It’s been 23 months since we set a goal to pay off the mortgage (on our condo) and to have a net worth of at least $1M by 2020. This is the 23rd update on the progress of the goal. If you’re wondering why we set this goal, click here.
As I reflect on the past year, I’ve realized a few things.
- I set too many goals for 2017. I only accomplished 1 out of 7. I did improve in a lot of areas, but I think I need to focus on just one or two goals this year. I’ll have my goals for 2018 up shortly.
- I went from being able to 35 pushups to 62 pushups in 2 minutes.
- I went from being able to 55 situps to 76 situps in 2 minutes.
- I went from a 904 rating to a 1068 rating in table tennis.
- I read 12 books in 2017 by setting a goal to read 20 books.
- I went from a 24:22 to a 24:05 in my 5k time (not a huge improvement here).
- I didn’t run a marathon this year.
- I went from 158.0 lbs to 156.4 lbs (not much improvement here either).
- Periodically tracking a long term goal will make you more likely to achieve it. I’ve been tracking my mortgage goal and net worth goal for just under two years. By tracking progress monthly and having some sort of public accountability through this blog, I believe we’ve been able to make more progress than if we hadn’t been tracking. Try it out. If you want to track your net worth, I highly recommend Personal Capital.
- It’s ok to fail. When I first started this blog, I quoted Zig Ziglar and set my aim at a couple of financial goals. We’re still on track for the net worth goal, but we’re a few months behind on the mortgage goal. Even though we’re falling behind, I think we’ll eventually get there much faster because we set these goals.
“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” – Zig Ziglar
This month, I am co-coordinating Financial Peace University (FPU) at our church. If you live in northern Virginia, feel free to stop by and check it out.
I took FPU about 7 or 8 years ago, but I realized I’ve fallen off the path a little bit. One thing I want to do in these next few months is to fully fund our emergency fund with 3-6 months of expenses (about $15-20k). That means making minimum payments on the mortgages and reducing investments temporarily.
Net worth calculation:
Total Assets: $1,064,729.67
Condo (Rental property): $325,000
Primary residence: $515,000
Cash on hand: $8,073.73
Investments (including retirement): $216,655.94
Total Liabilities: $504,665.28
Mortgage on Condo (Rental property): $122,515.84
Mortgage on Primary Residence: $382,149.44
Net worth = $1,064,729.67 – $504,665.28 = $560,064.39
100% of our debt is mortgage debt at 3.25% interest; the condo is on a 7/1 ARM and our primary residence is on a 30-yr fixed.
Net worth progress:
Net worth = assets – liabilities, or everything we own minus everything we owe. I’m not including our cars here, which are both paid off, to keep the calculation a little simpler. I am including an estimate of home equity.
I am using my knowledge as a realtor to provide estimates of value for our real estate.
Our net worth increased this month by $3,983.45 to $560,064.39.
| Date | Home equity | Investments | Cash | Net Worth |
| 2/19/2016 | $140,695 | $149,076 | $21,813 | $311,584 |
| 3/19/2016 | $145,519 | $164,791 | $23,512 | $333,822 |
| 4/18/2016 | $150,007 | $171,697 | $17,457 | $339,161 |
| 5/17/2016 | $153,000 | $171,305 | $21,672 | $345,978 |
| 6/20/2016 | $160,100 | $174,881 | $23,094 | $358,075 |
| 7/19/2016 | $162,000 | $185,621 | $27,689 | $375,311 |
| 8/22/2016 | $163,000 | $192,479 | $24,437 | $379,916 |
| 9/20/2016 | $261,403 | $144,694 | $3,657 | $409,754 |
| 10/27/2016 | $261,806 | $151,425 | $5,735 | $418,966 |
| 11/21/2016 | $262,855 | $155,877 | $10,364 | $429,096 |
| 12/19/2016 | $264,290 | $162,281 | $11,432 | $438,004 |
| 1/19/2017 | $285,534 | $172,862 | $8,751 | $467,147 |
| 2/17/2017 | $286,865 | $178,666 | $12,980 | $478,511 |
| 3/17/2017 | $286,718 | $181,893 | $18,413 | $487,023 |
| 4/19/2017 | $290,196 | $184,580 | $16,472 | $491,247 |
| 5/15/2017 | $290,941 | $189,092 | $11,453 | $491,487 |
| 6/19/2017 | $293,950 | $187,627 | $21,135 | $502,712 |
| 7/17/2017 | $301,391 | $196,288 | $19,292 | $516,971 |
| 8/17/2017 | $312,523 | $195,913 | $21,981 | $530,417 |
| 9/19/2017 | $320,769 | $200,956 | $16,914 | $538,639 |
| 10/19/2017 | $326,848 | $204,144 | $10,283 | $541,275 |
| 11/20/2017 | $328,010 | $210,841 | $11,490 | $550,340 |
| 12/19/2017 | $334,171 | $213,215 | $8,695 | $556,081 |
| 1/18/2018 | $335,335 | $216,656 | $8,074 | $560,064 |
This month, we reduced the principal by $494 to $122.515.84.
| Date | Months left | Intermediate goal | Actual balance | Principal reduction |
| 2/19/2016 | 58 | $179,304 | $179,304 | – |
| 3/19/2016 | 57 | $176,700 | $174,481 | $4,823 |
| 4/18/2016 | 56 | $173,600 | $169,993 | $4,488 |
| 5/17/2016 | 55 | $170,500 | $167,000 | $2,993 |
| 6/20/2016 | 54 | $167,400 | $159,900 | $7,100 |
| 7/19/2016 | 53 | $164,300 | $158,000 | $1,900 |
| 8/22/2016 | 52 | $161,200 | $157,000 | $1,000 |
| 9/20/2016 | 51 | $158,100 | $156,597 | $403 |
| 10/27/2016 | 50 | $155,000 | $156,194 | $404 |
| 11/21/2016 | 49 | $151,900 | $155,789 | $405 |
| 12/19/2016 | 48 | $148,800 | $155,000 | $789 |
| 1/19/2017 | 47 | $145,700 | $154,000 | $1,000 |
| 2/17/2017 | 46 | $142,600 | $153,589 | $411 |
| 3/17/2017 | 45 | $139,500 | $152,178 | $1,411 |
| 4/19/2017 | 44 | $136,400 | $145,746 | $6,432 |
| 5/15/2017 | 43 | $133,300 | $143,909 | $1,837 |
| 6/19/2017 | 42 | $130,200 | $143,471 | $438 |
| 7/17/2017 | 41 | $127,100 | $142,472 | $999 |
| 8/21/2017 | 40 | $124,000 | $137,000 | $5,472 |
| 9/19/2017 | 39 | $120,900 | $129,416 | $7,584 |
| 10/19/2017 | 38 | $117,800 | $124,000 | $5,416 |
| 11/20/2017 | 37 | $114,700 | $123,504 | $496 |
| 12/19/2017 | 36 | $111,600 | $123,010 | $494 |
| 1/19/2018 | 35 | $108,500 | $122,516 | $494 |
Photo source: Pixabay