When I originally created this blog, the intent was and still is to document my steps towards Financial Freedom and the ability to travel wherever/whenever I want. Below is an outline of the steps I took in 2017 and a reflection on the progress I made. Please do not read this and interpret it in a cocky, arrogant manner, I am simply explaining the things I did.
2017 was a year to remember! I moved in with my fiance, visited more places in one single year than I have in the last 5, became a remote employee, started 2 businesses, and got closer to my goal of Financial Freedom.
In the beginning of the year, Taylor and I wrote down our goals for 2017. We each created 7 goals and both completed 6 out of the 7. The goal we fell short on was flying first/business class for next to nothing (yes – for as little money as possible). However, although we fell short this year, we did book a business class lie-flat seat from Newark, New Jersey to Phuket, Thailand for our honeymoon this October. This is a $4,500 ticket that we got for 70,000 AA (American Airlines) miles and $30 each (not bad if you ask me). Although I am not going to go into my goals specifically, some of the activities below are tailored towards accomplishing those goals.
2017 Steps Toward Financial Freedom
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Continue to Grow the Blog – 13 Blog Posts Published in 2017 (Not Including Travel Pages)
- Although this blog doesn’t make me any money, rather costs me money and a hell of a lot of time, I still want to call this out. Maybe one day this blog will generate some passive income as it continues to grow…my fingers will remain crossed for that day.
- 2017 Metrics:
- 1,519 unique visitors to the site
- 2,396 visits
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Continue to Invest in the Stock Market
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Grew my Robinhood Portfolio roughly 20% in 2017
- I did not trade actively during the year, I took more of a buy and hold approach.
- 2017 was a year of record highs which helped contribute to that success.
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Invested $6.75 every day into my Acorns account
- This may seem like a little but it adds up quickly. $6.75 * 365 = $2463.75, every year this grows and accumulates.
- Roughly 18% growth (including dividends).
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Contributed 9% to my 401k
- Come March 2018 I will be at 10% contribution, I increase this 1% every year.
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Continue to purchase company stock every 2 weeks
- This comes directly out of my paycheck.
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Read 14 Books Related to Personal Finance and Personal Growth
- You can find these books on my reading list, where I give a summary and my opinion of each book (see link below).
- http://www.firststepfortune.com/reading-list/
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Started My First Company: KTM Holdings LLC
- Kicked off a few Amazon products this year!
- Created a social media curating account @EastCoastDiscovered.
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Started Richland’s Proudest LLC
- Created a social media marketing agency with a partner.
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Obtained 7 Additional Travel Credit Cards Accumulating More Miles and Points
- If you have not read so already, I encourage you to check out my post on travel hacking. This post goes into detail on how Taylor and I both use credit cards to travel for free, or close to it.
Looking back on this year, I think there is more that I could have done to get closer to my dream of Financial Freedom. The good news is that I have a handful of goals for 2018 to get me closer to my dream.
I hope this encourages you to start documenting your own steps to Financial Freedom. If you’re further along then me leave a few comments below to share with everyone.
I wish you the best on your way to obtaining Financial Freedom!