2014 Goals – August update of my 2014 goals

…and so the momentum train continues. After a 7.82% increase in my net worth in June, and a 18.1% increase in July, I expected August to again be strong due to the payment of my annual bonus. And, the good news is that…it was a strong month! Woo!

You can check out my original goals which I started in November 2013 here:

2014 New Year Goals & Resolutions

 

 

2014 Goals – August update

My month of August (and YTD) makes pleasant reading. Remember the “2014 total goal” is 14 months from November 2013 – December 2014:

 

YTD vs Total % shows my performance to date as a percentage of my total goal

YTD vs Target % shows my performance to date as a percentage of my expected performance upto July (pro-rata)

 

 

Year to Date progress

 Goal 1 – Increase net wealth by over 56% – PASS – 70.3% compared to 40.0% required

 Goal 2 – Positive net wealth growth 12/14 months – PASS – 9/10 months (+7.5% in July)

 Goal 3 – 60% net income saves 12/14 months – PASS – 9/10 months (86% in July)

 Goal 4 – Pay £7,000 £20,000 off mortgage capital – PASS – £18,430 compared to £14,286 required

 Goal 5 – Make £700 £400 profit from rental property – FAIL – £237 compared to £286 required

 Goal 6 – Fill 2014 stocks & shares ISA – COMPLETED – £15,000 compared to £15,000 full year requirement

 Goal 7 – Earn over £450 £900 £1200 in dividend income – PASS – £934 compared to £857 required

 Goal 8 – £700 profit from moneystepper – PASS – £949 compared to £500 required

 Goal 9 – Save £6,000 for wedding – COMPLETED – £6,000 saved compared to £6,000 full year requirement

 Goal 10 – Eat under 2,500 calories 365 times – FAIL – 247 days compared to 261 required

 Goal 11 – Visit 5 foreign countries – COMPLETED – 5 compared to 5 full year requirement

 

2014 Goals – Top Successes in July

I have now completed three full-year goals, so I guess each of these have to be my “top successes” for the month…

 

Goal 6 – My cash balance was helped by a good savings rate and my year-end bonus from my full time employment. Therefore, I have assigned £5k in the month towards my stocks & shares ISA which is now maxed out. However, I have not invested this all at once, preferring to dollar cost average a little given where the market currently sites.

 

Goal 8 – Equally, I have been able to finish off the saving requirement for our upcoming wedding. This will prove useful with wedding planning starting for real when we head back to the UK in a couple of weeks..

 

Goal 11 – Finally, we had our two week summer holiday. We managed to visit 6 different cities in two countries, stay in good hotels, eat well, drink well and be merry. Due to some effective use of hotel loyalty points, credit card rewards etc etc, this whole holiday across Europe only cost us £400 each in total. Not bad for over 1400 miles covered! One of the two countries was Spain (Bilbao & Barcelona) and hence this completes my goal to visit 5 foreign countries (not UK or France) in the year.

 

Goal 1 – I should also probably mention another stonking month in the net wealth journey. A 7.5% increase month-on-month means that my net wealth has now increased by 37% in the past three months. A lot of this is just based on timing, with the revaluation of our rental property and my bonus falling in consecutive months. August was also aided by a 4.9% increase in the markets. Given these increases, you may expect the net wealth to have increased further. However, I have assigned £1500 to the wedding savings in the month (effectively writing off the cost now) and £1200 for “stag do” savings to cover a few stag do’s that I have coming up (including my own!). Both of these effectively reduce my net worth today, but I wont take a hit in the future when I come to actual spend the money.

 

2014 goals – Top Failures in August

 

Goal 10 – Its still summer, which still means lots of rosé, ice-cream, steak on the balcony, etc etc. Add in a two week holiday, and there wasn’t much chance the calorie goal would be hit. Is there chance to save this goal? Well, as at the start of September, I need to complete 118 days under the calorie target. With 30 days in September and November, and 31 days in October and December, I technically have 122 days left. Therefore, its still do-able. However, only eating over 2500 calories once a month may be tricky, especially with Christmas on its way. I’m planning a lean, mean diet when I get home so we shall see how September and October fare before deciding on whether I need to hibernate over Christmas!

 

Goal 5 – The rental property goal is behind target. This is mainly due to £745 worth of legal expenses related to the lease extension hitting our P&L. This goal will probably be altered in September as our tenant is moving out of the property when we move back to the UK, so it makes sense for us to move back in ourselves for a couple of months whilst we are looking to purchase elsewhere. Over the year, with such a level of unexpected expenditure, a profit for the year can only be a good thing when it comes to the property. Given that it is leveraged with a mortgage, this means that my ROI on the property given house price increases in the year is still very healthy.

 

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