As I'm writing this blog post, it's New Year's Eve. The temperature for today is expected to reach a high of 30 degrees Fahrenheit here in Central Wisconsin. That is a lovely and ideal temperature for this time of the year. If only every winter day were this temperate!
With just hours left in 2022, now is an appropriate time to take a look back at my goals for the year and how I fared at accomplishing each of them.
Image Source: My portfolio
2022 Financial Goals:
1. Collect at least $2,700 in net dividends - Success
As a preview of my December 2022 dividend income, my net dividends were $423.00 during the month. This brings my net dividend income for the year to $2,828.60, which was reasonably above my goal of at least $2,700.
2. Reach net annual forward dividends of at least $3,200 by the end of the year - Success
I also accomplished my second goal of ending 2022 with net annual forward dividends of at least $3,200. My net annual forward dividends are set to head into 2023 at $3,353.99, which was moderately more than my goal.
3. Top $100,000 in investments and reach a net worth of at least $110,000 - Fails
I came up just short of amassing $100,000 in investments and a net worth of $110,000 in 2022. My investments are worth approximately $93,000 at the time of this blog post. Had I not chose to build an emergency fund worth just over $8,000, my investments would likely be just over $100,000 right now.
But it's nice to know that I have a six-plus month emergency fund at my disposal if I need it. And my net worth of $107,000 is only below my goal of $110,000 because of the broader market selloff in 2022. If my portfolio had just been flat instead of down 3% during the year, my net worth would have been only a few hundred dollars shy of my goal.
2022 Personal Goals:
1. Publish at least 300 articles for Motley Fool - Success
Having published 392 articles for The Motley Fool in 2022, I blew this goal out of the water. This is because I became more efficient at writing articles as the year progressed, which allowed me to up my productivity without really upping my workload.
2. Publish one Seeking Alpha article every week - Fail
I only published 30 Seeking Alpha articles in 2022. I made up this reduced production over at Seeking Alpha with more articles at Motley Fool, which was also part of the reason that I published so many articles for the latter during the year. The decision was made that I would stop writing weekly articles at Seeking Alpha effective in August because the pay wasn't on par with what I was earning at Motley Fool. Since I have shifted my focus to monthly articles at Seeking Alpha and have covered more popular stocks, my average article earnings have been much better.
3. Publish one blog post each week - Success
I published 52 blog posts in 2022, which met my goal for the year. As I discussed in my previous blog post, I believe I have an obligation to this blog because it was basically responsible for launching my writing career. And just as importantly, I also want to demonstrate to readers that attaining financial independence as a "normie" isn't just possible with the right mindset: But it can be a probable outcome.
Concluding Thoughts:
2022 was another year of incredible progress in my journey to financial independence and professional development. I'm thrilled to continue this momentum heading into the new year and beyond!
Discussion:
What were your goals in 2022?
Were there any you fell just short of accomplishing?
Thanks for your readership. Please feel free to comment below!
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