Car loan paid off

I managed to pay-off the 20k car loan in just under 4 months. So that is one 2009 goal that can be chalked up as done. Unfortunately my savings account is pretty much decimated, but the rebuilding process can now start with vigor.

Emulate

Seabeast : made his bones in cash games before switching to tournament poker, that what I need to do, stick to cash till I have a roll that can make some damage.

TheAshman103 without the tilt and degen behavior and better bankroll management, but please give me his balls and skills. He is a true rags to riches story (740 usd to 970k usd in 1 year 3 months, and then donating back almost half of his net worth trying to compete with deep pocketed best of the best players). Heres his story in his own words of his rise based on pure skill and balls. A related highly negative cover story on this guy here.



Ben Grundy: another mid stakes grinder who successfully made his mark in the big games, of course he runs better than God. Please give me his god-like-running ability.

Last but not the least, my favorite Foucault: Needed his skills in cash game and life.

Foucault's 35th place finish in last years WSOP main event brought hm the check above. His bread and butter though is cash.

Savings allocation

Heres my savings allocation as % of total savings (excluding 401k), Ive been using this for the past couple of months with some degree of flexibility of course :

• Cash savings : 47% (i will probably reduce this substantially by end of the year, probably re-evaluate this one around Aug-Sep)
• House : 23% (saving up for house buying)
  
• Retirement: 30%
• Undecided: poker earnings (right now its kind of an even split between cash savings and retirement)

I got a nice boost this month as the Indian stock market sky rocketed and the Rupee appreciated versus the dollar as well.

Reassessment of 09 goals

I had planned to pay off my car (about 18k) by end of 09, but now I am giving it second thoughts. Reasons:

1. My lofty bonus (almost 30% of my normal salary, announed Feb of every year) will get a severe haircut this year, our company already missed Q1 09 revenues by 30% YoY.
2. Our company has freezed salary hikes, due in May, till further notice. I was on course for a 7%+ hike, sigh.
   
3. If I set bonuses to zero, I can only come up with 11k by the end of this year (8 months).

Sigh, well laid plans down the drain it seems. Fuck me.