A Review of My 2009 Personal Finance Goals
In January, I created seven personal finance goals for myself. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail miss the target. Let’s see what I accomplished in 2009. I said I would:
1. MAXIMIZE INVESTMENT CONTRIBUTIONS – contribute the maximum ($23,500) to all of my investment accounts by December 2009: 401k: $16,500 – ‘09 max, IRA: $5,000 – ‘09 max, and BabyGirl’s 529: $2,000 – tax deductible max.
Success! This is only the second year I’ve maxed out my retirement accounts. Thanks to automatic payroll allotments, I’ve learned to live without the money because I never see it. I set it and forget it. Barring any major life changing events, I plan to max out my annual retirement contributions until the golden age arrives.
2. MEET ALL PERSONAL SAVINGS GUIDELINES – in order to save at least 25% of my “net” income, I need to save an additional $11,750 by December 2009.
Success! As of December 5th, I have saved/invested over $29,500. This was made possible by avoiding lifestyle creep after my salary increase.
3. SAVE $2,000 IN “BABYGIRL’S SENIOR YEAR EXPENSE” ACCOUNT – class of 2010 baby! So you know what that means? Lots of fun expenses! By the end of December 2009, I will save (and probably spend part of) $2k for planned senior year expenses.
Success! See above explanation. To date, we’ve spent $875 of the planned/saved $2,000. And the spring break/prom/graduation season hasn’t even begun. Oh my!
4. EARN $500/MONTH FROM ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES – I think it’s a stretch goal because I’m slowly losing my spark for blogging. Not only do I post less frequently, but I’ll admit, the quality of my writing is slowly diminishing. Am I losing my passion for personal finance or simply getting bored? Whatever it is, I hope to get my mojo back soon.
At the beginning of the year, I knew something was off and I haven’t been able to get my groove back since then. I still update the blog sporadically and I don’t participate in the PF blogging community the way I used to. No more excuses and no more empty promises – I will NOT return to daily blogging. *shrug* At any rate, according to my records, I’ve earned on average ~$350/month from online activities. Not quite a success, but not bad considering minimal effort.
5. ENJOY ONE “MAJOR” VACATION – I’ve been wanting to see Paris and London for almost 2 years now. However, a cruise or any Caribbean island will suit me just fine.
Partial success. I’ve decided to postpone Europe until 2010 so I can take BabyGirl as a graduation gift. I did, however, go on a fabulous Caribbean cruise.
6. REMAIN NON-MORTGAGE DEBT FREE – I’ve been non-mortgage debt free since November 2007, but this goal is worth repeating every single year. No debt. No debt. No debt.
Success! No explanation needed.
7. NET WORTH – although I failed miserably last year, I will go on a limb and try to hit that $200,000 target again by the end of 2009. That’s an increase of over $37,000. Don’t laugh, it’s worth trying! LOL
I met the goal in October, but due to current market fluctuations, I wanted to wait a few months to make sure it was real. As of December 5th, my net worth is ~$215,000. Now I can say with confidence, this goal is a success!
Overall, I’d consider 2009 to be a year of FABULOUS FINANCIALS and give myself an A minus for achieving my personal finance goals.
How did you perform in 2009?
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Those are some amazing accomplishments, can’t wait til I get there!!
I totally sucked this year but then again I didn’t have any “Set goals” I tried to do a rough draft of my goals on my blog but its not detailed AT ALL so hopefully I can’t map them out before year end.
any whoot I spend 2,000 in cell phone expenses for 1 phone (never again)
went on 3 to many mini trips
did not work any extra jobs to pay down debt
the upside without planning… I was able too
fix my car with cash about 4 times (determined to keep driving til the wheels fall off)
manage to not go back into debt (i dont think people get how hard this is)
went on 3 mini trips to visit friends and even though i didn’t budget i had a blast
join a church I love and started tithing for the first time in life and enjoying it.
find a new church
and meet a wonderful woman willing to help me launch my career in cosmetology!
pay off all my little itty bitty debts which leave me with 2 final debts for 2010.
wait it really was a good year but it was was more about personal growth than money I think.
I hope every one else had a blessed year!
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Pretty good I think. We paid off our HEL and so once again the only debt we have is the primary mortgage. That put a small dent in our cash balance, but it was worth it as there was $10K left on it. Other than that, everything else was on auto-pilot: set amounts for various accounts and leave it at that.
Oh the big news is we sustained the $1M net worth after hitting it. This was pretty encouraging as we were close to it before the market tanked and we took a $200K hit to our investments. The next (longer-term) goal is to get to $1M in investable assets, but that will take a few years.
Woo-Hoo Congrats! I look forward to the day that my net worth is $1M…maybe in another 10 years. [-SM]
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You go, girl!!! That’s incredible!!
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Wowl! I stumble on this blog and love it!
I noticed that you pretty much achieved all of your goals (except for one)! That is outstanding. The concrete power of actually writing down your goals, and not just “knowing them in your head” no doubt, played a role.
Your hard work, discipline in not dipping in your “unseen” money, sticking with your goals are admirable!
Great job~!
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Nice post here. It does make senses, appreciate for sharing.
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Sounds like you’ve done a brilliant job!
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