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.