On the last day of December 2007, I wrote up a list of personal finance goals for 2008.  Since we’re officially halfway through the year, it’s time to see what kind of progress I’m making on those goals.

  1. Pay off all my credit cards before the end of 2008.  Well, halfway.  I paid off my Best Buy card, and my Furniture Row Card.  However, I did purchase my new washing machine on my Best Buy card, to take advantage of the 0% interest period.  I will have it paid off within a few months though - definitely before the year is up.
  2. Stick to my budget religiously - Fail. I’ve overshot my budget in nearly every category consistently.  I need to go back to monthly budget meetings with my wife, so we can track our progress better.
  3. Earn $25,000 outside my day job.  Stretch goal - $30,000.  Year to date, I’m showing a business profit of $11,000.  That works out to an estimated $22,000 for the year.  A big jump from last year, but not enough.  I’ll have to work harder.
  4. Open a Zecco account and invest $2,500.  Stretch goal - $5,000.  Pass.  I have invested $3k so far, and may increase this as the year goes on.
  5. Max out at least one Roth IRA.  Stretch goal - max out both.    Fail miserably.  I don’t even want to add up how little I’ve put in my Roth IRA’s this year.  It’s quite embarassing though.  Maybe $600 total for the year?  Needs improvement for sure.
  6. Consolidate my credit cards.  Semi-fail.  I’ve closed 2 accounts.  30 or so more to go.
  7. Increase my savings account to $10,000.  Stretch goal - $15,000.  On track.  After tax liabilities, my savings is sitting at $9100.  I’ll have well over $10k here before the year is up.  And that doesn’t count the $4k+ in precious metals that I have  So really my savings is over $13k.
  8. Don’t buy any new cars.   Pass.  Just six more months this year to resist……
  9. Increase my Net Worth to $45,000.  Stretch goal - $60,000.  On track.  My net worth just passed $40k, and the year is only half gone.  Since I started the year at $16612, I’ve increased my net worth by $23812 so far this year.  If I can manage another $23k, I’ll finish up at $63k.  That’ll be tough, since I won’t see another tax return this year.  The main goal will be cake, but I want to hit the stretch.

Overall?  Not great, but not awful.  I have exceeded several goals, and failed on several others.  I’m on track with the remainder.  Six more months to see how everything pans out.

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