Mid Year Goals Update

Every month I post an update on my progress towards my goals for the month of interest. This post however will cover my over the course of the year so far. So, it will look at lot like my monthly updates but I will show my progress for each  month and follow up with some actions I need to take in order to get myself back on track.

GOALS

Financial

- Expense rate under 45% of my net income. Needs work.
Year to date: 57%

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
108%	35%	75%	51%	51%	38%

My year started off pretty bad with the purchase of airplane tickets to New Zealand. But I did have two good months, hopefully that will become more of a trend.





Actions: Track expenses as they happen. I usually go back at the end of the month to tally the damage which does not help me adjust to changes. 
- Establish an emergency fund with automatic deposits. Needs work.
Actions: Just do it. I have the cash right now I just need to open the account.


- Invest $2,500 per month. Needs work.
Below is the amount I invested each month this year:

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	YTD	Goal	Progress
4000	2203	2151	2482	200	200	11236	15000	75%

 I started off the year quite well but May and June were terrible as I have been holding cash for the possibility of buying a house later this year.
Actions: Continue my holding pattern  until I know what our plan is, the good thing about holding on to my cash right now is that I can invest it at anytime and get right back on track with this goal.
 
 

- Open a Loyal3 account and start automatic investing. Mostly Complete

I opened an account and starting automatic investing, however I don't want to mark this as complete yet, this month I would like to add to these investments.
Actions: 
   1) Double my monthly investments
   2) Find 4 more companies to invest in on Loyal3

- Pay for my vacations with overtime. On Track!
Below is the number of overtime hours I put in each month this year, and I am right on track an a little ahead of schedule.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	YTD	Goal	Progress
15	12	28	4	6	21	86	83	103%

 Actions: keep up the 4 hours/week.

- Establish one new source of income. Needs work.

No progress here yet.

Physical

- Complete the Tough Mudder. On Track

I am already signed up for this one, so it will be happening.

- Workout my legs 2x per week. Need a little work
Below is the grade I gave myself each month.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
B	B	C	F	A	A

The last two months have been pretty good as I have gotten used to including legs in my regular routine.
Actions: Keep up the recent trend, start marking the calendar on leg day to stay more organized with my tracking.

- Complete a sprint triathlon. On Track

My triathlon is this coming weekend and after a couple more swimming sessions I will be as ready as I can be for the race.

- Complete a 15K in 1 hour and 24 minutes (9 minute/mile). Needs work.

Actions: 
   1) Sign up for a 15K late summer/early fall.
   2) Start running on a treadmill one mile in 9 minutes before a workout.
   3) Research running apps that track your speed
   4) Start training with running app

- Reduce my percentage of body fat to 12%. Needs work.

I am actually not sure what my current percentage but right now I don't think I am doing very well.

Actions:
   1) Find out current body fat % (my gym has an electronic device that I can use to track, but I need to learn how to use it.
   2) Track body fat % on a monthly basis
   3) Track calories
   4) Go back on Whole30 (if needed)

- Track my calorie intake every day and review weekly. Needs work.

Below are the grades I gave myself each month. As you can see I started off well but things went down hill fast and have stayed down.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
A	A	F	F	B	D

Actions: Set a reminder on my phone each morning to track my food from the day before.

Personal

- Read 6 Books from my Reading List. C

Finally started one of the books on my reading list. But I'm going through it pretty slowly so I need to pick up the pace.
Actions: Start reading at other times besides just before bed. Go straight from one book to another without a break.

- Take an online class. Needs work

Honestly I do not see myself completing this goal. There just is not enough time and I do not have the motivation to go after it. 
Actions: Identify a specific class I would like to take.

- Average one blog post per week. On track

Below is the number of posts I made to my blog each month.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
4	4	3	4	5	3

My average is actually at 3.8 so I am close on this goal and I think a couple of good months of writing will let me make up for the bad.
Actions: Make a template for my monthly updates to speed up that process.

- Travel somewhere new. COMPLETE

- Try meditation. Needs work

I have no progress here.
Actions: Research meditation for beginners

- Try out one new hobby. Needs work

I think I am going to pursue mountain biking, but I need to figure how I can try it out instead of diving headfirst into it.

Actions: Research Seattle mountain biking groups, if nothing comes of that, I can take a mountain biking course from my local REI but that costs money that I would rather put down on a mountain bike if it turns out I do like it.

- Date night with my girlfriend at least once per month. On track

I think this one has been going well so far but it needs improvement in being specific about what the date is and when we are doing it, basically plan in advance.
Actions: Put the date on the calendar

Conclusion

I am definitely making some progress but I am still behind on most of my goals. But I think I can turn things around with some renewed dedication and a strong plan.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

June Goals Update

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We went to my girlfriend's parents house launched some fireworks and had a barbeque so it was low key and great.

GOALS

Financial

Expense rate under 45% of my net income.  A+

My expense rate was 38% of my income, which is fantastic and I need some more months like this to reach my goal.
 
Establish an emergency fund and automatically deposit some money into it each month. C

Still no progress in this department yet, but I know have enough cash to set aside as emergency funds, just need to do it

Invest $2,500 per month. C

I invested just $200 this month with my Loyal3 purchases of Disney (DIS), Kellogg's (K), Unilever (UL), a Pepsico (PEP) being my only activity. So, not a good month at all.

 

Open a Loyal3 account and start a small amount of automatic investing. B+

In one sense this goal is complete, I opened an account and starting automatic investing, however I don't want to mark this as complete yet, in July I would like to add to these investments.

Pay for my vacations with overtime. A

I put in 21 hours of overtime this month. I also recalculated how many hours I needed to reach my goal which should ease things up.

Establish one new source of income. C

No update on this front yet.

Physical

Complete the Tough Mudder. C

I am already signed up for this one, so it will be happening.

Workout my legs 2x per week. A

I did not do a good job tracking this month but I feel like my leg workouts have become more regular now.

Complete a sprint triathlon. B

Started swimming to get ready for my triathlon in 2 weeks! I'm not worried about the running or biking, I always do those things, but swimming a half of a mile at once is something I'm working up to.

Run at a faster Pace: complete a 15K in 1 hour and 24 minutes (9 minute/mile). D

No progress here either.

Reduce my percentage of body fat to 12%. D

I am actually not sure what my current percentage is but it probably got better during the diet, unfortunately I have been off the diet so... 

Track my calorie intake every day and review weekly. D

We were doing the Whole30 this month and I thought it would be a lot less stress to only worry about eating the correct things instead of trying to also track my calories.

Personal

Read 6 Books from my Reading List. C

Finally started one of the books on my reading list.

Take an online class. D

Nothing here either.

Average one blog post per week. C

I posted just 3 articles in June, I was a day late on what would have been the 4th article.

Travel somewhere new. COMPLETE

We did it and it was great! We loved our time in New Zealand and I wish we had gone for longer.

Try meditation. C

I need to figure out a game plan for accomplishing this goal.

Try out one new hobby. C

I think I am going to pursue mountain biking, but I need to figure how I can try it out instead of diving headfirst into it.

Date night with my girlfriend at least once per month. A

Dinner and movie.

Conclusion

I am definitely making progress. But my financial goals need some tightening up if I am going to reach my goals, my expense rate and amount invested in particular.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

June Portfolio and Networth Update

Happy 4th of July!! Time for another update on my portfolio and networth. 

Buys/Sells:
Like May, June was a very boring month with no activity in this department. I didn't have a whole lot of time this month to do any research and I have decided to save up some cash for my emergency fund and there it a slight possibility of us looking to buy a house this year so I want to save up a little in case we do decide to go down that path.

FRIP
Scottrade offers a Flexible Reinvestment Plan, where dividends from qualifying companies can be used to purchase shares in any other qualifying companies without any commission. So I take advantage of this every month and I usually use it to build up my positions in companies where my positions are lagging.
This month my dividends were used to purchase 8 shares of Aqua America (WTR). I finally had a chance to update this last month and chose to start investing in a water utility company

Interested in trying Scottrade? Contact me to receive a code for 3 free trades!

Loyal3
My Loyal3 account is going strong, automatically invest $50 of shares in 4 companies: The Walt Disney Company (DIS), Kellogg's (K), Pepsico (PEP), and Unilever (UL). As of May my Loyal3 account stands:

Symbol	Shares	Total
DIS	2.363	$267
UL	5.7955	$250
PEP	2.6152	$245
K	3.9007	$244
	Total	$1,006

I think in July I will start adding to the companies I invest in with Loyal3.

Net Worth
Net worth will always be a secondary goal for me with generating passive income being my primary goal. But net worth is something I have started tracking. Given how much of my net worth is in stocks, my net worth will have a tendency to fluctuate frequently with the market but hopefully my net worth continue an overall upward trend over time.
Assets:

   - 401k:                   $86,231

   - Investments:        $74,565
   - Cash:                   $11,904

Liabilities

   - Student Loan 2:  $6,460

   - Car Loan:           $7,689

NETWORTH:       $158,571 up  3% from last month

Current Portfolio:

Symbol	Shares	Symbol	Shares
VHGEX	173.82	JNJ	17
VWIGX	177.917	KIM	77
VTRIX	110.62	KMI	104
AFL	48	KO	36
BBY	1	MAT	59
BNS	36	MRK	43
CIM	13	NOV	79
CVX	15	OHI	65
DLR	74	SNE	10
GE	86	SPY	10
HCP	56	T	103
HP	34	TGT	31
INTC	94	VZ	30
IYY	20	WFC	48
XOM	15	WTR	23

Well nothing exciting happening to my portfolio this month. I am holding on to cash becomes I am uncertain what I want to do with it, it is possible that within a couple of months we could be looking to buy a house..

How about you? Any good purchases in June?

Photo Credit: freedigitalphotos.net