silence during all of December. This was mainly because December was very much action packed with little time for blogging. Nearly half the month went to travelling in both exotic Thailand and rustic outback Mudgee. I've got blog articles to write on both of these things, but I've been holding off from doing that whilst I concentrated on other things.

Whilst 2006 was a shambles due to so many personal, professional and financial disasters, 2007 represented clawing myself out of the pit I fell into and 2008 will be hopefully be the year it all turns around. New years resolutions never work without planning and this year I've actually got organized plans.

Firstly, I'm looking after my health. Its an easy one to forget, it requires constant attention, but if you neglect it, the consequences are worse than financial or professional ruin. Previously I've attempted to improve health but always gave it up within a few days due to no planning, tracking or controlling. In the weeks leading up to this year, I bought myself a pedometer and drew up an exercise goals list and I've actually kept to it for two weeks so far! My steps per day went from an average 5k to around 8k. Still haven't managed the 10k average that you are meant to do, but its getting there! By planning what I wanted to do and daily tracking it in Excel, it motivates me to keep trying.

Secondly, I'm trying to improve my finances and start building a real asset base. I've been reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki, and whilst there is a lot of obvious fluff in there, it does raise some good points that we easily forget. As my previous tech-lead used to say, its important to start investing young, keep your expenses & liabilities down and have a strong asset base. The ASX website has this great section on learning to invest that is well worth reading through. A visit to a reputable non-bank financial advisor is probably worth your while too. For my younger readers, its worth taking your parents along since their money is essentially your money so devising an combined plan is in your best interest. Of course remember, typically financial advisors get commission based on what they sell you, so make sure you have a clear idea of what you want from them and don't necessarily take what they are offering. So it will take time (and a lot of it), but do your own research. Thats what I'm trying to do and I'm certainly eager to get advice from those in the game.

If you're thinking this is a lot of extra time, you're right. Most likely I'll be scaling back my gaming time and my out-of-office work hours to fit this in. The real problem is that during work, often you are so tired after work that there is little drive to exercise, or study. I've got 4 days to figure out how to solve this problem before I fall into that rut again! If anyone has any suggestions on how they manage work and their personal goals, I'd be glad to hear it.