List of Financial Goals 2019

Hello and welcome to 2019!  In beginning a new tradition here and MoneyByRamey.com, I wanted to highlight some of my biggest accomplishments in 2018 which will lead into the list of financial goals I have set up for 2019.

I typically do not set resolutions but rather set firm goals to accomplish for the upcoming year.  But I don’t stop there – goals are only as good as the habits that back them up. So probably the biggest part of my energy goes into developing systems to achieve my goals.

What are some examples of this process in action?  Take for instance achieving $2,000 in dividend income, which I accomplished in 2018.  This is a great goal to have, but without habits, it can be challenging to achieve as it is a large endeavor.

The habits that I built to help me achieve this metric were as follows:

• Review stock news and analysis each morning before I started my day.
• Look at my stock screener at least once a week on Thursday, or when stocks were down significantly.
• Update my dividend screener monthly with the latest information.

By doing these habits in a routine fashion, I was able to develop a system that lead me toward achieving my 2018 goal of $2,000 in dividend income.

So for 2019, I will look to do the same.  Before we get into my list of financial goals for 2019 though, let’s take a quick look at 2018 in review.

2018 Goals

For myself, 2018 was a good year with a lot of progress. I still have a ways to go to be in a place that I am proud of, but the journey is well worth the reward.  What were some of the high-level accomplishments?

Quit My Job to Form My Own Business

A goal that I have always had was to be in business for myself.  In May 2018, I accomplished that goal. I left a pretty cushy job to try my hand at the world of entrepreneurship.  It has been an interesting journey thus far and one that I hope to continue onward. One thing is for sure; I can see the way forward, now the real work comes in consistently doing the A-Type priority activities that will lead to a large increase in my Active Income.

$2,000 in Dividend Income

During 2018, I went from $566.30 in annual dividend income to $2,919.84.  It represents a 416% increase! Before beginning my dividend investing strategy, part of me felt that it would take far too long to accomplish the dream of having a dividend portfolio that generates $50k in ADI each year.

However, seeing this large increase in such a short period of time, I am beginning to see how this dream can certainly become a reality.  The idea is to continue building the portfolio one purchase at a time!

Write and Publish Budgeting Book

Another huge goal I had for 2018 was to publish my first book.  I accomplished that when I wrote and published Simple Budgeting. I felt called to write this book on budgeting because 1) so many people ask me about my process, 2) budgeting is the first stepping stone in the process towards becoming financially free.  I will be looking to write more books in the future, but to get the first one written and published was certainly a great goal achieved.

2018 Struggles

2018 was not without its struggles.  In fact, it was a year that challenged me on many fronts.  A large part of me wanted this challenge, but a large part of me was highly unprepared for what I would face.  Here were some of the challenges I faced in 2018:

Many Changes At Once

In addition to quitting my job, I:

• Started up a consulting company in which I started from square one and needed to learn the ins and outs of lead generation.
• Began MoneyByRamey.com where I began with a domain authority of 0 and very little coding or WordPress knowledge, all while disrupting my routine of going to a 9-5 every day.
• Began Investing my own money towards building a dividend portfolio with the end goal of generating $50,000 in annual dividend income.

It has taken a while to adapt to these changes and I wouldn’t say I’m quite where I want to be yet. I am still working on being more disciplined when it comes to work efforts and producing products. When no one is holding you accountable, it’s easy to say ‘I’ll do that later’, when in fact, I need to do the thing now.

Needing to Develop Income Streams

It was truly a ‘sink or swim’ year in 2018.  Luckily, I have a good amount of cash on hand to hold me through, but if I do not begin developing enough business to meet my breakeven point, I will find myself in a situation of piling debt.  Since I fully intend to never sell my securities or tap into my IRAs, this would be a rough road. I am confident in the good initiatives I am leading forward, however it is important to recognize that the time is now!

In fact, in 2019, I have the goal of building my active income to $60,000 through my business efforts.  The goal is audacious considering where I am currently at, but I’m trusting that the initiatives I am undertaking will pay off in the end.

2019 Goals

2019 looks to certainly be bright.  I am pumped, motivated, and ready for an awesome year ahead.  I am starting the year with $2,919.84 in dividend income and $3,101.20 in annual passive income.  Active income begins over at $0. I did not track active income in 2018 but intend to do so in 2019.

Overall, I wanted to share some of my financials goals with you for the year ahead as I feel like it will be good practice for me to detail my processes in achieving my list of goals.

$60,000 in Active Income

Probably the biggest goal, and the most challenging one for me, is to achieve $60,000 in active income ($5,000/mo.).  This is income that I trade my hours in achieving. This income will be a mixture of side hustles and consulting income.

For whatever reason, earning income has been more challenging for me than gaining passive income. I believe this is because often times I can get lost in ‘non-earning’ activities such as writing, tinkering with my website, or reading books instead of doing the work that can make me money.

In 2019, I will begin to place more emphasis on turning these natural tasks into income-producing efforts. I will also become much more disciplined in my achievement of the daily A-Type activities needed to make my endeavors successful.

$6,000 in Dividend Income

One of my best passive income streams has been dividend income.  I am very close to cracking the $3,000 barrier and my typical year-to-year goal has been to double my dividend income.

This goal of doubling my ADI will prove more and more challenging as I deal with higher and higher income amounts, but I am working on achieving the goal nonetheless.  With markets in turmoil due to China trade war news and rising interest rates, I will be looking for more deals to be had in 2019 and and beyond.

Sell House or Rent out Rooms

I currently live in a 3 BR house, in which I only use 1 BR.  There is a lot of unused space, and the idea has been to better utilize my environment through selling my house or renting out some rooms.

It is an interesting proposition for me as I am someone who likes to be in my own space and my own element, however, I just see so much reason to sell my house and cash out on the equity.  My first priority will be to sell the house for a nice profit, then rent somewhere for a while. The auxiliary goal will be to find a roommate and/or try my hand at Airbnb. We’ll see where 2019 takes me.

$6,000 in MBR Income

I’d like to keep monetizing MBR where possible so that I can continue to write for all my awesome readers.  Now that I have a great new website design, it is time to begin writing more books and developing some eCourses to help teach knowledge to my readers.  I’m actively posting to YouTube and learning their video editing software; the goal is to continue making more videos in unison with my articles. The dream would be to have MBR making some income to help offset the cost of running the site.

Write 2 Books

Another big goal on my list of financial goals is to write 2 books in 2019.  The first book is one on my dividend investing strategy.  It is currently about halfway completed, though I want to get this finished ASAP and out to the market.  The second book start date is targeted for June 2019, so the goal will be to get the dividend book completed, take some time off, then begin work on a new book.  A heavy goal right there, but one that excites me!

What Are You Looking To Accomplish in 2019?

What are you looking to accomplish in this year ahead?

Do you have any BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goals)?  If so, feel free to comment below and let us know so that we can share this journey together!