Goals: The Old and The New

Bill Copeland once said, “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” Goals are important. If we have an aim in life, we can take the necessary steps to work towards it. In fact, I’m reminded of another famous quote by Lewis Carroll that says “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” In 2018, I set both personal and financial goals for the year. In this post, I will review those goals to see if I achieved them or not. Finally, as with every new year, I will set new goals that will govern my actions for the year. Buckle up, and let’s dive in.

2018 Year In Review

In 2018, I had both financial and personal goals. Let’s see how I did.

FINANCIAL GOALS

The following were my financial goals:

• Earn $1000 in forward annual dividend income.
• Earn $800 in actual dividend income received.
• Contribute a minimum of $1010 to my portfolio every month.

Let’s see how I did for the year.

Earn $1000 In Forward Annual Dividend Income

I actually achieved this goal. By December 2018, and as referenced in my December Dividend Income Report for that month, my forward annual dividend income was $1282.03. I exceeded my goal by nearly $300. However, this turned out to be a very conservative goal, because I first achieved this goal in June as reflected in my June Dividend Income Report. I’ll make sure that my new goal for 2019 is a bit more challenging.

Earn $800 In Actual Dividend Income Received.

Once again, I achieved this goal and the proof can be found on my dividend tracker. At the end of December, I earned actual dividends totaling $949.99. I actually crossed the $800 mark in November and so I felt that this goal was definitely well set. I’m happy that I was able to achieve another goal I set out for myself. Success builds on success. Being able to achieve my goals provide motivation to create even higher goals for the future.

Contribute A Minimum Of $1010 To My Portfolio Every Month

Sad to say I did not achieve this goal. I was doing really well for much of the year, but then, in November, I decided to reduce the minimum contribution to my portfolio. So, not only did I NOT achieve my goal, but the stated purpose of me reducing my portfolio did NOT come to fruition either. I didn’t save the money like I had hope. Life happened (or at least that’s my excuse). So, the result is that I have a reduction to my contributions to my portfolio with nothing to show for it.

There is good news at the end of the day, but you just have to keep reading to find out what it is and why I am ABSOLUTELY excited for 2019!

PERSONAL GOALS

The following were my personal goals:

• Do not eat out every day.
• Work out 4 times per week.
• Drink alcohol only on the weekends.

Well, sufficed to say, I did not meet any of my personal goals for 2018. I practically ate out everyday, which is part of the reason why I’m broke all the time. I stopped working out regularly. Going to the gym has been a personal struggle of mine for years. Finally, I occasionally drink alcohol during the week.

I think my personal goals were pie in the sky type resolutions that were probably doom to fail from the start. I don’t plan on making any personal goals for 2019, but if I do, they will definitely be more realistic.

2019 Goals

I know this is what you were waiting for. So, here are my goals for 2019. The Goals page of my blog will be updated accordingly.

• Earn $2000 in forward annual dividend income – I think this is realistic. It seemed like I added around $500 to my forward annual dividend income in all of 2018. So, by setting the $2000 mark, I will have to add $700 to my forward annual dividend income. This is made even more difficult because I reduced the minimum contribution to my portfolio. Only time will tell if I can make it, but I am looking forward to the challenge.
• Earn $1500 in dividend income received – This is very aggressive and I may not achieve it. Indeed, even if I devoted 100% of my efforts to build up my portfolio, I might not still make this goal. But I’m going to try. As you will see with my next goal, I can’t strictly focus on building my dividend portfolio. I have a lot I want to accomplish in 2019 and there’s only so much money to go around.
• Contribute a minimum of $500 to pay off my mortgage early (starting March 2019)! – I will write about this in another post, but spoiler alert: I’ve decided to pay off my mortgage early on my rental property. Every year, I go back and forth as to whether it makes sense. And this year, even with everything I have going on, I’m going to make this happen. There are numerous reasons for this and for why I selected $500. But I figure that instead of trying to have a goal of a minimum contribution to my dividend portfolio, I would instead have one to pay off my mortgage early. In case you were wondering, THIS is what I was excited about. But, it gets better, as I will explain in future posts.
• Save $1500 per month for a downpayment on a house – This is absolutely challenging. Given my expensive lifestyle, among other things, it’s very hard for me to save $1500. In fact, I don’t think I was able to do that last year. This will probably make more sense in my next post, but right now I’ve elected to make this a goal. Actually, my initial thoughts were to save $2000 per month for a down payment and then I decided I wanted to also pay off my rental mortgage early. So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

Conclusion

There is so much to say, but I didn’t want to make this post too long. For future posts, you will see that, despite the fact I’m starting the year broke, I’ve managed to reduce SIGNIFICANT fixed expenses which will help me achieve my goals for 2019. I can’t wait to share them with you.

But, in conclusion, goals are important. Some people like to set resolutions, others don’t. I don’t judge either way. For me, it helps to write down my goals so I can see what they were and whether I am making progress towards my ultimate goal of financial independence.

What were your goals in 2018? Did you accomplish them? What are your goals for 2019? Let me know your thoughts on this post by commenting below.