Good morning! Over at Savvy Scot I have friendly reminder that the tax year in the UK is coming to an end on April 5th, so you only have a few days left to use up your ISA allowance. Click here to read more..
In January, I set five big financial goals for 2014, now is time for an update!
Rent out the guest house, check.
Increase net worth by 30%
That was a fail for last year, but I am always the optimist and will put that goal back again for 2014.
So far at the end of Q1, I am up 13% so potentially on target for the year! As I freed up some cash from investments I got to account for the real value of the money I got back, instead of the value I bought them for, as you never know what can happen until you have your cash in hand. I also had a good quarter trading forex, and only take profit into account for positions I have actually closed.
Make $60,000 in online income
If you have followed my blog income reports, you know that I currently make $3-4,000 a month from blogging. I want to increase that to $5,000.
This is not any amount, I try to live off my online income and reinvest passive/rental income without touching it. $5,000 is my target income that would allow me to live a comfortable life, travel whenever I please, and still have a bit leftover at the end of the month to cover any emergency, a last minute flight back to France, etc.
Once my Super Secret third website breaks even, I think this is a realistic figure to achieve.
Anyway, January was at $3,290, February at $7,063 and March at $4,950, totalling $15,303. That is a PASS so far, especially since January also brought 45% of Savvy Scot’s purchase price which is not accounted for here.
Keep donating 10% of online income to charity
Since July 2013, I have set side 10% of my online income for charity. So far, I am committed to two students in my village, to whom I am offering full rides to boarding school, in one of the best high schools of the country, have bought supplies and uniforms at the beginning of the school year (January) for little girls in primary and middle school, and got four computers, two that I bought, two donated by readers to start a computer class.
You can read the last update here, and I will update soon as we are starting the computer program this week.
Turn a profit with land development
Now that we almost have all the authorizations we need, nothing is standing in the way of selling some plots. The website is finished, with a map of the compound, you can click on each plot to see its size and price, and the ones that are SOLD, yes, we sold some plots already!
I will talk about it some more in my next Guatemalan update, and it looks like we are on track to make back our purchase price by the end of the year.
Make $5,000 with the guest house
The goal is to make around $500 a month renting rooms in our little guest house, which should amount to a $5,000 profit. That is roughly our staff and utilities cost, meaning we would live for free, how awesome is that?
I have made $1,970 as of March 31st, which is over 30% ahead of schedule, which is great because April looks pretty empty. I have bookings for May already, and then July-August is the rainy season so I don’t expect much.
Hello Pauline, hope and wish that you will achieve these defined targets and goals in Q1, honestly speaking you are good in setting goals and I scrutinize it they are almost realistic and also gave me hand full of inspiration for my next goal plan. Keep in touch! Love to read more from you!
Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words!
I am a little behind on my HELOC pay off goal (set to finish it off on July 4) but I will keep plugging away.
Do you escape Guatemala during the rainy season? I can’t imagine how huge my hair would be with that constant humidity.
haha, I wear a head band most days to cover it all and avoid having a sweaty face with hair stuck to it. The rainy season is not so bad in my region, usually it is a 2-3 hour long shower and the sun comes back, safe for last season which was pretty depressing, but we were in Europe for most of it. This year I don’t have travel plans, my brother is coming over in July, maybe in August I’ll go to Europe but so far I am just fine at home.
Nice job on your goals. I am failing at my goal of developing a second website, but I switched directions. Instead of a health care site I think it’s wiser to start another finance-related one, as I can double-dip on advertisers down the road. Best of luck getting the guest house rented and reaching your $5k goal!
That’s what I did with MMYW and Savvy Scot but you’d be surprised the double dipping is not as frequent as one would think.
Wow, great job, Pauline!! We’ve been basically in survival mode as we try and cover heating costs from the incredibly cold weather this past winter. It’s still only 20 degrees F here today. After warm weather comes and we’re not paying ridiculously inflated heating bills, then I’ll take a look at how we’re doing on our goals. 🙂
Looks like a pretty long winter. I hope you can find cheaper alternatives to heating, like wood burners for next winter?
That’s the plan, Pauline. The wood-burning stove goes in in a couple of months, which we’re hoping will cut heating costs by at least 75%.
Your guest house looks rustic and stylish….I love it! Great job on your goals!
Thanks Holly, I had a guest call it soothing and peaceful, it is really nice to see people like it too.
Very nice set of goals! I hope you achieve them, Increasing net worth by 30% is a big target, Good Luck!
Thanks, I like to dream big.
Your online income always blows me away, Pauline. So impressive! Way to be on top of those other goals, too.
Thanks! It’s been another good month..
Looks like you’re doing great against your goals, Pauline. Right now, getting my book to print (hopefully this week) is a top priority, then it’s launch. I can’t believe 1st quarter is already over. I need a vacation!
I bet you do! I am always in awe at the many things you have going and yet still seem to have time for it all.
Nicely done Pauline! My personal goal is to finish out teaching for this school year. I have some big plans for the summer which I will be sharing soon. Oooh…secrets are always fun! 🙂
Exciting! Can’t wait to hear more about it.
Great job Pauline. My ultimate plan is to earn passive income from internet that can sustain my family standard of living. I want my savings to invest into multifamily rental properties.
Good luck with the passive income! So far my blogging income is pretty active, even though every month I spend less time on it.
That’s awesome progress Pauline, you have some aggressive goals but it seems like you’ve got a shot at hitting all of them!
Shoot for the Moon, land among the stars, right?
Hey Pauline,
What an awesome income you are bringing in with the blogs, good for you. If you can rent out the guest room and live for free, even better. That’s awesome you’ve sold some of the plots. I can’t wait to see how it all goes down for you both. Keep up the great work… 🙂
Thanks Mr CBB! I enjoy the guest house and having people from all over the places in my house so it is a great way to get a little extra income.
I love how you are not only supporting charity with your income, but you are directly impacting the quality of education for two people which will change their lives. I feel as though we were all put here to make other’s lives better, it not only helps them, but it helps us too.
Wow – go you! Plenty of great news here – you seem to be flying this year! Here’s hoping for even greater success for the rest of the year 🙂