The Much Awaited 2007 Goal Review!

It is now time for one of my favorite (and most often requested) posts of the year: the goal review! This year, my goals were largely focused on the repayment of our outstanding debts in our quest to become debt free. I am proud to say that thanks to some excellent dedication from both Tasha and I that the results are extremely good.

• 90.3% of consumer debt paid off (formerly known as Phase I)
• Estimated 45.86% of overall debt paid off
• ALL credit cards paid off, chopped up, and cancelled as of 12/17
• My Saturn paid off as of 12/28

Here is the familiar graph that we were using to track our consumer debt paydown:

This graph was previously incorrectly named “Total Debt Remaining.” You will notice that we didn’t quite make it to the bottom of this graph, however we did make it far enough to realize that there were more gains to be made in liquidity of funds by attacking some of the items that we did not include in our “consumer debt” segment, namely our vehicles. Both of our cars ended up being both higher interest AND lower balance compared to the last debt that we had remaining in our consumer debt category, so we elected to shuffle things around.

This led me to the realization that I did not have good records regarding the other category, Student Loans and Cars, so I took it upon myself to do a reverse projection to determine how much we started with as a whole. If I was paying the proper level of attention I would have done this up front, but we live and learn and it is what it is.

The following graph represents the same data, however it is plotted from our estimated starting point:

This is the true picture of our total debt remaining (not including mortgage). Not too bad of a picture!

Interestingly, I’ve received a wide variety of feedback on this goal. When we venture on to this topic, I get many people wishing that they had the dedication to do what we’re doing. I get some supporters, who are doing all they can to encourage us on our way. I get some detractors, that claim that this goal can’t or shouldn’t be done. In the end, Tasha and I are happy to be on this path because we see the endgame that it will provide us. Contentment is the name of the game… I don’t have to drive an exceedingly fast car or have the newest and bluest computer systems, because when I’m through all this I will have money to burn. I was taught discipline from my parents and my karate teachers, and this is just another outgrowth of those same principles… it just resolves in a much more financially satisfactory way.

I can completely understand why people think this can’t be done, and to those several people I say “watch us.” 2008 is going to be a big year and our goals in this space are going to get even more ambitious. Whenever I recap my progress in this way, I like to recognize and thank who introduced us to Dave Ramsey, whose Total Money Makeover has allowed us to realize these gains. To those people supporting us and joining us on this quest: thank you! If anyone gets all inspired and wants to talk more about this topic I will be glad to do everything I can to help!

As for my karate related goals for 2007, I am sad to say that most of the dojo was slapped with a major bout of motivation issues during the second half of the year. I did participate in a LOT more sparring, however focus on kata waned to very low amounts by even the first quarter of the year. We are going to get back to some more measurable goals in 2008 to get us back on the right track, and I have no one to blame for my failings this year except for myself. In retrospect, I think that the 2006 Sochin related goal was flying a bit close to the sun and the crash was inevitable, however I am starting to feel energized again in order to attack my training with fervor.

We will see what 2008 brings, tomorrow I will list my resolutions and goals so stay tuned for that!!