2015 Goals (3rd Quarter Update)

In January, we set a total of 12 goals for the 2015 Calendar year.  We had made goals for our dividend stocks, P2P accounts, Blog, and Financial Milestone. 

Below is a progress report to show how we are doing on these 12 goals after 3 quarters of the year. With 3-months (or 1-quarter) left in the year, we should technically be 75% of the way towards meeting our goal. 

Based on these results, it appears that we are doing well and should be on target to accomplish most of the 12 goals we set for ourselves.  In fact, we've already accomplished 5 of the 12 goals.  It appears that goals #1, #4, and #12 are the ones we will need to work a bit harder on if want to accomplish them.  

Thanks for following along...stay tuned to see if we continue our current success! 

Regards, 

A Frugal Family's Journey

2015 GOALS

DIVIDEND STOCKS:

1.  Earn $3,000 in dividend income.

• $1,994.50 - Wells Fargo Account
• $281.77 - Edward Jones Account
• Current total: $2,276.27 (75.8% of goal)

2.  Increase projected annual dividend income to $3,500.

• $3521.68 - Wells Fargo Account
• $358.25 - Edward Jones Account
• Current Annual Projection: $3,879.93 (110% of goal)

• ACCOMPLISHED!

3.  Increase number of holdings to 40 (stocks and/or ETFs).

• ACCOMPLISHED!

P2P ACCOUNTS:

4.  Have a combined $20,000 from both accounts.

• $7,436 - Prosper
• $9,947 - Lending Club
• Current total: $17,383 (86.9% of goal)*
• *Withdrew $2,000 to open and build a new Loyal3 account. No longer happy with P2P results.

5.  Maintain an average interest rate of 6.0% or higher (combined).

• AVG return from notes is currently: 6.11% (on target)

BLOG:

6.  Write at least 84 posts (7 posts / month).

• Currently total: 102 posts (121% of goal)
• ACCOMPLISHED!

7.  Reach 150,000 total hits by end of the year.

• Current total: 148,088 total hits (98.7% of goal)

8.  Increase stock analyses collection to 800+.

• Current total: 871 stock analyses in our collection (108% of goal)
• ACCOMPLISHED!

9. Cash out my first $100 from Google AdSense.

• Currently total: $125.13 (125% of goal)
• ACCOMPLISHED!

FINANCIAL MILESTONES:

10.  Increase value of retirement accounts to $425,000.

• Current total: $397,677 (93.5% of goal) 

11.  Increase Net Worth to $650,000 (excluding home equity).

• Current total: $629,196 (96.7% of goal)

12. Reduce mortgage balance to $312,000.

• Current Balance: $319,142 ($7,142 to reach goal).

What are your goals for 2015?

How are you doing?

Mid-Year UPDATES from Around the DGI Community!!

I recently posted our family's mid-year progress report, and specifically, where we stood with each one of our 11 annual goals.  And although we don't post our progress here each and every month, we actually review our progress each and every month. After all, goals mean nothing if you don't periodically look at them to see where you stand, right?! 

With the above said, I thought I'd share a few links of mid-year progress reports from fellow DGI bloggers that I follow:

1. Roadmap 2 Retire - R2R recently provided an update on his annual goals in his quarterly update.  He has 5 goals listed and has already achieved one of his goals!
2. Pollies Dividend - Pollie recently provided his readers with a mid year review of his annual goals.  He has 5 goals and seems to be on track to accomplish each one of them.  He even raised 2 of his goals. 
3. Dividend Diplomats - 
• LANNY - Lanny recently provided a 2nd quarter check-up on his annual goals. He has 7 goals, 4 are monetary goals while 3 are non-monetary goals.
• BERT - Bert also provide his readers with a 2nd quarter review of his annual goals. Bert also has 7 goals but only one goal in non-monetary.  As a sports fan myself, I can appreciate his non-monetary goal. :)
4. Dividend Mantra - Jason recently provided his readers with a mid-year goals review. He has 4 goals and well on his way towards meeting each one of them.
5. Dividend Growth Journey - Ryan provided a update to his 2015 goals back in June. He has 4 goals to help him stay on track with his investment strategy and well as his current and forward dividends.
6. I Want to Retire Soon - Adam recently provided an update to his annual goals along with his June Summary. He has 5 goals and is on track to accomplish them all.
7. The Dividend Drive - TDD provided their readers with a progress report for the first half of the year. They have 7 goals and one goal is already achieved.  They are on track to accomplish at least 6 of their 7 goals.
8. DivGro - FerdiS provides an update on his goals in his recent 2nd quarter review. He has 4 goals: financial, health and an awesome goal to climb the world tallest building. 
9. Financially Free by 40 - Huw recently provided a 6-month goals update for his bloggers. He has a multitude of goals that are broken into Financial goals, Business goals, Employment goals, Physical goals, Emotional goals, Relationship goals, Contribution goals, and Blogging goals.
10. Leigh's Financial Journey - Leigh recently provided a 2nd quarter update for her readers. She has 11 goals and has already accomplished one.  She is on track to meet at least 8 of her 11 goals.

Although, a recent update was not posted, I thought I'd also mentioned that the following bloggers also provide annual goals on their blog:

1. My Dividend Pipeline
2. Young Dividend
3. Dividend Dreams
4. Dividend Legion
5. Dividend Empire
6. A Dividend Dream!
7. Dividend Vet
8. Financial Freedom
9. Passive Income Mavericks
10. Dividend Beginner
11. Dividend Quest
12. Dividend Life
13. The Dividend SWAN
14. Dividend Dreamer
15. Frugality to Financial Freedom
16. Forward Dividends
17. Anha Investing
18. My-Dividends.com
19. Dividend Mongrel
20. The Financial Unicorn

As you can see, many bloggers have annual goals for themselves.  What do you think, is there a possible correlation between having goals and success? I don't consider us a success story just yet, but I can tell you that what our family has accomplished thus far has been with the help of having annual goals for ourselves.  Whether you decide to public announce your goals or not, we encourage everyone to set goals for yourselves.  Even one goal is better than none! 

2015 Goals (Update) - Mid Year

In January, we set a total of 12 goals for the 2015 Calendar year.  We had made goals for our dividend stocks, P2P accounts, Blog, and Financial Milestone.  Below is a mid-year progress report to show how we are doing on these 12 goals.  The results provided was a snapshot taken as of July 1, 2015. On a side note, where did the first half of the year go? Time flies when your having fun, I guess! :) 

With 6-months left in the year, we should technically be half-way, or otherwise at 50% of our goal. Based on these results, it appears that we are doing well and should be on target to accomplish at least 9 of the 12 goals we set for ourselves.  It looks like we will have to put a little extra effort if we want to accomplish goals #1, #5, and #12.  Of course we hope to be successful in accomplishing all of our goals but honestly, we would be happy to remain on track and accomplish 9 of 12 (75%) or 10 of 12 (83%) of our published goals.  

Thanks for following along...stay tuned to see if we continue our current success! 

Regards, 
A Frugal Family's Journey

2015 GOALS

DIVIDEND STOCKS:

1.  Earn $3,000 in dividend income.

• $1,042.57 - Wells Fargo Account
• $187.70 - Edward Jones Account
• Current total: $1,230.27 (41% of goal)

2.  Increase projected annual dividend income to $3,500.

• $2,590.34 - Wells Fargo Account
• $375.40 - Edward Jones Account
• Current Annual Projection: $2,965.74 (84.7% of goal)

3.  Increase number of holdings to 40 (stocks and/or ETFs).

• ACCOMPLISHED!

P2P ACCOUNTS:

4.  Have a combined $20,000 from both accounts.

• $9,388 - Prosper
• $9,378 - Lending Club
• Current total: $18,766 (93.8% of goal)

5.  Maintain an average interest rate of 6.0% or higher (combined).

• AVG return from notes is currently: 5.78% (.22% more to go)

BLOG:

6.  Write at least 84 posts (7 posts / month).

• Currently total: 61 posts (72% of goal)

7  Reach 150,000 total hits by end of the year.

• Current total: 102,239 total hits (68.1% of goal)

8.  Increase stock analyses collection to 800+.

• Current total: 755 stock analyses in our collection (94% of goal)

9. Cash out my first $100 from Google AdSense.

• Currently total: $84.64 (84% of goal)

FINANCIAL MILESTONES:

10.  Increase value of retirement accounts to $425,000.

• Current total: $403,419 (94.9% of goal) 

11.  Increase Net Worth to $650,000 (excluding home equity).

• Current total: $645,240 (99.2% of goal)

12. Reduce mortgage balance to $312,000.

• Current Balance: $324,622 ($12,622 to reach goal).

2015 Goals - A Frugal Family's Journey

New year means a fresh list of NEW goals!!

 

This past year was a pretty good year for our family.  Although our net worth did not grow as much as it had the previous two years, it still felt like we accomplished quite a bit. Albeit smaller steps, we still took few steps towards our ultimate goal of Financial Independence. 

 

Since we didn't start blogging until March of 2014, we did have a list of goals generated last year (at least one that we publicly announced). Nevertheless, the items we considered to be significant accomplishments for us in 2014 were:

1. We finished selling all stocks that did not pay a dividend.
2. We now own stocks in over 30 companies that pay us a dividend.
3. We received more than $2,500 in dividends.
4. We have over $17,500 combined our P2P accounts.
5. Starting our blog on March 15, 2014.
6. Reached over 45,000 views on our blog.
7. Created 77 posts on our blog.
8. We were approved for Google AdSense in November.
9. We now have a twitter account.
10. Our mortgage balance has been reduced to $336,849.
11. I received a promotion in July of 2014 and more importantly, a roughly 5.5% raise.

We are looking forward to an even more productive 2015.  We hope to make significant strides in our dividend stock accounts, P2P accounts, blog, and other financial milestones. 

 

BELOW IS A LIST OF OUR 2015 GOALS

DIVIDEND STOCKS:

1.  Earn $3,000 in dividend income.

2.  Increase projected annual dividend income to $3,500.

3.  Increase number of holdings to 40 (stocks and/or ETFs).

 

P2P ACCOUNTS:

4.  Have a combined $20,000 from both accounts.

5.  Maintain an average interest rate of 6.0% or higher (combined).

 

BLOG:

6.  Write at least 84 posts (7 posts / month).

7  Reach 150,000 total hits by end of the year.

8.  Increase stock analyses collection to 800+.

9. Cash out my first $100 from Google AdSense.

 

FINANCIAL MILESTONES:

10.  Increase value of retirement accounts to $425,000.

11.  Increase Net Worth to $650,000 (excluding home equity).

12. Reduce mortgage balance to $312,000.

 

We have created a landing page for our 2015 goals and plan to provide quarterly updates.  Please feel free to follow along and see our progress!!

 

2015 GOALS PAGE