At the beginning of last year I posted my 2016 financial resolutions.
Today I’ll review how I did. Next week I’ll share my 2017 money resolutions.
Before we begin, let’s quickly list what the 2106 resolutions included.
They were:
- Meet net worth goal
- Review/manage investments
- Earn extra money
- Complete death file
- Update will/estate plan
- Review credit report
- Meet giving goal
- Earn at least half bonus
- Network at least twice a month
2016 Money Resolution Results
Here’s how I did with these:
- Meet net worth goal — I actually beat my objective thanks to the post-election “Trump rally” (and that does NOT count the big appreciation on my properties). I’ll have a post coming up which will summarize where net worth ended for the year. For now let’s just say my net worth reached its highest level ever in 2016.
- Review/manage investments — I did a LOT of this as I’ll detail below, so this was accomplished as well.
- Earn extra money — My blog did much better than expected though it didn’t earn much money. I did do better than expected with my dividends as well as the severance from my job, so I’ll call this one even.
- Complete death file — We’re now hitting the “miss” resolutions. I did not accomplish this.
- Update will/estate plan — Not this one either. Ugh.
- Review credit report — Nope.
- Meet giving goal — We did hit this and even went beyond it. We set up a donor advised fund and give through it now. I’ll be posting specifics on it separately.
- Earn at least half bonus — I earned my bonus for one of the two full quarters I was at the company, so I’ll count this as a win.
- Network at least twice a month — Blew past this. I have developed a system of networking (lunches, outside events, LinkedIn) that always keeps my network growing.
So overall it was “not bad” but also “not great.” But there’s a very good reason why I didn’t accomplish everything above…
Money Accomplishments Not on the List
I didn’t meet all my goals above because I was working on several other money goals I didn’t know I would have when the year started. Here are some of the things I accomplished in 2016 that were not on my original list:
- My wife and I got our daughter accepted to college. She’s taking online classes now and will be enrolled on campus in the fall of 2107. Her goal is to go in as a junior and graduate with $40k left over. I also completed the much-dreaded FAFSA, which I may post on in the future.
- After my wife’s car crash, I got a pretty good deal for her on a new car using my new car buying methodology.
- I retired!!! And retired early at that! That’s a big one, right? The process began with me digging through our financials and looking at a different kind of retirement plan than I had in mind (or at least different income and asset numbers). Turned out the retirement math said I had reached financial independence and had enough to quit work, so I did.
- I’m trying to figure out retirement. I gave my 30-day and 100-day retirement updates so you know what I’ve been up to. It’s going well, but is entirely new and requires some adjusting.
- I developed a detailed retirement budget and update it monthly. I’ll be giving an overview of my results later this month. In particular I focus on tracking the small spending to be sure it doesn’t get out of control.
- I taught my son how to interview and got him two jobs. I gave my daughter some guidance too (though she didn’t need much) and she has a new job too.
So, not too bad, right? I missed a few I had intended to hit, but made up for it with some home-runs I wasn’t expecting.
In addition, I had a great year hitting non-money resolutions, specifically my fitness goals.
That’s how I performed in 2016. How did you do?
photo credit: EpicFireworks #fireworks via photopin (license)
You and your daughter’s college plan is fantastic. As an early graduate myself, there is not 1 day I regret not staying in college one more year. Looking back, I’d try to finish even earlier!
Finishing my undergrad without student debt was very beneficial to me. I took a small loan for grad school, which I paid off in a year, and once I found a job, was able to buy a house and have roommates pay me rent!
If you can plant this idea in your daughter’s head, buying a property and renting to her friends (or strangers), she will be on the path to building wealth herself!!
Erik
Congratulations on a great year! I love that you hit many major goals AND a fitness goal! We also hit our money goals thanks to the rally. I really wish this wasn’t so dependent on which way the wind blows. But thankfully, it blew in the right direction and we ended up with an elevated net worth to finish 2016. We also hit major income goals and were able to pay for a fairly large home renovation with cash. On top of that, we did the once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disney for our daughter. All cash. To be fortunate enough to pay cash for major expenses and vacations made 2016 an amazing year. Thanks for sharing your story!
Mrs. Mad Money Monster
I’d say you hit it out of the park with your retirement and fitness goals. You have been cranking out the posts on the blog as well.
Well done ESI.
Mike
Good on the goal you acheived.
Sometimes we miss goals for good reasons and sometimes not. When we wanted to update our estate planning we needed to get my inlaws done first and ours came second. Well that dragged on longer then expected but our is finally in the works. Paperwork should e done in April. As for the Disaster file ( death file) we have had to review this almost every 6 months due to data breaches of various accounts so needing to change passwords. Well since I have the file out it is simple enough to review.
Not to be morbid, but PLEASE update that “death file” and will. There are few things worse than watching a family turn into fanged monsters over what part of “yours” should become “theirs.”
Admittedly I get exposed to the worst circumstances (similar to when spouses fight) but please! Legal documents in a trusted location. You can save so many tears as your loved ones lack the ability to tear into each other.
Um. Happy New Year?
Also, please don’t die…your blog is awesome ?.
Congratulations, it’s a great year for you and wish you all the best in 2017.
Thanks to your guidance and inspiration, I crossed 1M CAD in net worth in 2016. Hoping to cross same in USD in near future.