Happy New Year!  2017 was a great year for our net worth but we somehow only hit three of our five 2017 financial goals.  I hope we have better luck hitting our goals for 2018.  Here they are:  

1) Pass our 2022 Net Worth Goal
We enter 2018 with a net worth of $641,732.04, almost 4 years ahead of our net worth goal targets.  God willing, we can secure the 4 year lead by exceeding our 2022 net worth goal of $721,500 in 2018.  My estimates/forecast puts us at $682K by the end of the year so we’ll have to work extra hard to reach $721K.

2) Continue tithing and improve attendance
We failed to make it to church very consistently but we did succeed in giving $200/month in 2017.  We plan to continue our giving plan while working to improve our attendance.

3) Pay $6,000 extra towards mortgage principal
We secured a 15-year mortgage (2.875%) when we moved into our new house in July 2016.  We would love to pay it off in 10-11 years instead of 15 years.  To do so, we plan to make two extra payments a year ($1,800 each) and pay $200 extra every month.

4) Contribute $2,000 to 529 Plans ($1,000 for each child)
We plan to begin contributing again to our kids’ 529 Plans in 2018.  We took most of 2017 off so our intent is to work to get $1,000 in to each of their 529 Plans.  Currently, our 6-year-old son’s 529 Plan has a balance of $21,642.82 and our 3-year-old daughter’s 529 Plan has a balance of $11,141.03.  

5) Building retirement accounts balance total to $300K
We ended 2017 with $267K in retirement savings. God willing, with a little extra effort and good returns from the stock market, we hope to reach $300,000 total in our retirement accounts by the end of 2018.