Build Your Financial Independence Action Plan

About 40% of Americans make a New Year's resolution, and about 90% break them.

Following their suggestion, I decided to have an action plan for the coming year and, hopefully, stick with my resolutions.

Track My Spending For a Year

Thanks to RPF Episode 506 for crystallizing this idea for me. We all know that FI is based on developing better spending habits, not just your income or savings.

So, I plan on using some basic budget categories and an Excel spreadsheet I found on Mint.com. It has salary, dividends, interest, and reimbursements as income categories. It has food, mortgage, gas, laundry, car loans, utilities, clothing, medical/dental, house repairs, and taxes for expense categories. I added college, dining out, entertainment, vacations, cleaners, ATM withdrawals, and donations to cover all my bases.

My plan is to fill it out monthly by looking at my checkbooks and credit card bills. I know there are some expenses I'm missing, so I'll update my spreadsheet as needed. I'm anxious to see if my spending matches my expectations.

Lose 10 pounds

This has been a goal of mine for a while, and it embodies several things: An active lifestyle, working out, eating less, and eating better.

I have been holding steady through the holidays and am injury-free right now, so I hope this one might be easy...one can dream. My downfall is dinner, but my wife has been discussing changing what we cook and eat. Water will be my salvation during the day.

I also plan on amping up my workouts. Here is to hoping this one is pretty easy.

Keep Using Travel Rewards

I just started with this pillar---it's pretty easy if you track a few things. I have some travel plans in my future and want to keep costs down.

We have gotten two Chase Sapphire Preferred cards---one for me and one for my wife. With our current expenses, hitting the required spending limits to earn additional rewards is easy.

Typically, my wife and I are not great planners, so the redemptions might not be optimal. Oh Well. That is something we have to work on. Luckily, everyone on ChooseFI is so supportive, so I really don't think I need to go far for help.

Actively Give Back

I know there are many ways to give back, so I want to start doing it. In my area, plenty of people could use the help. I want it to be more hands-on than hands-off. I don't know about scouting or volunteering at the hospital.

This might be a problematic resolution since I have a busy work schedule and love playing soccer and skiing. I've done the coaching thing for over twenty years, and I don’t want to give up my slope time.

It's really inspiring to read and hear from FI people when they talk about what to do with their independence and free time. If anyone can offer a suggestion here, drop me a line!

Knowing the kind of folks who listen to ChooseFI, I bet lots of you are thinking about your 2018 action plan. Let me know what yours is, and we can march down the road less traveled together.

My Personal Background

I think of myself as "Accidental FI"---essentially the opposite of second-generation FI. Jonathan and Brad call themselves the First Generation FI, referring to those who follow them as Second Generation FI. My children and I don’t really fit that mold, but as ChooseFI emphasizes, there is no one-size-fits-all all.

Just a bit of background on my personal life. I have a wonderful wife and three adult children.

I served in the Marine Corps from 1982 to 1988 on active duty, then in the reserves until about 1997. My calling is as a System Engineer/System Architect, and I have worked for two companies since leaving the military. I'm a degenerate skier/snowboarder and have never met a hill I didn’t like. I also have a “sorta’ side hustle” on eBay selling all the extra stuff in my and my mothers house.