Goals

REVIEW OF 2019 FINANCIAL GOALS

Review of 2019 Financial Goals

Happy New Year!  We had a blessed year and did pretty good on our financial goals.  Here they are:  

1) Pass our 2022 Net Worth Goal – SUCCESS
We’ve been tracking 3 years ahead of our net worth goals and were able to increase this trend to 4 years ahead of our goals in 2019.  We ended 2019 with a net worth of $829,705, well above our 2019 goal ($510K), 2020 goal ($575K), 2021 goal ($645K), 2022 goal ($721K) and 2023 goal ($803K).  Amazing!

2) Reduce average monthly expenses by $1,000 – 50% FAIL / 50% SUCCESS
We spent an average of $15,620 per month in 2018 and set a goal for ourselves to reduce our average monthly expenses by $1,000, to $14,620 average per month.  2020 started off with multiple large expenses such as paying off a car we sold (~$4,500), doing concrete work in our backyard (~$5,000), and braces for our son ($~1,000).  As a result, we our average monthly expenses were $16,2047.  We recognized that we were off track and tightened our belt the second half of the year and did great.  Our average monthly expenses from June until December was $14,918!  For this reason, I am counting this goal as a partial success. We hope to keep this momentum into 2020!

3)Create a family trust or will – FAIL

Unfortunately, we did not make any traction on this goal.

4) Contribute $3,000 to 529 Plans ($1,500 for each child)  – SUCCESS
Thankfully, we reached this goal early in the year (March) after my wife received a large quarterly bonus.  We contributed $1,600 to our son’s 529 Plans and $2,150 to our daughter’s 529 Plan this year, exceeding our goal by $750.  Our son is currently 8-years-old with a 529 Plan balance of $30,559 and our daughter is 5-years-old with a 529 Plan balance of $18,050. 

5) Building savings account balance to $20,000  – SUCCESS
This historically has been our toughest goal.  We added it to our list each year and then fall short.  As 2019 drew to an end, it looked like we would miss this goal again.  Our savings balance in November 2019 was less than $8K.  However, my wife received an unexpected $19,500 gross bonus in December that allowed us to fill our savings to $20,024.  Such a blessing!