As we bid adieu to 2006, it is time to take a look at how we performed against the goals we set for ourselves. I strongly encourage you to write down your financial goals; it is a great motivator to help you succeed.
- Fully Funded our Retirement Plans: I have to admit that it was a bit easier this year because my spouse’s earned income in 2005 was much lower than normal.
- Paid Down Consumer Debt: We fully paid down our auto loan and now have no consumer debt. Of course, we continue to pay off our credit cards in full every month.
- Reduce Mortgage Debt: We made a few extra pre-payments on our mortgage using extra cash we were not counting on such as bonuses and profits from selling ESPP shares.
- Invest Wisely: According to MS Money, our combined portfolios gained 9.5% over the year, compared to a 14% gain for the TSX and a 14% gain for the S&P 500 in C$ and a 14.6% gain for the Sleepy Portfolio. We continued our progress towards becoming mostly indexed in our retirement portfolios.
- Contribute to RESPs: We continued to contribute to RESPs and collect the Canada Education Savings Grant for our boys.
- Increase Net Worth by 15%: We blew past this goal posting a 28% increase in our net worth. Going forward, I am going to discontinue setting this goal because our net worth increases are now mostly driven by market returns and to a much lesser extent by our personal savings.
- Spend Less than We Earn: Our expenses for the year increased compared to the last due to a variety of personal reasons, but we still spend less than we earn.
Our financial goals for 2007 are largely the same as last year though my first priority is getting our wills done.
Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!
