Review, Revise, and Revitalize 2007 Goals for 2008

As many of you know, I started this blog on July 15, 2007. During this time, I shared several goals with you, and there are some that I haven’t shared (at least until now). In this post, I will review my goals, make some revisions, and set up new milestones for 2008. By the way, I believe it’s essential to review and revise goals each year (and may be more often) to keep it fresh and challenging.

1. My Goals for Moolanomy

Why did I start Moolanomy?

1. To improve my money management skill – I knew enough about money management to realize that I didn’t know that much. I figured blogging about money would help me improve this skill, and allow me to reach my financial goals faster. So far, I have been amazed at how much I learned in the past few months.
2. To write better — With English as a second language, and New York City public schools as my foundation, I knew my writing skill was far from perfect. I recognized that writing and the ability to communicate effective are essential skills, and I thought blogging would be a great way to improve them.
3. To build alternative income — When my wife got pregnant, I knew we were going to lose her income temporarily, incur some added expenses, and we would have to start saving for our son’s college education. I knew blogging could be a viable alternative income stream. So, I decided to blog for money. Another nice thing about personal finance blogging is that it opened me up to other income streams, and money savings opportunities — for instance, lending out money on Prosper, saving money with Ebates and PriceProtectr, selling Amazon books, etc.

Note: Prosper is currently offering a $25 sign-up bonus for new lenders and Ebates is offering $5 to each new user.

When I started, these were my goals:

• Subscribers – I wanted to have 100 subscribers by the end of 2007. I thought it was a reasonable goal when I started in July. I reached that mark on September 11th. So, I gave myself a new target at 500 subscribers, and I am happy to say that I exceeded that too. Looking forward, my goal is to have 1,000 subscribers by April 1, 2008. Thank you to those who subscribed to my feed.
• Page Views – My second goal was to average 15,000 page views a month by the end of 2007. Based on my Site Meter stat, I met and exceeded that goal. My 2008 goal is to reach 45,000 page views per month by April 1, 2008. Thank you to my readers and blogging friends.
• Alternative Income – As mentioned before, I started this blog to help me defray some expenses and replace lost income. My goal was to earn $5,000 per year from blogging, so that I can fund my son’s 529 plan with it. I am happy to say that I am keeping pace with this goal. I am keeping this goal the same for 2008.

2. $1 Million By 2017 Goal

This was the first financial goal I shared with you, the plan was to contribute $20,000 per year for the next 10 years and grow $250,000 into $1 million. I planned to have $250,000 by the end of 2007; unfortunately, I fell short. However, I feel that the original plan is still realistic. As you can see from the chart below, I only contributed $19,500 and accumulated $239,898 in net investable assets.

• Contribution Goal – Actually, the contribution this year was supposed to be $23,500 — maximum $15,500 for 401k and $8,000 for two Roth IRA accounts. However, I am holding off on my remaining IRA contributions until early 2008. I am doing this for tax reason. By waiting until 2008, I can still make 2007 Roth IRA contributions and don’t have to pay capital gains taxes until 2009. This year, I want to see if I could automatically contribute to our IRA accounts monthly so that I wouldn’t have to scramble for a big chunk of money. By the way, 2008 limit is $5,0000 per person.
• Net Investable Assets – My plan was based on a 10% CAGR, but the 2007 S&P 500 performance was only up +3.53% this year (+5.24% with dividend) — so, I fell a bit short. However, this doesn’t concern me, and I feel that an average 10% gain over a decade is achievable.

So, I am going to keep the original goal for 2008: contribution $20,000 and grow net investable assets to $297,000.

3. $250,000 by 2024

This goal was set up in a similar manner as the one above. The plan was to contribute $5,000 per year, and accumulate $250,000 by 2024. This money was set up in the New York’s 529 college savings plan. As you can see from the chart below, I contributed $7,375 and accumulated $7,461 so far — $86 gains, not bad for a brand new account.

Again, I will stick to the plan: contribute $5,000 and grow the account to $11,000.

If you have some goals established in 2007, now is a great time to review how you did, reevaluate and revise them as needed (e.g., make sure they are still relevant, challenging, realistic, etc.), and revitalize them for 2008.

Other bloggers who reviewed their goals recently:

• 2008 Financial Goals - The Complete List @ Single Guy Money
• 2008 Blog Goals for Cash Money Life @ Cash Money Life
• 10 Goals for 2008 @ Gather Little By Little
• A Look Ahead: Goals for the New Year @ Being Frugal
• Flexo’s Financial Goals and Resolutions for 2008 @ Consumerism Commentary
• Setting Financial Goals for 2008 @ Five Cent Nickel
• My Least Audacious Goals for 2008 @ Father sez…
• Thanks for 2007 and goals for 2008 @ Mighty Bargain Hunter
• Making Financial New Year’s Resolutions @ Alpha Consumer

This article was featured in:

• The Carnival of Financial Goals #2 - A Walk With Sam hosted by Being Frugal. For more information please visit the Carnival of Financial Goals.