Evaluating the 2007 Goals
Well with one month left in the year I think I can say with utter certainty that I will reach none of my financial goals that I set out to achieve in March. As of right now I am 43% of the way towards my goal of paying down $5,000 in credit card debt; I am 20% of the way to saving a $2,000 emergency fund; and I am still 100% of the way from saving $3,000 towards my 401K.
Why will I not even reach one of my goals? Well, simply put....$hit happens!
- When I drafted those goals last March most of my circumstances were different. I had a roommate that I was splitting rent and utilities with. At the time the plan was to live together with him, ma boo, and his wife in a larger yet more cost effective apartment. I am currently footing the bill for an apartment on my own as well as all utilities. Things change.
- They were aggressive stretch goals to begin with. These goals would have required me to really hone in on my spending and trim alot of unnecessary spending.
- The annual raise wasn't as high as I was expecting. I was expecting 10% and got only 8.5%. While only amounting to couple thousand dollars, this still helps!
- I failed to regularly review my progress towards the yearly goals. Also once the underlying assumptions changed, I failed to update my assumptions and expectations.
I have a few goals in store for next year that are even more aggressive than those I had for 2007. Will I hit them? Who knows but I promise I will learn alot in the meantime.
Tune in next time - same time, same station!
Cheers,
TMac
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2 comments:
How do you plan on managing your spending during these tough holiday times?
Maybe you need to re assess the goals and get more realistic targets. It's better to set a lesser target and achieve it, as opposed to setting unrealistic ones and not succeeding with any of them. Which is never going to leave you feeling good about yourself.
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