2015 Goals Review
Welcome to the year 2016 everyone!
2015 is now officially over and a brand new year has begun. To be honest, I did not do as well as I expected to financially last year but I have high hopes that 2016 will be the year where everything will begin to change.
Here were the goals that I have set for myself for 2015:
2015 Financial Goals
When I started off the year 2015, I had two outstanding goals from 2014 that I did not accomplish. The first goal was to achieve a total asset worth of $40,000 and the second was to maximize my TFSA to $31,000.
The good news is that I have completed both these goals. If I was still working on these goals from 2 years ago, I would be way behind on my plan to one million dollars.
Anyhow, here are the goals that I’ve set for 2015:
- Total asset worth – $85,000
- Contribute the 2015 TFSA limit
- Maximize my RRSP account
- Portfolio total return – $10,000
- Pay off student loans
- Invest in a property
- Create a comprehensive business plan
- Read 12 books on personal finance (1 per month)
Total asset worth – $85,000 (FAILED)
If you had been following along on my monthly net-worth updates, you will already know that I did not meet my objective. On the latest (December 2015) update, I totalled up an asset worth of $53,653. This accounts for a 63% of my goal and I fall short of $31,347.
This means that I will have to step up my game in 2016 and start playing catch up. Even though this is not a good sign, I anticipate that my earning capacity will grow in an upward tangent as my skills will improve over time.
Contribute the 2015 TFSA limit (COMPLETED)
2015 was a big year for the TFSA as the annual contribution was increased to $10,000. Despite the fact that it will be cut back to $5,500 for 2016, I had taken advantage of this fully by maximizing out my TFSA to $41,000.
Maximize my RRSP account (IN MOTION)
Although I have not completed this goal yet, I have saved enough cash in my account to max out my RRSP by the 2015 deadline in March. My income is pretty high this year so I anticipate that the tax returns will be quite large as well. The plan is to use my returns toward maxing my TFSA for 2016.
Portfolio total return – $10,000 (FAILED)
Sadly, instead of achieving my goal, I am actually down $800 in my TFSA. Perhaps my goal for $10,000 was too aggressive for my skill level in 2015.
Thinking back, I was sort of in the experimenting and finding my own investing style phase. I will try again this year and I am more confident than ever that I will be able to achieve $10,000 this year.
Pay off student loan (IRRELEVENT)
Paying off my student loan is no longer a priority for me. I just believe that I could do so much more investing in my funds instead of paying off my loan. With that being said, I will continue to look into opportunities for re-financing my student loan to a lower interest rate.
Invest in a property (FAILED)
Unfortunately, I was not able to launch a property in 2015. I will push this goal into 2016 and make it a priority for completion.
At the present moment, I will be looking into investing in a condo at a very convenient location and renting it out. During the time spent searching for a tenant, I will move the property temporarily just to gain some independence and life experience as I currently still live with my parents.
Create a comprehensive business plan (FAILED)
Again, I have failed to achieve another 2015 goal that I had high hopes for.
However, the good news is that I do have a business idea to look forward to in the new year. I will be and have been already looking into creating a smartphone app. The idea here is generate profit and to create a steady flow of passive income.
Read 12 books in personal finance (FAILED)
I have read a few books this year in terms of personal finance but many of them were not as useful as I would like it to be. Apparently, researching which book to read is just as important as reading it. Anyhow, here were the books that I had read:
1.Phil Town’s Rule #1
2.Christopher Browne’s The Little Book of Value Investing
3.Brian Tracy’s Million Dollar Habits
4.Robert Kiyosaki’s Before You Quit Your Day Job
5.Tony Robbin’s Money: Master the Game
Make 2016 a Great Year!
It goes without saying that 2015 has been quite a disappointing year for me financially. If I am to achieve my goal of one million by 2020, I will need to step up my game big time.
Truth be told, now that I have a lot more free-time due to my move to part-time employment, I believe I will be able to make 2016 the great year that I need it to be.
I will be releasing my goals for 2016 in the near future.
Happy new year everyone!
