2008 Roundup

I wanted to provide my results to all my goals for the year. Even though they were not clearly dictated like next year, I'm going to gather several ramblings and provide an update.

• I am on milestone number two which is getting down to 185lbs by May 2008. It's currently March 2008 and I weight a little under 195 lbs.

I didn't gain weight this year but didn't lose any. I'm currently at 201 even after the holiday eating. My motivation for working out declined after I injured myself in March and took 2 months off. 2009 I'm getting back on the horse and sticking to running 3-4 times a week, and lifting twice a week.

Eliminate debt:

• Best Buy Card($1,200)
• Litman's Jewlers Card($1,500)
• Fine($2250)
• Car Loan($13,744)
• Student Loan($9,802)

I think I did really well this year in debt elimination:

• Best Buy Card-PAID
• Litman's Jewlers Card-PAID
• Fine-PAID
• Car Loan($8281 remaining)
• Student Loan($9365 remaining)

If you compare the amount of debt I eliminate with also the amount of money I saved, my networth went from: -$17,896 to $7,684. That means that I have adjusted my networth by $25,580 this year. I would say I did a good job this year. I got a raise this year and put a majority of it to my 401k contributions. I raised it from 5 to 15%. If the economy wasn't so bad those numbers would be through the roof, but i still did well in tough times.

• So I have already read 3 books and am almost done with my 4th so I decided to set this goal to now 12 books in 2008, 1 book a month.

I destroyed this goal. I am currently at 29 and probably will finish #30 before the end of the year. I never really read many books growing up. I got in 2 kicks where I read more than 3 books but never like this. I think the reason for this was I aquired a DVR. I watch tv shows when I want so it doesn't take up my evenings and I read in the later hours of the night. I also only watch tv i record unless it is a sporting event and sometimes a program here or there, but not like I would do before. Also, when Ali moved in we removed the TV from the bedroom so that eliminated late night channel surfing replaced with reading.

I think I would rate this a pretty good year. I achieved mostly all my goals and along with that I've educated myself more about personal finance. I have become used to a budget and working towards debt elimination. I also am enjoying my free time by reading more, but also working out, and doing many other things. I see no reason why I should fall off track for 2009.

2009 Financial Goals

I have been reading several blog posts about 2009 financial goals so I thought I'd put mine here and refer and update as the year progresses.

• Pay off my car loan by end of the year
• Save $14,500 for my portion of a house downpayment
• Continue educating myself about investing, finance management, etc
• Educate myself about real estate and decide to purchase end of 2009 or wait until 2010
• Devise how to combine bank accounts with Ali
• Increase income by adding a secondary job(web design, computer repair)
  
• Continue to not rely on credit for purchases
• optimize my budget to reduce spending even greater
• Increase 401k contributions?(perhaps)

I will either comment on this post or update as I complete these tasks. Along with a car loan, I have a student loan. I've been paying the minimum for 4 years now and I need to decide how much more I should contribute to this to get it paid off faster. I could also see a possible new debt of being a mortgage but that is it.

UPDATE: I forgot to include other goals for 2009.

• Lose 16 lbs to get to 185. I gained some lbs over the past few months and I want to get to that weight for wedding
• Continue reading books, 1-2 a month(loose range of 12-24)
• Run the Baltimore Half-Marathon, i've been saying this for 2 years and last year i injured myself. I want to say run a marathon but this is a goal that is up in the air. but we'll say half for now
  

It's Raining in Baltimore

It is close to mid December and it is...raining. It was as high as 60 degrees. I don't know what to expect when I'm in my 60s, it may be sunny and 80 degrees here. Anyways, a few weeks ago our nation finally declared that we are in a recession, I feel like breaking into the SNL bit of "Really?." I understand our nation declaring recessions are usually several months/years behind because they have to await statistics before declaring it. So now that it's official, what now? I plan on staying my course, eliminating debt and accumulating savings as I go. Ali and I had a discussion this week about combining savings so the money that was owed to me will now be a moot point. We have a goal, save $20,000 for a down payment. I expect I should be seeing a large sum of money for a bonus at work. I was not able to save money this past month because I had to drop $540 on new tires for my car, but it was well worth the money. I was doing research about auto insurance, and passed on my emergency fund, I increased my deductibles and restructured some other coverage and was able to cut my 6 month policy, equaling about a $30 savings a month.

As I may have said in previous posts, my net worth is now out of the red. I plan on building upon that, not as fast as I should because of my 401k. As many people in our country, I am anxious to get Obama in office and let him start putting his policies to work. I just finished reading Your Money or Your Life, I recommend it to anyone interested in personal finance. I don't agree with everything in the book but it makes you think about how you value your money based on how you make it. A lot of the 9 steps in the book I've been slowing implementing and plan on going forward with a majority of those. I actually enjoy my work for the most part so in the immediate future I do not forsee leaving it to enjoy my life free of relying on a paid employment. Two things I do enjoy using my money for are live music and traveling. I admit I would love to have the financial freedom to travel all the time but at the same time while traveling I hit a point where I want to return to my normal life, working and enjoying my nights and weekends. I think my ultimate goal would be either freelancing, or owning my own modest IT business. I don't want to be the richest man in the world, I just want to live comfortably. I think once I eliminate my debt, I will take on a new debt of a mortgage but a mortgage in which I can afford comfortably.

I'm still unsure as to where I want to settle down for the rest of my life. I'm happy with Baltimore, but I love the pacific northwest and Barcelona. I would love to pick up and move to Barcelona for a few years but the risk is leaving everything I enjoy in the states like family and friends. Granted I could make a new life with new friends but it would only be temporary. I'm also interested to see where our country is headed into 2009 and more importantly 2010. I'm happy about being more educated about finances and the housing market. By the time we decide to purchase a home, I think the market values of homes will be about where it needs to be and not where it was in the past few years. A lot of unknowns and I will constantly be learning but such is life.