Today we passed the $120,000 net worth milestone!
We passed our last milestone of $110K, in December. Based on my forecasts, we should hit the next net worth milestone of $130K around May.
I will update our net worth meter (on the left side of the screen) at the end of the month.
We did pretty well knocking down our 2010 financial goals. Now it’s time to set the bar a little higher for our 2011 financial goals.
1) Increase net worth to $138,100
We have a good head start on our 2011 net worth goal because we passed our 2010 goal by $9,600.07. If we stick to our plan, this goal seems very doable.
2) Increase savings account balance to $20,000
We haven’t been able to hit $20,000 in savings as a goal the last two years. Let’s give it a try again in 2011. We are starting 2011 with $9,215.82 in savings, so we’re already ~1/2 way there. The challenge with this goal is that we will plan to start a family in 2011 and private adoption is very expensive.
3) $100,000 total balance in retirement accounts
We’re starting 2011 with $83,594.59 total balance in our retirement accounts. My forecast shows that we should end the year with less than $100,000 total balance in our retirement accounts. So, achieving this stretch goal will require extra effort and determination.
4) Decrease debt by $1,000
Our only remaining debt is $3,041.81 in student loan debt. We successfully reduced our debt by $1,000 in 2010, so we’ll try to knock it down another $1,000 in 2011. Cash flow may be tight in 2011, so this goal may be harder than it looks.
5) Start a family
We hope to start a family in 2011, whether naturally or through private adoption, or a combination of the two. While this isn’t a financial goal in the traditional sense, it does have big financial commitments. The private adoption is ~$30K, so we need to plan, save, and make it happen.
Okay, now we wait 12 months to see our results.
We set five goals for ourselves 12 months ago. Here’s how we did relative to each one:
1) Increase net worth to $105,700 SUCCESS
We blew right past this goal in November and didn’t look back. We finished 2010 at 109.08% of our goal with a net worth of $115,300.07, $9,600.07 over our net worth goal. This feels great after missing our net worth goals the past two years. We are 4 years in to our 21 year plan to retire early and so far, we’re on track.
2) Increase savings account balance to $20,000 FAIL
We would have probably achieved this goal, but in March we paid $12,000 cash for a vehicle. Even so, we were able to get our savings back up to a pretty respectable $9,215.82.
3) Contributing at least 15% of income to company 401(k) SUCCESS
I’m going to say we met this goal because we contributed 15% to both of our 401(k) accounts until my wife was laid off. We have continued to contribute 15% to my 401(k) account, but my wife’s new company does not have a 401(k) plan. To make up for this, we have contributed an additional $4,000 total (2K each) our Roth IRAs.
4) Decrease debt by $1,000 SUCCESS
We pulled this one off at the buzzer. We increased our student loan payments slightly at the end of the year so that the balance dropped to $3,127.35. That’s $1,021.11 less than what we owed last December.
5) Increase tithe $25/month SUCCESS
Thankfully, we were able to increase our tithe not just $25/month, but $35/month to $835/month. Taking this step in faith and giving back a portion of what we are blessed with has continued to reward us.
So, it looks like we reached 4 of our 5 goals. Not perfect, but not too shabby. I’ll be posting our 2011 goals shortly.
If I had to pick one word to describe our personal finance in December, it would be “excessive”. We had one of our best income months of the year, but ended up spending most of it (click on spreadsheet below).
In addition to our paychecks, I received a third “extra” paycheck for $1,775.43. My wife also received another special bonus of ~$500 gross ($280.10 net). We earned a $75 Chase credit card reward, a $25 HSBC credit card reward, sold a speaker for $40, and sold an old bond my wife had for $49. My wife’s $75 reimbursement from her company for cell phone won’t come in until January.
We were the perfect model of consumerism in December. We spent $7,919.80this month on everything ranging from $150 for my resume to $2,100 for a beautiful bracelet for my wife. We spent $361.12 on gifts (I thought we got most of our Christmas shopping done last month, guess not).
Next month should be a typical income month and, God willing, a low expense month. We need to do some catching up to ensure we start 2011 off strong.
It’s hard to believe the end of 2010 is already here. We ended the year on a strong note, increasing our net worth $7,007.82 from last month, to a total of $115,300.07 (click on spreadsheet below).
What Worked
We passed our 2010 net worth goal of $105,700 last month, so December gave us an opportunity to make terrific headway on our 2011 net worth goal of $138,100. In December, we contributed $1,219.50 to our retirement accounts and saw them increase $5,437.42 to $83,594.59. We also increased our savings account balance by a $1,715.00 to a total of $9,215.82.
What Didn’t Work
We spent a ton of money this month, but I’ll get into that when I do our December income statement post in a couple of days.
Next Month
In the next few days, we’ll be reviewing our 2010 financial goals and posting our 2011 financial goals.
We just passed the $110,000 net worth milestone! Yippee! I will update our net worth meter (on the left side of the screen) at the end of the month.
We passed our last milestone of $100K, in October. Based on my forecasts, we should hit the next net worth milestone of $120K around April.
We were doing so well being fugal most of November, but we broke the bank the last couple days of the month. Thankfully, we had a nice income month to support our overspending.
In addition to our paychecks, my wife received her Q3 bonus of $1,680 gross ($941.14 net)! She is doing amazing. We also received a $75 reimbursement from her company for internet and cell phone, $275 from selling our old tires, $100 gift from my parents, a $25 HSBC credit card reward, a $50 Chase credit card reward, and another $40 Chase credit card reward.
We spent $6,689.43 total in November, but here are my excuses: we bought new tires for both of our vehicles (one set was a “gift” to me) and completed most of our Christmas shopping. We also bought a new camera, a new suit for me, new shoes for the wife, etc. etc. Okay, Black Friday kicked our butts.
I’m so happy Christmas is almost here. God willing, will pass the net worth milestone of $110,000. I will receive an “extra” 3rd check in December and my wife should get another bonus of ~$500 gross. However, the spending will continue a bit more because we plan to buy a nice piece of jewelry for my wife as a combination Christmas/birthday/5 year anniversary gift.
My wife’s Q3 bonus arrived a little early and is a larger amount than we expected: $1,680 gross ($941.14 net). She also has another $500 gross bonus that should come in next month. Go wife!
We had a solid increase to our new worth again this month. Our net worth increased $3,931.33 from last month, to a total of $108,292.25 (click on spreadsheet below).
What Worked
We officially passed our 2010 net worth goal of $105,700 this month. Now we can get a head start on our 2011 net worth goal of $138,100. In November, we contributed $1,313 to our retirement accounts and saw them increase $2,333.99 to $78,157.17. We also increased our savings account balance by $1,757.15 to a total of $7,479.92. UPDATE: My wife received her Q3 bonus after I posted this yesterday so I wanted to include the details here. The bonus was for $1680 gross ($941.14 net)!
What Didn’t Work
We’ve falling behind in our retirement account contributions, but this is the result of a slight change in plans. We have decided to focus on growing our savings account balance over the next 12 months so that we can hopefully be in a position to put a down-payment on a house in 2012.
Next Month
December is going to be a great month. I look forward to Christmas every year: celebrating the birth of Jesus, the festive cheer, and delicious food! Financial we’ll have a lot of income in December to look forward to also. My wife receives her Q3 bonus (bonus arrived shortly after I posted this) and I receive a third “extra” paycheck ($1,775.43 net).
We passed our 2010 net worth goal of $105,700 today!
We’re only over by a few hundred dollars, but we still have all of November and December left. God willing, we can use the next 60 days to make some headway on our 2011 goal of $138,100.
I will update our net worth meter (at left of webpage) at the end of the month.
