2015 was not a great
year for my personal finance goals. Here’s
a quick rundown of my 2015 financial resolutions and how I plan to meet them in
2016.
1. Max out my IRA.
a. Accomplished. It’s the first thing I do every year so I
have money to invest with.
b. 2016: This is always my
first goal, so I’ll definitely accomplish this.
2. Save $X in my savings
account.
a. Accomplished. This is the second thing I do every year now
that I have a house, to cover large maintenance expenses.
b. 2016: This
will come second after my IRA, and I have no doubt I’ll accomplish this. I plan to buy a car in cash this year too, so
this near-term goal will be a primary objective.
3. Save at least $X every
paycheck.
a. Not accomplished. We had some large expenses this year, and we
basically took 3 vacations. We went back
home for two weeks, Vegas in December for two weddings, and my in-laws came to
my house for the holidays. I came close
though; just needed one more paycheck in the year.
b. 2016: I’ve
already implemented some routine deductions in expenses throughout the
year. This should help balance some of
the larger expenses like car and housing maintenance. I’m also going to try and publish blog posts
more frequently and build some side income.
4. Increase 2015 passive
income (dividend/interest/mutual fund distributions) by 50%.
a. Not accomplished. I waited too long in my investing career to
focus on passive income from investments—which explains the goal of trying to
reach a 50% increase. There were several
factors contributing to me not reaching my goal in 2015. The first was a reduction in end-of-year
mutual fund distributions. There weren’t
a lot of short- and long-term gains with the market dropping this year. Additionally, some of my dividend stocks
gained quickly and I sold the profit.
For example, WWE offered a 5% dividend when I bought it a low of $9, but
then it skyrocketed to $18—doubling my money, and I sold it.
b. 2016: I’m
going to put more money into mutual funds during large market drops. I will also put more money into large
dividend payers whose industry isn’t doing well like oil companies and Real Estate
Investment Trusts (REITs). I have a solid
chunk of money in bonds, so I’ll need to keep a close eye on the bond market
and make sure that I don’t take a huge capital loss by keeping my money in
those bond mutual funds just to get a passive income.
5. Net assets of $X on 31
Dec.
a. Not accomplished. I rarely reach my net asset goal, mainly
because the percentage increase is always higher than the market average. I’ve also never measured my progress monthly
or quarterly. I guess I just hoped I
would land on the arbitrary amount at the end of year. The main reason for not meeting my goals this
year was the massive loss I took trying to get quick money. I invested in some speculative, risky,
short-term investments and underestimated how quickly I could lose money.
b. 2016: I’ll
need to split the goal into monthly and quarterly goals and work harder if I’m
not meeting those goals. I won’t make
those same risky investments I tried in 2015 either.
I have a feeling that 2016
will be a great year for those prepared and ready to take advantage of it. What are your 2016 New Year’s goals?
