January 2015 Update

Net Worth Standing for January 1, 2015:


Assets: $1,021,238.46 - Liabilities: $85,565.18 = Net worth: $935,673.28


Net Change = decrease of $203.21

Welcome to a new year.  We are starting off with just a slight decrease for the start of the year, as every January 1st, I recalculate the value of our non-liquid assets (like our cars, house and boat). However, the change was pretty insignificant with the regards to how the markets did at the end of the year.

We start 2015 living on just one income, and still continue to save as much money as possible.  Mr. Breeze is starting to finally get the idea that he is "retired", but it doesn't come easily to him.  He knows I am looking forward to joining him in the next year or two.

Looking at our 2014 overall spending, it wasn't too far from what I had expected. Our mortgage was our largest expense (with the exception of paying off the Chapter 13 debt).  After that was Baby Breeze's daycare, and then Wal-mart.  Our neighborhood Grocery store and Gas station round out the top 5.  Seriously I think I need to avoid Wal-mart more this year, as we spent $7,000 there last year . . . and while a lot of that was groceries and diapers, I know I tend to buy more than what we need when I go there.  So the plan this year is to spend more at the grocery store and see if that lowers our overall spending.

So we have posted our goals for 2015, and we are off to a good start.

Annual Financial Goals for 2015

Since 2014 was such a success for us, we are going to set our goals for 2015.  We ultimately want to retire early and spend more time with Baby Breeze.  Mr. Breeze is not working this year, so our strategy will change somewhat, a few days ago we posted our overall goals, and now we have broken down our Financial Goal in more details.

Here is our plan for 2015:

Goal: Increase Net Worth by $100,000+ [through debt reduction, increased savings, and lowered spending]

The Plan:

Pay off debt
Since all we have left on debt is our mortgage, our goal is to pay this down by adding extra each month to the principal.

Mortgage:

January 1, 2015 Balance = $87,572.39

December 31, 2015 Balance = $63,191.95

Total Debt Reduced: $24,380.44

Increase Retirement Accounts

This one is a little harder as a part of it will depend on market conditions.  This year we are adding a 457b and 403b to our Retirement accounts.  Now that we have paid off the Chapter 13, Mrs. Breeze is taking advantage of these accounts.  We are fully funding the 457b, as it does not require the 59 1/2 age retirement which will be important to us early retirees, and I am added $20 a month to the 403b to take advantage of a 4% guaranteed return they are offering:

Retirement Accounts:
[Mrs. Breeze 401k Rollover IRA, Roth IRA, Pension, NEW 457b, NEW 403b; Mr. Breeze 401k Rollover IRA, Roth IRA, Pension]:

Funds added during 2015: 0+5500+10500+17500+240+0+5500+0 = $39,240

Estimated market increase [approx. 6% of current value]: = $17,040

Vanguard and Betterment Taxable Accounts:

Estimated market increase [approx. 6% of current value]: = $18,440
Total Retirement Funds Increased: $74,720

Reduce Spending and Add to Savings
Savings [Checking, Savings, CD's, Cash], goal is to reduce our monthly spending in order to live on Mrs. Breeze's income.  We may not be able to save much, but we shouldn't have to pull anything out of our savings either.  Goal: $1,000

Total Net Worth Increase in 2015: $100,100.00 and reach $1,000,000 Net Worth status

Not so different from last year, but in 2015 we are going to increase our net worth by the same amount and on just one income.  Once again we have made this easy on ourselves.   Our debt payments are automatic, our retirement funds are automatic.  Really all we have to work on is reducing the spending and saving $1000.  [Ok, not super easy, but certainly a lot easier that trying to come up with $100,000].

Have you set your financial goals for 2015?

2014 Annual Goals - Review

Okay, it is time to review our goals from 2014 and set our goals for 2015.  My motivation was to spend more time with Baby Breeze, and I feel like every decision I am making is becoming more ingrained with meeting that objective. So here we go . . . 2014 Goals Reviewed:

Goal: Increase Net Worth by $100,000+ [through debt reduction, increased savings, and lowered spending]

Result:  WE EXCEED OUR GOAL

How did we do it:

Pay off debt
Chapter 13 - we paid off the $63,000 we owed, reducing our debt, but also reducing our assets. This was more than we planned, but we made paying off this debt a priority both for financial and emotional benefits.

Mortgage: Paid extra on mortgage - reduced balance by: $5,845

Increase Retirement Accounts

Retirement Accounts: Added $39,000 to Retirement Accounts. Plus the markets really helped growing our savings, for a total increase in Retirement Accounts of: $96,000
(this was more than the $51,000 we have estimated)


Reduce Spending and Add to Savings
We managed to continue to lower our spending, and stayed away from a number of large expenses and wants.  We also received a large inheritance in the amount of $350,000 but I am not including that as it was not part of our goal.

Total Net Worth Increase in 2014: $125,870

We exceeded our 2014 goals by $25,870. The stock market provided a great return so that helped.  If we add in the inheritance we have doubled our net worth from last year.  Having goals definitely helped in the decision making, and reading others blogs on how they are doing kept us motivated.  We truly enjoyed reading about those that have already hit the early retirement stage, and we hope to join them soon [thanks Mr. Money Mustache; Root of Good, and Pretired for keeping us motivated and dreaming of the future].

Now we are off to set our goals for 2015!  Join us in the quest for early retirement.