The first half of the year has seen great strides in some areas and left plenty to be desired in others. That's the reason I've started to keep track of my annual goals and am providing updates, it forces me to be accountable and stay on target. Hopefully I can just stay a little more focused on the areas that are lacking.
2012 Budeting Goals - 2nd Quarter Results
| Goal | Actual through 2nd Quarter | Status |
|---|
| 70% take-home pay savings rate | 74.71% average savings (Jan 74.51%, Feb 73.09%, Mar 75.10%, Apr 71.42%, May 66.93%, Jun 87.23%) | Exceeded Goal |
| Less than $1,600 required expenses | $1,551.82 average (Jan $1,694.02, Feb $1,682.70, Mar $1,590.72, Apr $1,541.32, May $1,549.48, Jun $1,252.68) | Exceeded Goal |
| Reduce Misc. Expenses by 20% (Exp. < $131.62 per mo) |
$125.94 |
Exceeded Goal |
| Reduce Restaurant Expenses by 20% (Exp. < $128.12 per mo) |
$153.96 |
Needs Improvement |
| Reduce Grocery Spending by 10% (Exp. < $214.07 per mo) |
$190.88 |
Exceeded Goal |
My budgeting for the 1st half of the year has been really good. Of my 5 budgeting goals I've exceeded 4. The two that I'm most happy about are the 70% savings rate and the less than $1,600 in required expenses. The required expenses one is probably the biggest since it is the basis of being able to save. The lower your expenses each month the more you can save which is my main goal right now getting to save as much as possible to invest in more dividend paying stocks. I still need to work on my restaurant expenses which is hard because there's times after a 12 hour day that I just don't want to eat another meal that was warmed up in the microwave so a hot meal works out better. That's one of the toughest parts about my job is the very subpar cooking options available. We have a stove/oven but when you don't know how long you'll be there it's hard to get food to cook. I'm going to try and focus more on that in the 2nd half of the year.
2012 Saving Goals - 2nd Quarter Results
| Goal | Actual through 2nd Quarter | Status |
|---|
| Pay off all debt | Paid off 100% of debt | Exceeded Goal |
| $100,000+ Net Worth | $102,916.55 | Exceeded Goal |
My 2 savings goals for the year have already been surpassed. I'm most proud about the debt being gone. While all my debt isn't gone, I still have a personal loan to pay back, all of my high interest debt is gone which is a huge burden lifted. That's an extra $250 a month that gets to go straight to saving/investing instead of someone else's pockets. I fully expected the $100,000 net worth to easily be surpassed this year and will probably be revising it upwards. Since most of my net worth is invested in the market it's much more dependent on how they perform but I think it's time to raise it up. I need to check and see what is realistic to expect it to be at and then go a little further so I will give an update on that later this month.
2012 Investing Goals - 2nd Quarter Results
| Goal | Actual through 2nd Quarter | Status |
|---|
| Receive $1,000 in dividends | $218.19 received (On target for ~$450) | Needs Improvement |
| 3.00%+ YOC for Brokerage Account | 2.49% YOC | Needs Improvement |
| Surpass $100,000 in all investments (Brokerage, Roth IRA, 401k...) | $91,644.29 ($27,948.91 increase thus far) | On Target |
| Max out 401k | $5,960.82 contributed | Needs Improvement |
| Max out Roth IRA's for myself and my fiance | $2,175 contributed | Needs Improvement |
My investing goals are still a little behind, thanks mainly to not getting to put much fresh capital to work in the market other than my 401k. That will be changing the 2nd half of the year. The 2 hardest ones to reach for the year will be the $1,000 in dividends and 3.00% YOC. I think by the end of the year I will get to where I would receive $1,000 in dividends if all the payouts stayed the same for a year but I don't think I will actually receive them this year. That is unless I try to maximize dividends now which is not my goal. The YOC is going to be more a function of how the markets are doing. They've started showing signs of pulling back again which will be great news. I'm starting to get my shopping list together again and we'll see what shows up on sale. As I mentioned earlier, I had temporarily backed off on my 401k contribution and I think I am going to keep it that way for the time being. I'm still on track to save over $16k in my 401k with the company match so I'm still doing fine there.
2012 Personal Goals - 2nd Quarter Results
| Goal | Actual through 2nd Quarter | Status |
|---|
| Lose and keep off 20 lbs. | Lost 5 lbs. | Needs Improvement |
| Workout 3 x per week | Averaging 0 workouts | Needs Improvement |
| 2+ Blog Posts per week | 3.57 posts per week | Exceeded Goal |
The workouts and weight loss are still the worst of my personal goals thus far through the year. I know that I need to and I want to but it's just hard to get motivated by myself. There's talk of us getting a schedule where we work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off or 4 on and 2 off. Either of those would be very much appreciated and would help me to focus on the workouts because I can workout on my days off and with my wife. I'm still over on my blog posts which is good. It's been hard to get back into it since getting back to work, but I'm going to try and sit down and get some new blog posts coming.
There's no time like now to make a change you've been wanting to make. Half the year down and another half to go, wishing everyone the best in their goals.
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