Goal Progress: Update #34, December 2018 and Year End Totals

It’s been 34 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 34th update on the progress of the goal. If you’re wondering why we set this goal, click here.

Wow! December 2018 has been a crazy month so far in the stock market. Even with contributions, we are negative for the month. I took the opportunity to deploy some cash into index funds though. My top choice and #1 long-term recommendation is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX) or its ETF equivalent (VTI).

I’ve been working on my 1,000 lb club goal and am making decent progress. I hit 385 lbs on deadlift and 325 lbs on squat, but my bench press is making the slowest progress at 205 lbs. My total is 915 lbs. Mathematically, I’m 91.5% there, but I feel like the last 85 lbs is going to be a lot tougher than the 350 lbs of progress I made over the past two months. It may take another 6 months, at least.

Financially, this year hasn’t been the best. Of the past 3 years, this year has seen the smallest increase in net worth. However, there are many things money can’t buy, and I’m perfectly happy with where we ended up. I enjoyed taking my family to Disney World this year. We spent a little over a week in Florida and made some great memories. It was nice spending some quality time with our son before our daughter was born at the end of May.

My daughter is a little over 6 months now. Although financially we’ve taken a hit, I don’t regret one bit the decision we made for my wife to quit her consulting job. We have our struggles, but she has been doing an awesome job raising our daughter (and our son).

Next year will bring about some major changes. I may discontinue the mortgage payoff goal on the condo as I have plans to sell it in the spring. Let me know if you know anyone interested in buying a 1,580 sq. ft, 2BR, 3BA condo in Fairfax. It’s a loft unit in walking distance from Fairfax Towne Center and Fairfax Corner. I’ll probably list for around $330-340k.

Also, I’ll be going back to school at UVA SCPS for the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) certificate program. I’ve been managing my mom’s retirement account and my wife’s, and I feel like getting this education would help in many ways. I’ll be learning about investments, insurance, retirement, income tax, estate planning, etc. I hope to pursue at least a part-time career in this field as well.

That’s enough for today.

Here are the 2018 year-end totals.

Net worth: $642,176.89 (Y/Y increase of $86,091.95)

Mortgage payoff: -$106,362.10 (paid principal down $16,648.35)

Here’s this month’s update:

Net worth calculation:

Total Assets: $1,120,736.40

Condo (Rental property): $330,000

Primary residence: $520,000

Cash on hand: $22,951.26

Investments (including retirement): $247,785.14

Total Liabilities: $478,559.51

Mortgage on Condo (Rental property): $106,362.10

Mortgage on Primary Residence: $372,197.41

Net worth = $1,120,736.40 – $478,559.51 = $642,176.89

100% of our debt is mortgage debt at 3.25% interest; the condo is on a 7/1 ARM (starts adjusting in 2022) and our primary residence is on a 30-yr fixed.

Net worth progress:

Tracking your net worth is a good way to assess your financial health and see how you’re doing each month. I use Personal Capital to help me track my net worth. I highly recommend it.

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 decreased by $652.22 to $642,176.89.

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
2/20/2018	$336,502	$218,847	$12,813	$568,162
3/20/2018	$337,672	$223,416	$16,135	$577,223
4/19/2018	$339,365	$229,208	$26,035	$594,608
5/16/2018	$346,063	$235,332	$22,790	$604,185
6/19/2018	$349,393	$247,582	$24,915	$621,889
7/19/2018	$355,604	$251,277	$25,325	$632,207
8/20/2018	$358,819	$248,135	$21,200	$628,155
9/19/2018	$366,555	$247,659	$17,269	$631,483
10/19/2018	$367,799	$249,039	$18,821	$635,660
11/19/2018	$370,187	$252,190	$20,452	$642,829
12/19/2018	$371,441	$247,785	$22,951	$642,177

Mortgage progress:

This month, we reduced the principal by $538 to $106,362.10.

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
2/19/2018	34	$105,400	$122,020	$496
3/20/2018	33	$102,300	$121,523	$497
4/19/2018	32	$99,200	$120,524	$999
5/16/2018	31	$96,100	$119,523	$1,001
6/19/2018	30	$93,000	$118,019	$1,504
7/19/2018	29	$89,900	$117,510	$508
8/20/2018	28	$86,800	$115,001	$2,510
9/19/2018	27	$83,700	$107,972	$7,029
10/19/2018	26	$80,600	$107,437	$535
11/19/2018	25	$77,500	$106,900	$537
12/19/2018	24	$74,400	$106,362	$538

1,000 lb club goal progress (squat, bench press, deadlift):

I started lifting regularly in October 2018. My goal is to join the 1,000 club (sum total of squat, bench press, deadlift) by the end of 2019. I use the StrongLifts 5×5 program and app and strongly recommend it. I’ll track my progress monthly here. These numbers are all 1RM (1 rep max).

Date	Squat (lbs)	Bench (lbs)	Deadlift (lbs)	Total (lbs)
October 2018	205	175	185	565
November 2018	265	195	315	775
December 2018	325	205	385	915

Photo source: Pixabay