Mid-year update: Our Resolutions

Holy macaroni, does the time fly or what!? It feels like only few days ago I was putting together the list of our goals and resolutions for this year. And here we are, almost halfway through the year. Somebody asked me the other day – how am I doing on my goals and resolutions? Have I given up yet? Well, let’s take a look at the original goals:

 

1. Invest 30% of our income

HIT! This goal was smashed to pieces! For every single month starting from January to May we’ve put away 30% of our income towards investments for the future. It doesn’t include saving for future spending (new car or travel, etc.), it includes specifically saving money towards investments for our financial independence.

In fact, we’ve increased it to 33% (weird number but whatever works!) a few months ago after we realized we actually have some leftover money in our budget. Being debt free has an awesome effect of leaving more money in your pocket; money you can put towards your own goals, not your bank. Take that big banks!

BONUS HIT!: We’ve also increased our mortgage payment by 10%. While it wasn’t on my original list of goals and resolutions, this is something we’ve been doing every year for the last 3 years. Thankfully, our mortgage company doesn’t mind us doing it unlike some restrictive banks out there. This is the trick I’ve learned from one of my friends – by increasing your mortgage payment every year you’re speeding up the repayment process by years. And while having extra money for fun might have been nice, seeing our mortgage being repaid is fun too, trust me. Besides, we can always find something cheap for fun, fun doesn’t have to be expensive. Heck, when I was a kid I played with a stick for fun…and it was fun!

 

2. Update my blog on a weekly basis

CLOSE CALL!: In five months (January to May) I’ve made eighteen entries in my blog, so it works out roughly 3.6 times/month which is a bit below my goal. Now, this goal really doesn’t change anything in my world, but the whole point was to work out a bit of a habit for myself. And I’m almost there!

 

3. Lose 50 lbs. of weight

EPIC FAIL!: Well, I failed miserably in this department. But it’s not going anywhere from my list of goals and resolutions for this year!

I find it funny (and sad at the same time) that I have enormous discipline when it comes to finances and can fight over a single dollar in our budget just to hit our goals (sometimes it backfires on me), yet when it comes to simple things like going to a gym or cutting down on cheese these appear to me as incredibly hard things to conquer. Frustrating!

 

4. Read a new book every two weeks

HIT! While this goal doesn’t have anything to do with personal finance or investing, I’m proud that I’ve hit it. There are many ways to waste the time in this world, and reading books isn’t the worst of them. What can be better than acquiring new knowledge and being lightly entertained at the same time?

 

5. Cut down on unnecessary information intake

WORK IN PROGRESS! The reason why I put this on my list of goals and resolutions, was because I’ve noticed that sometimes I spend way too much on the Internet (and other ways too) reading up on something that is completely irrelevant to my life. I’d be listening to talk radio on the way to work discussing latest politics scandals. I would find myself reading news on subjects that have no connection to my life whatsoever.

 

Check out my detailed report on our goals and resolutions by visiting the full version of this story at http://moneyramblings.com/update-goals-and-resolutions-2014/

Also, let’s chat on twitter: http://twitter.com/MoneyRamblings

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.