Sunday, July 13, 2014

Review of Goals for 2014

Sachusett Point National Wildlife Refuge, Middletown, RI.

We are now half way through the year and I still have a ton of work to do in order to complete some of my financial goals. I have already made some serious changes in my life in order to gain financial independence before the age of 55. I would like to think that I could retire a little younger than 55 because that is 26 years from now. I could do a lot of investing and career changes in 26 years in order to achieve financial independence at a younger age, but for now I am going to stick with that number because I think it is practical. Most of my goals are nearly complete and some of them could use a little more work.

  • Pay off student loan - I still owe $1259.44 on my student loan which isn't much at all. However the interest rate is at a low 3.4% so I have been making the minimum payments. I do plan on paying a little extra the next few months in order to finally get rid of this bill. (Up to par)
  • Pay of all credit card debt - My current credit card debt is $1306.15. I plan on paying this off within the next 2-3 months because the interest rate is a ridiculous 22%. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to buy all those Christmas gifts last year on my Discover card. Oh well I learned the hard way. That wont be happening again. (Up to par)
  • Have a net worth of $22,000 - I started using an app called Personal Capital in order to keep track of my net worth on a daily basis. I no longer have to login to 5 accounts a day in order to see what my funds are because Personal Capital keeps track of all activity within your banks, credit cards, investments, etc. I currently have a net worth of $18,190. I am confident that I can exceed this goal by the end of the year. It's exciting to know that I have all this extra money and that I have a positive net worth. Hopefully I will never go back into a negative net worth, however I do plan on buying an investment property in the future. (Up to par)
  • Receive $100 in interest from Savings Account - I have made $29.69 in interest for the year so I am very behind on this goal. However I do plan on catching up and have another 6 months to do so. In order to catch up on the interest, I have moved some of my cash into CDs earning a higher interest rate than my savings account. I like having my money spread throughout multiple investments and plan to receive passive income from stocks, CDs, investment properties, Lending Club, and saving account. Unfortunately I can not use Lending Club in the state of Massachusetts but I think that law will be ending soon so I'll have to wait and see. (Needs Work)
  • Receive $225 in dividends from stocks - I am very behind on this goal because I have only received a grand total of $40.85 from dividends for the year. I still think I can achieve this goal if I can invest in companies with a high dividend yield. I'm going to have to start putting some serious capital to work within the next 6 months if I want to earn another $184.15 in dividend income for the year. (Needs Work)
  • Increase my yearly income by 5% or $34,257 - I started this goal a few months ago because I think it's important that I keep increasing my salary, even if that means I have to find new employment. The great thing is that I can count my passive income from interest and dividends towards my yearly income. So far I made:

Income Source
YTD Income
I.T. Job
$4,372.50
Counselor Job
$16,713.63
Interest Income
$29.69
Dividend Income
$40.85
Grand Total
$21,156.67

               I have exceeded the half way point on this goal and I can potentially be making over 40k this  year if I continue on the same path. (Up to Par)

In conclusion, I am hoping to achieve all of these goals by the end of the year but I can settle for 5/6. Maybe I should focus on completing one goal at a time instead of looking at all of them as a whole. For example I should pay off all my credit card debt first and then pay off all my student loan debt. After that maybe I can focus on getting $225 worth of dividends and then try to earn $100 worth of interest. I recently wrote about how I am 1.21% retired and that number shot up to 1.30% as of July 13th. In the future I might be adding a goal related to this topic on how far along I am to being financially independent. Let's see where the next 6 months will take me. How are you doing on your goals for the year? 

8 comments:

  1. Great to see you're on track to meet several of your goals. It will feel good to get those credit cards paid off.

    Regards,
    Dear Dividend

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    1. I am hoping that I will earn enough this month to pay it all off. Then I will start plugging away at the student loan. If this means I have to work a few extra hours, then that's what I will do. After that I will have 0 debt. I can't wait!

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  2. Now I will be tough here but you simply can not carry a 22% interest credit card debt and at the same time keep buying dividend stocks and making extra payments on our student debt.

    The priority list must be:
    1. Credit card debt paid off ASAP (and never build up again!)
    2. Make extra payment to student loan IF credit card is paid off and then make a calculation... paying off student loan versus buying a dividend stock it all comes down to the interest + fees.
    3. Start buying dividend stocks again.

    Personally I do not like to work with financial products such as credit default swaps that have been created by the finance industry so that they can make more money but what I find dangerous here is that you start working with it because you want to catch up to a milestone. Sometimes it is maybe better to fail with a goal than to try to cut corners.

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    Replies
    1. I agree with you on paying off that credit card first. The Discover card with a 22% interest rate currently has a balance of $554 which I intend to pay off with this week's paycheck. My credit card has a 0% intro rate. It was dumb of me to hold a balance on the Discover card with a high rate, but at least I didn't bury myself in debt. I also agree when you say to pay off my student loan first because that has an interest yield of 3.4%. I am basically throwing money away each month.Luckily my debts are only -$2565. My plan is to get all of these things paid this month. God willing I will have zero debt after that! Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. oh I was going to comment how you need to pay off your credit card fast but I see you are almost done! congrats! and never spend more than that you can pay. As an idea for your next year Christmas shopping. Start shopping through the year. Make a list of people and if you see a great sale or have a good coupon buy a gift. So if you keep doing it through the year, your Christmas shopping will be a breeze.

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    3. Hey HHAWG,
      Thanks for the words of encouragement. My next paycheck will be enough to pay the majority of the credit card debt, therefore I won't be able to invest much this month. Also I have decided that my Christmas list will be very thin this year. I have a big family and I was spending way too much. That is a great idea to try getting Christmas shopping done throughout the year. Thanks for the advice!

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  3. Sorry I mean to say my *other credit card has a 0% APR at this time.

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  4. Hey I just saw that you want to receive more in bank interest as a goal. A credit union near me offer 3% interest on checking accounts so that can help you achieve this goal (you would probably need to bank online if you use them).
    It looks like you are doing great on your goals overall! Keep up the good work!

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