It seems like other bloggers are doing their year end goals reviews so here’s mine. In January I set out to accomplish 6 goals by the end of this year. Let’s see how I did.
1) Make at least $4,000 more than last year.
- (Pass) Got a small raise at work. But the biggest factor to this number is my growing dividend income. Pays off to invest as early as possible.
2) Put $10,000 into my retirement accounts.
- (Pass) Took out a $10,000 RRSP loan from my bank earlier this year and threw that into my registered trading account at TD.
3) Put $5,000 into my TFSA.
- (Fail) I only invested $3,000 into my TFSA this year because I ran out of funds after saving to buy a property. If only TFSA loans existed at my bank :O(
4) Put $25,000 towards other investments.
- (Pass) Bought a farm earlier this month with a $37,500 down payment.
5) Have a six-figure investment portfolio.
- (Fail) The net value of all my investments including RRSP, TFSA, farmland equity, and non-registered funds, comes out to only $97,800, so close (>_<) Off by 2.2%
6) Increase net worth by $40,000
- (Fail) Right now I’m only worth about $37,000 more than this time last year. Off by $3,000. Unless we see a huge bounce in the stock market on Monday, it is very unlikely I will hit the $40,000 mark.
Overall I did okay. Three out of six is still 50% so that’s a pass in my books :0) Hope everyone else did well with their goals too.
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Random Useless Fact: Student loans are usually forgiven if the borrower dies or becomes disabled So it’s safe to marry someone who is deep in student loan debt because you will not be responsible for the remaining balance if something were to happen to your spouse. Some exceptions apply, for example, if you happen to co-sign for your partner’s loan.
While #5 and #6 were not quite met it seems a little harsh to call them ‘fails’. Congrats on a great year!
Thanks for the kinds words. I should work in charitable givings into my financial planning like you have done. I’m not sure what the best way to approach it is yet, but I think consistently contributing a percentage of my income to a non-profit is a good place to start. Hope 2013 will be a great year for both of us 🙂
Ha, great graphic! And awesome work on your goals – you were pretty close on the ones you didn’t smash too, so congrats.
Thanks a lot. Yes I was close, but no cigar. I’ll get those goals next time though :0)
You did more than ok, congratulations!
Merci. Now I’m going to make my 2013 goals 😀
WOW i started following you in february, didn’t realised you made that much progress this year 🙂 Congrats!
Seems like we’ve known each other longer than that lol. Looks like you had a pretty good year yourself.
Not too shabby at all! So what’s 2013 goals? For me, I’m trying to put $1250 into savings each month… haha.
That’s not a bad goal. For me, I might push for increasing my net worth to 190K.
A strong year, especially w.r.t goal # 4.
Nicely done.
Here is a link my goals accomplished in 2012:
myownadvisor.ca/2012/12/december-update-2012-personal-finance-and-investing-goals
Have a great 2013!
Mark
You accomplished a lot too. Cool how we both have 6 goals but are mostly quite different.
I definitely need to look more into investing. Saving is no problem, but I’m such a baby with investing and I know if I got more into it it would pay off. That’s something I’m definitely going to look more into for 2013.
You are already doing the hardest part, which is saving. Investing just takes it to the next level and make your money work for you. Everyone has to start somewhere :0) I recommend index investing to get your feet wet.
Seems like you had a pretty good year to me! I had modest savings and investment goals this year since I was focused on finishing classes and getting a job, But I’m definitely ramping up the investments next year. -cf
You did the right thing by focusing on your career first. Now with a relatively secure job you can make your investing goals more ambitious for 2013 knowing you’ll be having a steady flow of income and savings.