First Quarter Goals Review of 2019

 

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing great today. Today I am going to review my goals for 2019 and share with you my progress through the first quarter of 2019. I think these reviews are important as it allows us to see our progress, if we are struggling in a certain area maybe we can find ways to overcome those struggles. This year I created goals in three categories savings, investing & health. At this time in my life I believe these are the most important categories for me.

Let’s get to it shall we!

Savings

Have $15,000 in a high interest savings account by the end of the year.

I am going to amend this goal slightly, I’m still going to try for $15,000 in savings by the end of the year but instead of one account it will be held in two. In early April I opened an account with EQ Bank an online bank in Canada, they are currently offering an interest rate of 2.3% the highest that I could find in Canada. At the end of March my savings reached $5,000 so I am a third of the way there.

Become Debt Free

I came into 2019 owing $10,054. I owed my parents $5,000 from a loan they gave me last year and I had $5,054 left on my car loan. At the end of March my debt now stands at $7,771.34 which means I’ve paid off $2,282.66. The interest rate on my car loan is just 0.74% so I haven’t made any extra payments on it. I’ve been setting some money aside in a car fund so the current plan is to see what my balance is at the end of the year and then pay off the car.

Stop Having A One Tracked Mind

In the past I had a tendency to have a one tracked mind for example if I wanted to pay off a loan I would focus all of my money towards that until it was completely paid off by doing this I was completely ignoring my savings and investing. I don’t believe this approach is healthy for my finances and I wanted to change that.

So far through the first three months things have worked out well, on the weeks where I receive my main pay cheques (I get paid every week) I make sure some of the money goes to savings, investing and debt.

Get A Travel Rewards Credit Card

At the beginning of the year I thought it would be good to get a travel rewards credit card because at some point in the future I would probably want to travel, but now I’m not so sure. I say this because in February I signed up for the PC Financial Mastercard it’s not a travel rewards card but you do earn points that you can redeem for groceries and this seemed like the better option for me at this time.

Health

Lose 25 Pounds

Well so far I haven’t lost any weight which isn’t bad news, on the other hand I haven’t gained any either which is really good news. My plan is to continue to watch what I eat and try to stay active.

Walk At Least 70,000 Steps Per Week

With this goal I kind of underestimated how many steps I do per week. Why do I say this? I say it because I am averaging 145,000 steps per week. A shockingly high number, thanks to waking on a treadmill for an hour a day and working in a school I get plenty of steps in per day. I think it’s safe to say this goal is going to be achieved.

Investing

Receive $8,000 In Dividends

So far I have received $1,772.91 I am slightly off my goal so far as I would need $2,000 every quarter in order to reach my goal. I am however still very happy with what I have received so far as it is an increase of over $500 from what I received in 2018 in the first quarter.

Invest $15,000 In My TFSA

As of April 1st I had invested only $1,739.28 into this account. I continue to make regular contributions but I may start making larger contributions later in the year if I can reach my savings goals.

Diversify Stock Holdings 

So far this year I have bought two stocks to help in this area. Going into 2019 I was and still am weak in the Industrials and Health sectors. In order to correct this I bought shares of Lockheed Martin and AbbVie.

Well folk that is a wrap on my first quarter review of my goals. Did you set any goals for 2019 if so how are you doing?

Thanks for reading

Matthew

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