Hey, Ask the Readers is back! Bye-bye 2015! Hello 2016!
I have more plans for 2016 than ever before. I don’t know how I’m going to fit it all in. Off the top of my head, here is just some of the stuff that I have going on:
- Build electric bicycle: All the parts are sitting there waiting for me to have time. I bought a really powerful setup, so this thing should be able to move out. This is my substitute for a motorcycle. I hope Mrs. 1500 bails me out should I cross paths with the law. (Mrs. 1500 note: I’ll consider it…)
- Invest in real estate: We keep trying and we keep failing. Just last week, we bid on a home that was completely disgusting (my type of place!). Unfortunately, there are lot of other weirdos out there who also enjoy cleaning up messes for profit, so we didn’t get it. We will put the pedal to the metal in 2016. In the meantime, look at this creampuff:
- Complete P90X regimen: People keep telling me how wonderful this is, so I acquired the DVDs from Craigslist and will give it a go. Warning!: In the interest of full transparency and in a pathetic attempt to motivate myself through public humiliation, I’ll be posting pictures of my naked torso soon.
- Finish ****ing house remodel: June 2016 will mark the 3 year anniversary of the start of our remodel. I hope to have it finished by then. Last year at this time, I was thinking I’d have it finished by June 2015. I’m really going to do it this time. Really!
- Continue the portfolio rebalance: I’ll continue to shed my individual stocks in favor of funds. I also look forward to socking another $50,000 or so in my solo 401(k)
- Travels:
- March: I’m going to Los Angeles to see my buddy (lies) Charlie Munger at the Daily Journal meeting
- April: Mrs. 1500 and I will be traveling to Omaha to see Charlie again at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting. We also look forward to hanging out with the Penny Planters and the Income Surfer.
- July: The family and I will head to Wisconsin to visit friends and then down to Nashville for a family reunion.
- August: Mrs. 1500 and I will travel to Scotland to visit a certain FIentist.
- September: FinCon!
- October: Ecuador for Jim Collins’ shindig.
- Relax (Mrs. 1500 note: Yeah, right…)
That last bullet point above goes against all of the other ones, but I’m really hoping that 2016 is less busy than 2015. I spent way too much time being tired in 2015.
How about you? What do you have planned for 2016? Tell me about anything:
- Goals/resolutions
- Travels
- Investments
- Life changes
- Your evil plans to take over the world
Happy New Year everyone!
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Sounds like a pretty full 2016! I still can’t believe the house you were in. You may have lucked out though. The potential for a dead body under all that garbage is probably higher than I would want in a rental 😉
As for 2016, it will be another low-key year in terms of travel with our daughter still being under a year right now. We may attempt to do some camping at some of the state parks. Otherwise, we will be off and exploring some of the fun, kid friendly things around the area. The main mission of 2016 is to save a lot of money since this is our first non-student loan year.
What part of Wisconsin will you guys be heading out to July?
Thias @It Pays Dividends recently posted…Dividend Payout #23 – Choosing to See the Best
“The potential for a dead body under all that garbage is probably higher than I would want in a rental.”
The crazy thing is that the place didn’t smell. No dead cats!
We did peek a little bit and underneath all of that stuff was lots and lots and lots of ammo. Really, boxes everywhere.
“The main mission of 2016 is to save a lot of money since this is our first non-student loan year.”
Congrats on kicking those loans in the ass! Onward and upward!!
Was it a grow house or something? Also you could come outnorewtty far ahead if all of the guns and ammo came with it….
No, not a grow house, just a nasty house!
I’d pay top dollar if I could have kept all of the stuff in the house.
Wow! I was just thinking that I need to look at a calendar and figure out what the vacation and travel plans are this year – you are way ahead of me! This year we haven’t solidified our official goals – but I think it will be the same as last year – to live off of one salary and invest the second salary. Oh – and for at least one of us to not get laid off… we still need one salary coming in, at least for another year.
P90X – good luck! I tried Insanity once, but it was too hard on my weak knees. Now I just walk and lift weights – I like to keep it simple!
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Ugggg, I have two torn knees. I hope P90x works out for me.
Living off one salary is an awesome goal. Hope your 2016 is the absolute best ever.
2016 is on its way to being a watershed year for me on several fronts.
Financially, I’ll max out my 457 and Roth IRA. The amount that we put away over and above that will be determined by how we house ourselves.
We are ready to live in a house again, and our preferred option is to pick up a moderately distressed house. The great thing is that, after crunching the numbers and really thinking through the reasons we want to move (having a piano! and a garage! and room to operate a small business!), we have confirmed that we have several good options.
Also, I’ll have my 1 year anniversary at work, which should mean a promotion and raise. The best part about work, though, has been confirming that I really do love being an engineer!
Such an exciting year coming up…
Wow, you’re 2016 is going to be fantastic.
How great is it that you really love your job? That is an INCREDIBLE gift.
I love the idea of picking up a crappy house. Find a great neighborhood and find the most horrible looking home. Put a little elbow grease into that puppy and you’ll be sitting pretty in a couple of years. Let me know if you need any advice on home repairs or remodeling. I’ve probably done it.
I know! Going back to school was a risk, but it’s paying off in a big way – I find myself thinking how lucky I am on a daily basis.
We talk to the real estate agent on Saturday about our initial offer on a place. In my opinion, it’s mostly just skuzzy and gross with other people’s funk, with a few things that might be real problems. Like, we might have to re-wire it.
I’m hoping that it’s bad enough to have lots of negotiating leverage, but good enough that the appraiser doesn’t notice and impose lots of restrictions on the sale 🙂
But, we’ll see ….
“I find myself thinking how lucky I am on a daily basis.”
🙂
Looks like you have a nice little 2016 plotted out for yourself.
We really only have one goal this year. Sell our old house or rent it out by the summer. We would prefer to sell it since we have basically zero desire to be landlords. We spent the last weekend ripping up the carpet and exposing the absolutely amazing hardwood floors. The only thing left on the two do list (according to the real estate agent) is to have an electrician come in and wire the fuse box into a breaker box (which is beyond my comfort level for working with electricity).
The first thing I do whenever I check out an old home with carpet is peel it back in the corner a little bit. I’m always stunned that someone would cover beautiful hardwood with nasty carpet.
Good luck on the probably home sale and move! Don’t be a landlord if you’re heart isn’t there.
I wish I were going back to the Chautauqua this year! I had a fantastic time, and I’m sure you’ll thoroughly enjoy yourself as well.
My plans for 2016 include the following:
-Buy a duplex and become a landlord
-Get my side hustle started up
-Travel to London for the new Harry Potter play
-Get a new position at work when this one ends
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Wow, those are some ambitious plans! The HP play sounds awesome; the books are classics.
Best of luck in 2016!
Wow, looks like you’ve got an awesome year planned. Other than the mandatory weddings, I’ll definitely be attending FinCon, and hopefully one international trip (with credit card rewards points!) I really want to renovate my house and start renting the basement on Airbnb. And lose 2o pounds 🙂
Kate @ Cashville Skyline recently posted…My Eighth Net Worth Overshare
Go Kate go! Can’t wait to chat with you more in San Diego. The last FinCon went by too fast.
Want to get in on P90x with me? 🙂
Doesn’t seem like you’re going to be any less busy in 2016! I plan on socking away a bunch of money, going on a cruise in February, moving out of Manhattan, continuing to lift, and who knows what else!?
Fervent Finance recently posted…2015 Net Worth and Expense Recap
“Doesn’t seem like you’re going to be any less busy in 2016!”
I know, right? Once the house is done, my time really frees up. It already has too since I’m not part-time. Working part-time is absolutely glorious.
Have a great 2016 Fervent!
Goals/resolutions: Finish house remodel. Start volunteering at a chem lab at local university
Travels: Bellevue WA (work), Lake Buena Vista (work), Peru (My wife’s work, hopefully I can tag along), Antigua (Vacation)
Investments: I just upped my 401K contributions from 22% to 28%. This will finally have me maxing out my 401K yay! I did a 50-50 split roth and traditional. Rebalance my 401K into to index funds. Finally roll over my wife’s previous work retirement accounts into an IRA and have her contribute to an IRA and max out. Contribute to my taxable bond fund.
Life changes: Start riding my bike to work. It’s 10 miles, so it would require me to get up about an hour earlier. I’d also need to invest in a little more gear. I may wait til spring/house model completion though.
Your evil plans to take over the world: Become a politician. You can’t get more evil than that. Jk. I would like to get more involved in my neighborhood. It is an older, inner city, neighborhood, that has lots of potential and I think a little bit of neighborhood comradery could go a long way to revitalizing it.
Volunteer at a chem lab? This isn’t some kind of Breaking Bad side gig, is it? 🙂
Nice work on the 401(k).
Yes, politicians are evil. I can’t look at the news anymore because it just makes me want to throw up.
An awesome 2016 to you and yours!
Ha that house is a disaster. Its amazing how people can be such slobs! Those are the best houses for purchasing though. The last one bought in my hometown was just like that and I saved a ton of money on the purchase. Was great!
Ive done the whole p90x thing and it is great and definitely works if you stick to it but it is hard man! Really hard! Ive now switched to p90x’s little brother T25. Its much easier and still gives great results. If p90x doesnt work out for you, look into T25.
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Regarding that house, I didn’t know whether to feel disgusted or sorry for the guy. He had some serious issues upstairs (in the house and his head),
You’re scaring the P90x out of me! If I fail, I’ll hit up T25 or maybe just S8 (sleep for 8 hours).
Congrats on getting engaged!
WOW, that is a disturbing combination of Pizza, Alcohol, and Firearms.
My plans for 2016 … Sell some puts.
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What could possibly go wrong?
Haha that house is insane! I can’t even imagine what lurks beneath all of that crap.
My biggest plan for 2016 is to take a nap! Seriously, it looks like you have your whole year mapped out…. already!? How is that possible only 4 days in?
Mr. Tako @ Mr. Tako Escapes recently posted…2015 Year-End Net Worth Update
“Seriously, it looks like you have your whole year mapped out…. already!? How is that possible only 4 days in?”
Dude, I am a planner. I’m not kidding when I state that most of 2017 is already planned too.
A nap sounds great too.
Have an awesome 2016!
I plan to finish personal issues with someone and move on with my life.
Get back to writing my blog.
Finish more rooms in my house and turn my workshop into a physics lab.
Max out retirement accounts again.
Move IRA’s from Betterment to Vanguard and open my first taxable account.
You’re coming to Madison area I assume, I’ll have to take you out for a couple beers when you visit.
From reading your blog, I know your 2015 was a little rough. It’s in the past now; onward and upward!
I’ll be in Madison, but also out by you. I’ll definitely shoot you an email when plans are firmed up.
Oh. My. Goodness. Those photos of the house…
I have a ton of goals for 2016, but many of them are on the back burner while I focus on the most important one: Get a job. Once I can do that, I think a lot of other things (like paying off my student loans) will fall into place.
Good luck with the electric bicycle — that’s awesome! 🙂
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Best of luck with the job search and putting those loans behind you! That part of my life is in the past, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Mailing in that last check (yeah, people still wrote checks back then) was one of the top 10 days of my life.
I am shocked that someone would leave their weapons/guitars/amps out like that for the public to see. Sounds like you have a busy 2016 ahead!
P90x is nice, but we did Insanity in Iraq – it was like a horrible flashback of getting smoked during basic and it worked wonders. I thought I was in shape until I painted a T-wall with my breakfast on the first day.
We have a young baby, travel is a huge pain with babies. We will be hitting up Maine, Jackson Hole WY, and Southern CA at various points in the year. Travel sounds nice, but I just want to sleep for more than 5 hours at a time. Someday…
Debtless in Texas recently posted…Financial Security and Protecting Yourself in the New Year
Sleeping for more than 5 hours is a worthy goal!
Insanity is worse than P90x, right? I hope I don’t puke, but it wouldn’t be the first time. I kind of like it actually. You know you pushed yourself well if you can’t hold down the previous meal.
That crazy dude probably has $100,000 worth of guns, guitars and amps in the place. The guitars were awesome; Gibson Les Pauls everywhere.
With all that free stuff inside the house, no wonder there are so many bids, resale alone on those pizza boxes has to be huge……..
I have tentative plans to jump in our Sequoia and drive to Omaha. I will be sleeping in the vehicle. I will not sucumb to hotel or airbnb prices. Just have to work on getting that Golden ticket….btw I’m serious, can’t wait to be eating gas station beef jerky and mountain dew code red, no I can’t do that, I’m going FW and making the PB and J.
Even Steven recently posted…What I Learned in 2015 By Writing My Blog
Dude, I’d love to see you in Omaha! Do it! You can find cheap places across the river in Iowa.
If we had room, we’d let you stay in our rental. 2017?
I am driving there in 2016, I’m going to make it a fun trip. I mean I saw that couple that did it with a 4 runner, my monster Sequoia fits 8 people, I think I can find some room.
2017…..let’s see how 2016 goes. Let me know if anyone has an extra ticket. I’m marking it on my calendar as a “Must Go”, plus it’s only 7-8 hours, that’s not bad at all. I’ll ask the wife, not sure if she is down with “car camping” but worth a shot.
Oh, I have extra tickets! I’ll hook you up.
Wow that house is crazy! I hope 2016 is a great year for you.
2016 will be fun for us. It will be our first full year living in our RV! 🙂
Michelle recently posted…How I Made $320,888 In 2015 – My December Online Income Report and Annual Wrap Up
RV life! That sounds great! I’m a bit jealous!
Look us up if you make it to Boulder County
I’m starting another round of P90X3 tonight. I loved the original P90X but it’s hard to beat the 30 minute workout for time efficiency. Bring it!
Nice! Good luck!
I have no idea what the difference is, but the shorter amount of time sounds great. I’m going to have a really hard time squeezing an hour in.
Ouch I’m sore after day 1 and really out of shape.
If time is an issue check out P90X3. P90X Yoga is 90 minutes and when you add in Ab Ripper X 15 minutes most workouts are closer to 75 minutes.
Good review here on the different programs:
http://dysfunctionalparrot.com/health-and-fitness/p90x3_part1/
I had no clue there were so many different routines. I need to start working on W1500x.
Nice goals! Especially the relaxing one — I hope you take that one seriously 🙂
My resolution for the year is to “get my damn mind right”. Basically, I’m working on my mental health, which took a hit in 2015. Among other things it means more self-care, more sweating, more pleasure reading and more writing, and less TV, less negative media, less stress and less bullshit. I’m also on track to finish paying off my student loans this year (what, what!). For travel, I’ll probably go home (Ohio) once or twice and we’re planning on going to Spain for Steve’s 30th. I’d love to hit up NYC to see Hamilton on Broadway, but that might have to wait until 2017 (unless it starts touring and comes to the West Coast!). And in terms of investments, if the market helps just a little bit, I’m on track to hit $25k in retirement savings. 2016 has the potential to be quite the year 🙂
Hi Erin!
I’m sorry you had a rough 2015. You’re on the right path though. I have found lately (like in the past 2 days) that just having a positive mental attitude goes a long way. For me, life is just better when I try to be positive. It isn’t easy though.
My mind hasn’t been in the right place either. I’ve looked at the phone too much and been way too ornery. Lack of time really takes a toll on me, but that’s changing.
I hope your 2016 kicks ass. Maybe since FinCon is a drive down the coast, you can jump in a rental and make it down to San Diego? It’s worth it just for the drive down highway 1.
Chin up! Onward and upward!!
I’m aiming for total world domination (whatever that means).
Wow that house is absolutely crazy! I’d love to get into real estate investing, one of these days and maybe not in Vancouver since the price is CRAZY here! Hopefully will be able to attend FinCon, pitched the idea to Mrs. T to start the conversation.
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Dude, you should totally shoot for world domination. I’m trying for it too, but since I can’t even control my children, I have a long way before I can control 7,000,000,000 people. You can be my VP when I make it though.
1.) Hopefully save $950 a month in my 401k. (My first time investing in a 401k.)
2.) Traveling to Japan for a 5 year late honeymoon (paid in cash of course.)
$950/month is a great way to start! Nice work.
Have a great time in Japan. Never been, but I want to.
FTLOG, 2016 needs to be the year we finish this kitchen remodel. =).
After that, Mr PoP gets to start restoring that antique Benz that’s sitting on our pool deck. (We’re almost as classy as your potential renters you these days!)
Mrs PoP recently posted…PoP Income Statement – December 2015
I just looked at your kitchen cabinet pictures and your remodel is going to look awesome.
I’m excited about the Benz, but a little sad that there won’t be an NSX. I was planning on living vicariously through Mr. PoP…
I want to do Nothing – with my portfolio. Seriously, I need to stop fiddling with it – right after I rebalance everything and after we re-roll my wife’s IRA into her 401K for an extra layer of liability protection, and so that we could possibly access it after she turns 55, if she stops working. THEN I really need to stop fiddling with things.
Ha ha, I’m a fiddler too. I can’t stop tweaking.
The right approach seems to be to get yourself into the right holdings and then rebalance once per year. End of story.
Nicely packed year! As noted above a couple of times, we would strongly recommend doing insanity rather than P90X. The latter is extremely good, but take up so much time, the Insanity gets you about the same results (in appearance anyways) with about half the time. Considering how busy you are, that should fit better with your other goals.
Good luck.
Our goals for the year: watch more pinky and the brain to get some ideas how to take over the world 😉
Team CF recently posted…Savings Rate December 2015
Thanks for the Insanity advice. Ha, that doesn’t sound right. Time to do some more research.
Let me know if I can help in your plan for world domination!
1. Finish off my bathroom remodel
2. Start and finish a kitchen semi-remodel
3. Become a father (end of March)
I think 3 could well take up all of my time for the rest of the year so I’m not going to pencil in any other plans after that just yet 🙂
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Wowee, congrats on #3!!! Better get #1 and #2 done ASAP!
2016 is a great year for my wife and I. I am 28, and we don’t have kids yet, but we’ve always wanted to travel the world. So, we worked hard and saved up money, and will be leaving work at the end of January to hit the road!
We’ll spend about 2 months in Central and South America, 3-4 months in Europe, 3 months or so roadtripping the USA, and then a month in Thailand/Cambodia. That should take us to the end of next year where we’ll reassess what we want to do next, what our financial picture looks like, etc.
So safe to say we’ve been looking forward to 2016!
Wow, that is awesome! Mind if I live vicariously through you?
For financial goals, this year I’m going to go over 100K in total assets! It’s going to be really exciting to get over that six digit hurdle.
In life I’m going to work out more often, climb more, and eat healthier. I succeeded this year in making many more meals from scratch each week, I want to continue that momentum. Last but certainly not least AJ and I will be traveling on more adventures. This past year we visited Central Oregon, Nevada, and Hawaii and went on many many day and weekend trips in the Portland area. This year we will adventure more!
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100K! Nice! Get that snowball rolling!!
You live in an awesome part of the country. So much to see and do. Don’t forget to head north too, Seattle and BC are pretty awesome.
Already have a trip on the books to head up to Seattle in February! I’ll be there for the Northwest Garden and Flower show as well as tourist-ing around the rest of the city. AJ’s dying to go to the air and space museum, they have an SR-71!
Christina recently posted…2015 Garden Highlights
SR-71!!! You had me at SR-71!!!!
I guess all of that garden and flower stuff sounds like fun too, but SR-71!!!!!!!
If you love SR-71’s like AJ and I do you might enjoy this article we found a while back:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-sr-71-blackbirds-most-spectacular-flyover-was-also-1719654907
My other plane crush is the Warthog. I’ve gotten to see a few of those when I visited Ramstein Airbase 😀
Christina recently posted…2015 Garden Highlights
That was a great story! Hadn’t heard it, so thanks for sharing. Here is another good one: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-1079127041
I love the A10 too; big gun surrounded by a plane. This is a little disturbing (A10 versus scooter), but he died a quick death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfvGJx8KN8
What the heck is going on with all those guns? Not even in a gun safe. Just out. That is a disaster waiting to happen! Other than the guns though that looks like a diamond in the rough, I hate it when I miss out on those kind of properties.
As for 2016 I’m focused on building my business to a level where my husband can quit his job and be a stay at home Daddy. Travel, well we head to Mexico for a few months at the end of the year. I’d love to go to Fincon but it’s a huge expensive flight from New Zealand. We’ll see!
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And there was ammunition all over the place. One thought I had is that this guy was planning to do something very bad. I hope not, but he was prepared for the apocalypse.
“As for 2016 I’m focused on building my business to a level where my husband can quit his job and be a stay at home Daddy.”
That is a pretty awesome goal. Lucky husband!
And New Zealand? I’d love to visit your country. Some day. In the meantime, I’ll just have to listen to the Conchords…
Right now, my household will be FI-ready in nine years. My primary goal for 2016 is to bring that closer an extra year, to October 2023.
Obstacles include contributions which look small compared to the huge portfolio already in place, diverting money to prepare for the older daughter entering college, and my wife looking to spend my next two months’ paychecks (from a contract I haven’t even found yet) on side projects as if we were already FI and running a monthly surplus.
I expect most of my effort to go to expense prevention, damage control, and shrouding investment activity from spousal view so it doesn’t get raided. The next bond purchase and next dividend stock purchase happen by mid-year simply from investment inertia. I aim to invest $2000/month extracted from my active income (primary job, secondary side businesses).
You should take your wife to Ecuador to have a little talk with Mr. Collins! I think he could help her see the light! 🙂
$2000/month is pretty great! Just don’t keep it in the sock drawer. She knows…
2016, hmm…
Probably 2 international trips, couple weekend domestic ones.
Continue to max 401k, HSA and send Vanguard money every month
Hope the market does better this year
Firm up the FIRE budget/goal number with the wifey
“Hope the market does better this year.”
Ha, if the first week is any indication…
Yeah….keep trying to tell myself it means for cheap purchases…
I prefer P90x3 rather than P90x, just because of the time commitment. But they’re both nice (and fun!) My favorite is Kenpo X of the original set.
Kempo! Yet another one that I had not heard of…
Awesome goals. Best of luck with the house remodel, and hobnobbing with Chuck. One of our biggest goals for 2016 (aside from trying to shed $50k in debt) is getting Mrs. Mortimer set up in her own business after she finishes her training. We will be definitely looking into getting a private 401(k) going for her.
As an aside, I grew up in Nashville. Have fun visiting in July! If you haven’t been to Radnor lake yet, you should definitely make a trip. The last time I took the family there we were about 20 feet away from a whole family of deer—pretty awesome experience.
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