Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great break and that 2015 brings you joy, laughter, good health, and prosperity. Over the past few days, I’ve been reviewing my goals and crunching numbers, so here’s a recap of how I did in 2014.
### Increase Net Worth by 30%
Last year was a fail, but this year, I’m happy to call it a win! Calculating my net worth accurately is tough because I have assets in various countries and currencies, which fluctuate. However, by the end of the year, I managed to increase my net worth in euros by 31.5%. The strong dollar helped, and by smartly buying dollars when they were cheaper, my net worth in dollars grew by 19%. If you consider the exchange rate of 1US$ = 1.20 euros as of January 1st, 2014, my USD net worth increased by 33.75%. So, this one is a pass for me.
I haven’t updated the value of my properties yet. However, I did add the cost of building a new house on the beach to the land’s value. I believe I should get back more than the building costs when selling, but that’s a cautious estimate. I’m really thrilled about meeting this goal, as I thought it might be another fail this year.
### Make $60,000 Blogging
This was another win—I made a little over $70,000. Initially, making over $5,000 a month seemed like a stretch, but it turned into the new normal and I accomplished it. So, this one is a pass too.
### Keep Donating 10% of Online Income to Charity
Continuing with this goal, I donated 10% of my online income to charity, which primarily supports education projects in my Guatemalan village. This year, I donated over $6,000 to send two honor students to boarding school for high school, bought uniforms and supplies for primary school girls, purchased 10 laptops and desktops, ran a 12-hour-a-week computer literacy class, bought books, and operated a small library to encourage reading. Additionally, I received almost $3,000 from reader donations, all of which were passed forward. This goal is another pass.
### Turn a Profit with Land Development
Here’s my first fail of the year. We kept investing in the land development—flattening streets, digging a well, and buying a beach for residents’ private lake access. While the region is experiencing strong growth, the ongoing investments have kept me in the red for now.
### Make $5,000 with the Guest House
I think this is another fail. I had a $1,000 booking over Christmas that turned out to be troublesome, and I ended up refunding the guests. Without that booking, I believe we made around $3.5 to $4K. I’m building a new house on another plot so I can move away from the guest house. For now, I’m content with it being a small operation since having guests all the time can be annoying. Although making $5,000 was a stretch goal for the first year, I managed to cover the bills, pay the staff, and make a small profit. However, given the house’s worth, the return was minimal. I plan to promote it more once I move out.
Despite not hitting the last two goals, I still achieved a net worth increase of over 30%, making it a good year overall. I haven’t yet set my goals for 2015, but I will soon!
How did you do in 2014? What are you looking forward to in 2015?