Happy New Year with Summary of our 2015 efforts to build a beautiful life

Riding on a tandem bike along a beach in Taiwan in Oct 2015

Time flies.  Today is already the last day of 2015.  Isa and I want to catch this special moment and wish you a happy new year, more courage and confidence to put efforts into things which you know are important to your life and family, with consideration of others' needs if you can afford, with patting on your shoulder that you have done well.

In 2015, we earned over 300k airline miles from credit card sign-up bonuses, donated money to our favorite charities, joined other Californians to save hundreds of gallons of water (1, 2) per month by saying farewell to my lawn, had a Maui vacation, Los Angeles Universal Studio - Mandalay Beach Resort getaway, Carmel - San Luis Obispo - Long Beach getaway, San Francisco Union Square Xmas getaway, Eva Airlines Laurel Business Class Flights to Taiwan, and redeemed two Singapore Airlines business class seats (worth ~$6500 value for two) for my parents' first ever business class flight.  They look forward for this new experience!

My parents got the two seats in the first row, the best seats in the business section.

Regarding long-term financial planning, we shifted strategy to spend more time to understand financial investment area.  I tested the stock market with IRA money throughout the year, and am glad to report that 11% stock asset gain ( ~$11k) is accomplished in 2015, even after partially burnt by energy stock collapse.

My IRA asset is about $100k at the beginning of 2015, not $1MM

Thank you Exxon. I learned a hard lesson

On the other side, witnessing the rising cost of living, skyrocket increases in property prices and rental cost in the San Francisco Bay Area, we believe it may still be a good idea to purchase a residence property for investment purpose and rental income.  For the last 2 years, we saved more and cut recurring monthly expense.  Two months ago, we purchased a townhouse.  One mistake I made is overestimation of Isa's FICO score to be above 740 which is required for premier mortgage rate; her real FICO score is only 705.

It may seem that everything seems going smoothly.  It is not, in one area.  In 2016, we want to be parents.  We like to focus more attention on health related findings, financial investment ideas and building better relationship in our new home.

We sincerely wish you good health and happiness.

Best Wishes,
Isa & Patrick