2012 Goals - 4th Quarter Update

2012 is now in the books so it's time to check up on how my goals went for the year.  Overall I'm very pleased with how the year went although there's still some things I need to work on in 2013.  Without further ado, let's check the numbers.

2012 Budgeting Goals - Full Year Results
Goal 2012 Amounts Status
70% take-home pay savings rate 77.17% average savings (Jan 74.51%, Feb 73.09%, Mar 75.10%, Apr 71.42%, May 66.93%, Jun 87.23%, Jul 81.49%, Aug 74.05%, Sep 79.83%, Oct 82.83%, Nov 83.00%, Dec 76.55%) Exceeded
Goal
Less than $1,600 required expenses $1,501.62 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, Jul $1,608.65, Aug $1,417.13, Sep $1,422.25, Oct $1,440.69, Nov $1,392.91, Dec $1,426.97) Exceeded Goal
Reduce Misc. Expenses by 20% (Exp. < $131.62 per mo) $113.54 Exceeded Goal
Reduce Restaurant Expenses by 20% (Exp. < $128.12 per mo) $142.56 Needs Improvement
Reduce Grocery Spending by 10% (Exp. < $214.07 per mo) $216.46 Almost Met Goal

Of my 5 budgeting goals I passed 3, failed just barely on 1 and failed pretty miserably on the other.  My savings rate was well over my 70% target and I ended up with 4 months over 80% after-tax savings rate.  I'm very pleased with the required expenses being almost a full $100 below my $1,600 goal for the year.  Considering I had debt that I was paying off the first half of the year, I should be able to drop it down further in 2013.  The miscellaneous expenses goal was nice to surpass.  Food was still a bit of a sticking point for my budget.  I averaged almost $360 per month on food.  I almost hit my goal for grocery spending but my restaurant expenses was way out of whack.  The bright spot about the restaurant expenses is that even though I didn't reach my goal I was still able to decrease my average restaurant expenses by $12 from 2011 so I did at least make some progress.  I'll need to be more focused on my food spending in 2013 to try and decrease my expenses further.  So for my budgeting goals I hit 3.5 out of 5.  Not bad but I still left a little on the table.

2012 Saving Goals - Full Year Results
Goal 2012 Amounts Status
Pay off all debt Paid off 100% of debt Exceeded Goal
$100,000+ Net Worth $155,952.18 Exceeded Goal

I made a lot more progress on my savings goals during the year, which in this case more is better.  I originally expected to be able to pay off my high interest debt by October, but I actually got it paid off in May, a full 5 months ahead of schedule.  I thought I was setting a pretty aggressive goal of a $30k net worth increase, turns out that was way too conservative of a goal.  I smashed that by over $50k.  Ooops.  Guess I'll be making my 2013 goal a little higher to push me a little further.  For my savings goals I hit 2 of 2, although it's really more like 4 of 2 because I blew way past both of my goals.

2012 Investing Goals - Full Year Results
Goal 2012 Amounts Status
Receive $1,000 in dividends $795.92 received (Foward 12-month dividends $1,770.93) Needs Improvement
3.00%+ YOC for FI portfolio 2.88% YOC (3.19% Non-ESPP YOC) Needs Improvement
Surpass $100,000 in all investments (Brokerage, Roth IRA, 401k...) $152,436.69 ($88,741.31 increase this year) Exceeded Goal
Max out 401k $11,232.56 contributed Needs Improvement
Max out Roth IRA's for myself and my fiance $5,000 contributed Needs Improvement

My investing goals were a mixed bag.  I didn't hit the dividends received but my forward 12-month dividends is up to $1,770 which is a lot more than I expected to have at the end of 2012.  I set the $1,000 dividends received goal with the intention of not including my Roth IRA, but just for shiggles if you count those dividends received I received $900.19.  Considering I didn't make that many purchases between January and May and my starting forward dividends was only ~$450 I'm very pleased with the progress for my dividends.  My YOC is lower than I want and I know it's going to take another hit around the middle of January when the next ESPP purchase hits my account.  I'm looking forward to June when I can start selling off the shares every 6 months and replace them with DG stocks.  The YOC has been creeping up and my guess is by the end of 2013 my YOC will be well over 3.00%.  Earlier this year I decided to decrease my 401k contribution down to just enough to get the full match.  This way I can have more of my pay going straight to my FI portfolio and working on my early financial independence goal.  Plus counting my contribution, company match and profit sharing I'm still contributing a solid 15%, so I'm not slacking in that department.  I maxed out my Roth IRA earlier this year but have held off on contributing to my wife's because I needed to see where we might end up on our MAGI for 2012.  I didn't want to have to deal with the mess of contributing but then finding out later that we weren't able to but it looks like we should be under the limit for 2012 so the plan is to contribute to hers early next year.  2012 might be the last year that we can fully contribute to the Roth IRA directly, so I want to be sure to get as much in as possible.  I hit only 1 out of 4 goals, but a 2nd one should be hit early next year.  I'm very pleased with the progress I made on my investing goals and expect to have an even better 2013.

2012 Personal Goals - Full Year Results
Goal 2012 Amounts Status
Lose and keep off 20 lbs. Gained 5 lbs. Needs Improvement
Workout 3 x per week Averaging 0 workouts Needs Improvement
2+ Blog Posts per week 4.27 posts per week Exceeded Goal

I blew past my blog post goal my more than double.  My blog is going to be a big personal goal for 2013 so it's great to see traffic picking up and that I'm still motivated to make posts and keep up with everyone else.  The rest of my personal goals were just plain pathetic.  I made absolutely know progress on health front.  I gained weight over the year and didn't work out hardly at all.  I did do a little bit better during the 4th quarter, but once the time changed and I no longer have daylight on my hours off I can't even go for walks/runs.  I don't feel safe running along the highway at night where I'm at because it's a very narrow road, with no lights and there's rattlesnakes/hogs in the area.  I'm really motivated to be back in better shape and the 2013 should be a good year for it.  I need to fix up a spreadsheet or get a planner to keep me motivated and force myself to keep track of my physical health as much as I do for my financial health.  I passed only 1 out of 3 goals, which is very disappointing.

By the end of the year I was able to hit 8.5 of my 14 goals that I set for the year.  Despite only a 60% success rate I'm still very pleased with the progress I've made.  Here's to an even better 2013.

How did you do on your 2012 goals?

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