At the beginning of the year I posted my 2017 goals and resolutions. Now that Q1 is in the books I thought I’d post a quick update of how I’m doing.

Financial Goals

Goal 1 – Increase net worth to $4M

We started the year at $3.36M. Going from $3.36 to $4M is an increase of $640k, or $160k/quarter. At the end of March we were at $3.55M, which is an increase of $190k.

In addition, as I recently noted, I just closed a very large deal at work. The resulting commission should be in the mid six figures (after tax). I should receive my commission check by the end of Q2 and that alone should put us over the $4M mark.

Result: On schedule

Goal 2 – Pay off second mortgage

Success on this goal depended entirely on closing the big deal at work. Once we receive the commission check we’ll immediately pay off the second mortgage. However, we don’t have the money yet, which means we are currently behind schedule on this goal.

Result: On schedule

Goal 3 – Generate passive income of >$60k

Our projected income based on the last 6 months of passive income is $55k. Getting to $60k means increasing our passive income by 9.1%. I expect about 5% of this to come from rent and dividend increases. That means I need to generate another $2,250 from new investments.

Assuming a 2.5% yield on new investments that only requires me to invest $90k this year. However, that $90k investment assumes an investment for the entire year. Since I don’t plan to receive my commission check until the end of Q2 I’d need to invest twice as much money to get $2,250 from just 6 months of investment. The result is that I need to invest $180k at the beginning of the Q3. Once we pay off the second mortgage (Goal 2) we should have enough remaining capital to meet this goal.

Result: On schedule

Goal 4 – Research another real estate investment

I’ve done absolutely nothing towards this goal.

Result: No progress

Physical Goals

Goal 5 – Deadlift 400 lbs

Goal 6 – Get body fat down to 10%

I have recently realized that goals 5 and 6 are somewhat mutually exclusive. In general, gaining size and strength requires gaining weight, and gaining weight almost always means gaining some fat and some muscle. And, conversely, losing weight almost always means losing some fat and some muscle. You obviously hope when you lose weight that it’s mostly fat, but there will just about always be some muscle loss as well.

All of this is to say – I’ve been making progress on goal 6 but I’ve gone the wrong way on goal 5. I’ve reduced my body fat by about 1.5 percentage points (from about 14.5% to 13%) but I’ve lost some strength in the meantime.

I’ve decided that goal 6 is most important than goal 5, so I’m going to continue my light dieting (just trying to eat a little less food, less carbs, and more meat and vegetables) until I’m down to around 10%. That might take much of the rest of the year. At that point I’ll start to up my calories a bit and see how much progress I can make towards my deadlift goal.

Result: No progress on Goal 6, On Schedule for Goal 6

Personal Goals

Goal 7 – Take and pass the CFP exam

I’ve been making good progress on this goal. At the end of March I finished the final class in my Certified Financial Planning program. I’ve taken a few weeks off and now it’s time to start studying for the exam. It’s given 3x/year – during March, July, and November. I’ve signed up for the July test window, which runs from July 11-18. I’ve also signed up for a 4-day test prep/review class at the end of June and ordered all of the study materials. I’ll start the 12-week study plan next week. All of the test advice I’ve seen says to plan on 20-30 hours/week of studying, with the goal of 250-300 total hours of study time.

Result: On schedule

Goal 8 – Close largest deal in company history

As I alluded to above, this deal is already half done. Without going too much into the details, what used to be a single large deal will now be two smaller deals. However, when combined, they will, in total, be the largest deal in company history.

Once I’ve closed the second deal I should the money to fund goals 1, 2, and 3 above

Result – On schedule

Conclusion

So far, so good. I am on schedule for 6 of the 8 goals. One of the goals (deadlifting 400 lbs) seems like it will be tough to achieve by the end of the year. The other goal I’ve made no progress on will be easy to check off the list later in the year (after I’ve closed my big deal at work and finished studying for and taken the CFP exam).

I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll have 7 of the 8 items checked off my list by the end of 2017.

 

Questions for you

What goals and resolutions have you made for 2017? Do you make financial resolutions? Personal? Is there a category or type of resolution that I haven’t thought of?

How’s your progress been on your goals?