At the beginning of 2018, I set some goals for myself. Let's see how I did.
1. Add $10,500 to retirement savings with the goal of having $35,000
saved for retirement by the end of the year. $5,500 will go into my
roth ira and $5,000 will go into a taxable account. Come on stock market
growth and no recession! Last year I contributed $9,500 so this will be
an increase of $1,000.
PASS. I contributed $10,760 total. My balance did not reach $35,000, due to the uncooperative stock market.
2.Increase EF to $18,500.
PASSISH. My E-Fund ended the year with a total of $17,916
3. Pay an extra $290/month toward principal on the mortgage. My easily
reachable goal is to have the mortgage paid down to $200,000 by the end
of the year. The ultimate goal is to have the balance paid down to
$197,500 by the end of the year so that the PMI will drop off the
mortgage.
PASS! I actually added about $400 extra to the mortgage for several months. The mortgage ended the year at $198,399. My PMI will drop off when the balance reaches $192,600.
4. Save an additional $5,000 for my car replacement fund with the goal
of having $10,000 in my car replacement fund by the end of the year. I
will be aiming to purchase a new car in 2019. I hope with a trade in
and any money saved in 2019 to have $20,000 to put down for a new car.
FAIL. My
car replacement fund is at $8,947. I only added $3,750 to the fund.
5. Read 15 books.
FAIL- I only read 7 books in 2018.
6. Lose 20lbs. I plan to try to lose about 3lbs a month which should
place me at 36lbs for the year. However, I know I struggle with weight
loss so I think 20lbs is a good goal. I also want to commit to
exercising 30 minutes a day for 4 days a week and eating more
vegetables.
FAIL- I exercised more than I thought I would, but I did not lose 20lbs. Gotta do better this year.
7. Donate $300 to charity. This is up $100 from last year, I hope to be
able to donate more than $300, but let's see how the year rolls. I
plan to increase this amount each year.
PASS. I donated $338 to charity this year. I also donated 2 bags full of clothes.
8. Build medical fund up to $1,000.
FAIL- this worked as a sinking fund. I put the funds in and pulled them out as I needed them.
9. Continue to build car repair fund up to $1,000.
FAIL-this also worked as a sinking fund. I put the funds in and pulled them out as needed.
10. Get more life insurance.
FAIL- I need to lose weight first.
11. Try to figure out a happy medium for the travel reimbursement
fight. I want them reimbursed in 30 days and the firm will wait 60 -90
days to reimburse me. I think I will argue for 45 day reimbursement and
all outstanding travel vouchers to be paid at year end.
FAIL.
12. Find a new primary care doctor and receive treatment for anxiety and depression.
FAIL.
13. Make a decision about my career and job.
FAIL- but I did get a raise.
14. Try something new (or outside of my comfort zone) each month (restaurant, activity or social event). PASSISH-
I
tried a lot of new things last year. New cities, new restaurants and met new people.
15. Increase net worth by $25,000.
Not sure yet. I haven't run the numbers for my net worth yet.
