Review Of 2023 Goals

As I'm writing this blog post, it's already January 8th, 2024. Surprisingly, the weather here in Central Wisconsin continues to be quite mild. The temperature is expected to reach a high of 30 degrees Fahrenheit today. Anything around freezing for this time of the year is pretty rare, so I'll take it!

Now that 2023 is fully in the rearview mirror, it would be a good time to briefly go over whether I achieved my revised goals for the year.

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Financial Goals for 2023

1. End 2023 With a Six Month Emergency Fund - Fail

At the end of 2023, my emergency fund (also factoring in taxable account dividend income) was five months. That was just short of my goal for the year. However, this was only because I realized at the end of the year that my estimated tax payments for 2023 weren't quite enough throughout the year. Thus, I had to chip in more than I anticipated. Factoring this out of the equation, I would have had a seven month emergency fund heading into 2024. The good news is that after this month, I should be at my target of a six month emergency fund.

2. Conclude 2023 With at Least $4,300 in Net Annual Forward Dividends - Pass

I narrowly topped my goal of $4,300 in net annual forward dividends heading into 2023, ending the year at around $4,315. This was mostly thanks to my capital deployment throughout the first eight months of the year and dividend growth/reinvestment in the last few months of the year.

3. Reach $120,000 in Investments and $140,000 in Net Worth - Pass

On the investment value front, I beat my goal by a few percent. In terms of net worth, I barely met my goal for 2023.

Personal Goals for 2023

1. Publish Approximately 360 Motley Fool Articles - Pass

At my rate of about 10 Motley Fool articles a week through the first eight months and change of 2023, I met my updated goal of publishing 360 articles during the year.

2. Publish At Least 90 Seeking Alpha Articles - Pass

I topped my goal related to Seeking Alpha in 2023. For the year, I had 95 articles published.

3. Publish 1 Blog Post Each Week - Pass

Finally, I succeeded on the blog front. In 52 Tuesdays, I published 52 blogs in 2023 - - exactly one blog each week as I intended.

Concluding Thoughts:

In the face of my job loss in September, I transitioned quickly adapted. In fact, I moved immediately from writing for Motley Fool to ramping my production at Seeking Alpha back up. There wasn't a single day that I was out of work, so I'm pleased with how I fared in the face of challenges in 2023.

Discussion:

How was your 2023?

Did you revise your goals part of the way through the year as I did or did you stand by your goals?

Thanks for your readership and please consider commenting below!