Did You Guys Meet Your Financial Goals For 2016?

[Singuy]

Year is coming to a close, did you guys meet your financial goals set for the year? What are your goals for next year?

I wrote in another thread stating that I did meet my goal. Saved about 40% despite some very expensive purchases such as my daughter's prepaid college tuition, a new(used) car, and got a pool built. Paid off the home equity loan I had on the house finally from selling of another property. Also tried out some obscure investment strategies such as lending club, peerstreet, and preferred stocks. My return from all of them combined is about 8.5%. Also I pass the 1 million nw mark(house included since it's paid off) early this year.

Hoping to hit a savings rate of 75-80% next year! Going to put more money into ETFs next year.

[snafu]

SG interested in your views on Core type ETF. I've been sitting in DIV & banks doing well and tell myself to take a leap of faith and add CORE but I haven't hit the 'buy' button. This is 'commodity' season and a strong market here until March or so. OK system if you're doing transaction with a free buy/sell provider

[Singuy]

SG interested in your views on Core type ETF. I've been sitting in DIV & banks doing well and tell myself to take a leap of faith and add CORE but I haven't hit the 'buy' button. This is 'commodity' season and a strong market here until March or so. OK system if you're doing transaction with a free buy/sell provider

Sorry I don't have much of an opinion on that. Still a novice when it comes to investing and my ETFs so far are just typical index funds but the ETF version since it's better for a taxable account.

[clatoden99]

The main thing is living below your means! Its purely mathematical but if you spend less than you earn, you will have surplus. You always need surplus. If you have no surplus you must either a) earn more or b) spend less.

[creditcardfree]

Yes we made our goals! Saved the planned amount to our ROTH IRAs, my husbands TSP, college investment and paid bills for college in full. We have taken on no new debt. We have had some big purchases ( Europe trip for my daughter, and two short vacations) and paid for those in full. I would have loved to have saved more, however with college bills, it is what it is.

[bigdaddybus]

I made most of my financial goals this year.
1. investments up 12.41%
2. spouse and I both got double digit raises
3. built a new family home, went 1.6% over budget with a lot of upgrades and work ourselves (lost 14 lbs too!)
4. paid off wife's car in 18 months

[feh]

We didn't have any goals to meet for 2016. Our approach every year is the same:

• live frugally
• save/invest whatever we don't spend

A little back-of-the-envelope math says we saved about 35-40% of our gross income.

[bjl584]

I continue to work toward a long term goal of financial independence.

2016 was good to me though. My investments are doing well, my debts continue to go down, and the house is slowly but surely coming together.

[rennigade]

The only thing I wanted to do different in 2016 was move more money to my index funds...which I did. Other than that it was business as usual. I guess I hit my 2016 financial goals.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yes I guess. DH got a job - main goal achieved. Our NW investments are down $100k from our high June 2015, but in 1 year without income with investment returns and savings from August so 5 months we are at the same level as 9/2015. I think it's been a good financial year for us. We saved about 60% of our income this year and we converted $60k to a Roth IRA today.

[thestrongprofessional]

2016 Financial Goals

I think I did pretty well this year. Here are some stats:

1) 100k net worth
2) Student Loans paid off!
3) 8 more months of car payments before its paid off (I've had the car for 11 months)

By the end of next year I plan to buy my first property, Achieve at least 30k in income from my side business and continue to grow my following on social media. Here's to a great 2017!

Raphael

[bennkar]

I didn't have a specific goal, just to do my best.

That said, I did look over the numbers. If I include contributions to my... 457 plan & Roth IRA & brokerage & pension, those total up to 50% of my gross pay at work. A 50% savings rate, not too shabby.

What I found more interesting.... if I took my gross pay, and backed out items I don't think I can get rid of or decrease (payroll taxes, property taxes, insurances {health/home/car}, child support) and then compare that number to my total savings from above, I saved over 80% of what was left for me . I really don't think I could do any better.

[tripods68]

We met our 2016 YTD goals plus more.

1.) bought a dream home
2.) retirement contributions $50k plus any market gain
3.) saved $19,132 in savings
4.) increased our taxable investment $50k
5.) sold home realized $100k+ in equity tax feee
6.) Fully fund 6 months of EF.
7.) Suprised my parents fully paid vacation Trip to Puerta Vallarta for their Anniversary in October.
8.) Bought 2016 Nissan All Cash. Got Awesome deal.
This was really unexpected. Old car needing repairs which we did.
9.) Acquired zero consumer debt.

Expected Goal Next Year 2017

1.) Focus in paying down extra mortgage principal $1300 a month (27.6k principal reduction for $2017)

2.) Save extra $10k in savings

3.) Continue to save towards retirement with employer contributions $50k include Roth contributions.

4.) Achieve Retirement balance $500k by the end of 2017.

[cypher1]

Simple answer: yes. My goal was to contribute 15% of gross income to retirement (10% for 401K, and max Roth IRA).

Also hit 100K balance with both 401Ks middle of this year. That's not counting roth iras or personal savings.

As for 2017 goals, continue with existing numbers, but build up short/mid term savings account from kitchen remodel. Also focus on researching more on index and mutual funds.