It’s that time again.  To reflect on what you can change for the new year.  A year to start fresh.  I remember this time last year, I had made some financial resolutions, because as we all know, they are easier to keep than behavioral resolutions (like exercise more- which was an EPIC FAIL).

As a recap, here are my financial resolutions for last year, copy and pasted:

Continue to calculate my networth every month (knowledge is power!  I have asked for all the client access log-ins from my financial advisors- to their dismay- so am tracking my finances much more closely)

Regain the money I lost in bad investments- I had entrusted  my hard earned cash to some risky investments when I didn’t know any better (venture mutual funds, flow through shares, Investors Group mutual funds) and want to regain it.  In total I think I am down about $10,000.  I hope to do this by being more active and aggressive in my equities.

Max out my RRSP and TFSA Iam hoping to max out my RRSP I can utilize the $25,000 allowance for First Time Home Buyers

Reach a Networth of $100,000- This should give me enough leeway for a downpayment and extra money to play with

Buy my first home – Hopefully the mortgage rates won’t skyrocket next year and hopefully the prices of Vancouver homes will come down to realistic prices (check out MLS.ca to see which closet you can get for $350, 000).

Okay so starting with the first one:

1) Calculating my financial net worth monthly- DONE.  I would skip a month or two (or three) before this blog, and thanks to trying to keep accountable (and networth IQ), I have kept this resolution.  It actually turned out to be really fun, calculating your net worth.  I know that net worth isn’t necessarily a good measure of where one stands, and that cash is king, but I just do it mainly for myself and to make sure I keep on going into the positive, and not the negative.

2) Regain the money lost in bad investments: DONE..I think.  In my calculations (in my handy dandy trusty notebook), I calculate how much I am “down” by from the actual cost of the investments/ equities that I hold.  I have managed to recoup of my losses (not from those investments particularly, but from other investments like the nonregistered portfolio and the 38% gain I had with the TFSA)- this was also thanks to this year, the stock market increased back from the disaster a few years ago.

3) Max out my RRSP and TFSA- DONE. I maxed out my RRSP and TFSA this year but have also depleted it for my house purchase.  This will make for a new lofty financial goal for next year.  Fill the TFSA with $15,000!

4) Reach a Net Worth of $100,000: DONE.  When I first started calculating diligently, I was at $79,300.  I am now well over $122,000 (including my pension), though if I took out the pension, I would be at around $104000.  So I managed to swing this by $4000- Phew!

5) Buy my first home: DONE. Even though I thought it wasn’t going to be done (and I wasn’t really pushing to buy a house ASAP or anything), it happened.  I had thought I was going to get an apartment or a townhouse, but ended up joining forces and managed to get a house.

I am actually really really surprised that I somehow managed to fulfill most of these resolutions.  I think it really speaks for the power of this blog for my financial well-being.  When you write something down (and when you announce it publicly) it really affects how accountable you are.  You really push for it to work out when you announce it to the world (or even just to yourself, or your dog, or your family, or even your pet rabbit).

I’ll be posting my 2011 New Years Resolutions soon.  I think they will be challenging, and hopefully I can meet the challenge for 2011!

Readers, have you reflected on your 2010 New Years Resolutions?

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If you were wondering what everyone else’s financial resolutions in the personal finance blogging realm were, look no further.

In no order of importance, here are a random assortment of PF bloggers resolutions for 2010.

Here’s to a great financial year!!

• G.E. Miller of 20something finance writes about 10 financial resolutions that are actually easy to keep.  My personal favourites are planning your meals one week in advance and trying to save a years worth of emergency savings.
• Michael from Dual Income No Kids (love the acronym) talks about his 2010 goals including a dream of his to open up a bar with his friend
• J. money from Budgets are Sexy plans to pimp up his finances and reach a networth of $200,000. I’m down for that, but at half his amount for 2010. =)
• Simon Zhen of Realm of Prosperity writes about his financial goals for 2010 including saving up for a DSLR
• Studenomics talks about why new years resolutions are stupid and what you can do instead (instead of telling yourself you’ll do something, just do it! don’t wait.)
• Kelly at The Centsible Life has the thorough approach in which she talks about her resolutions for her blog and for herself
• Jeffrey at Deliver Away Debt is also doing the monthly networth update thing (it’s fun. honestly) among other personal finance goals (emergency funds seem to be a common theme. I should get on that.)
• J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly doesn’t do resolutions, but he does have a goal.  He only has one financial goal for 2010 and it is to keep up the good work (I wish I was in his boat!)

Enjoy reading! I know I did. Best of luck to all in achieving your 2010 personal finance goals, resolutions, hopes… or whatever you want to call them.

If you liked reading this, you might want to check out:
youngandthrifty’s 2010 Financial Resolutions

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Happy New Years- hope everyone had a good one.

I can’t believe it’s 2010 already.  When I was younger, I always thought we would be flying around Jetsons style already by 2010.  With a new year, comes new resolutions. New goals and hope for a new year.

I know, I know, new years resolutions are kind of lame.  No one REALLY keeps them anyways. 

But maybe financial resolutions are easier to keep.  Somehow for me, it’s easier to work on financial resolutions e.g. save 10% of your monthly income than to remember to go to the gym three times per week, or to floss every day (uh oh, was that too much information?)

I think I’ve come a long way since last year’s financial resolutions.  I told myself I would automatically move a certain amount of my monthly income to a savings account (the advice David Bach’s Automatic Millionaire talks about) and I got my butt together and did that. It was pretty easy too. Just put seperate it and forget about it. I wanted to buy a place last year too, but didn’t end up doing so (despite the all time lows of mortgage rates) because I wanted to save more for a downpayment.

For 2010, I have a few more financial resolutions:

• Continue to calculate my networth every month (knowledge is power!  I have asked for all the client access log-ins from my financial advisors- to their dismay- so am tracking my finances much more closely)
• Regain the money I lost in bad investments- I had entrusted  my hard earned cash to some risky investments when I didn’t know any better (venture mutual funds, flow through shares, Investors Group mutual funds) and want to regain it.  In total I think I am down about $10,000.  I hope to do this by being more active and aggressive in my equities.
• Max out my RRSP and TFSA Iam hoping to max out my RRSP I can utilize the $25,000 allowance for First Time Home Buyers
• Reach a Networth of $100,000- This should give me enough leeway for a downpayment and extra money to play with
• Buy my first home – Hopefully the mortgage rates won’t skyrocket next year and hopefully the prices of Vancouver homes will come down to realistic prices (check out MLS.ca to see which closet you can get for $350, 000).

 How about you?  What are your financial resolutions for next year?

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