Reading Time: 3 Min
It’s been a busy first half to the year for us, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones. With 6 months of 2017 behind us, it is an excellent idea to take a moment and survey where we stand.
I’m a big proponent that you “make what you measure,” meaning you improve when you are measuring something because you are getting constant feedback to both motivate you and provide feedback to modify your strategy. So what numbers will help you get a sense for where you are and where you’re going?
Your Mid-Year Diagnostic
Two Metrics You Must Track To Do Well Financially – Total Net Worth and Monthly Expenses are the two big numbers I like to look at. Figure out how your numbers have moved in the first half of the year. You’ll want a solution to easily aggregrate and track this information for you. I talk about what I use to do this in the article above.
Above Average Net Worth – By Age – If you’re interested to see where you stack up in net worth against your peers, here’s are the percentiles by age group.
What Percent Are You? – The median income in the US is probably not what you think it is, and you are probably pulling in higher levels of dough than you think. Enter your income and get a sense of where you stand with these two calculators.
How Much Do You Need to Retire? – Have you figured out what the end goal is yet? Find your target number with these exercises.
What Should Your Savings Rate Be? – If you’re not read for a full retirement target exercise, reference this chart to get a sense for what savings rate will lead you to financial independence at what age. Plus, my recommendations by income bracket.
Some Encouragement
Finally, for those who are fired up and wanting to make the most of their progress this year:
How To Ensure You Succeed in 2017 – It’s all about momentum. Here’s how you get going.
Are you happy with your progress in the first half of the year? What financial accomplishment are you proudest of so far?
my bank account is in overdraft (empty) so no not good progress so far.
Oy. I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds like you’re actively trying to better that though if you’re reading things like this blog. Wishing you luck and a better second half to the year.
Slow, but steady progress. I love to track my net worth like a video game score.
It does have a little bit of a video game feel to it. You can get constant feedback and you’re leveling up regularly.
Yes! I use that term all the time. “Leveling up.” Lol
And when the score goes down bc of the market, I try not to log into the game so often!
Yeah, that’s a gamer self-preservation instinct. Who says games can’t help with real life?
Any sample ETF portfolio for investment or savings?
Thanks,
Jon
Hey Jon. My ETF holdings are very simple and straightforward. I have long, broad US-based holdings in VTI and FSTMX (they’re basically identical and are about 75%-80% of my equity holdings). I weight slightly toward mid-cap by putting the balance in a mid-cap focused fund, VO. I don’t subscribe to the belief that international exposure through a global fund is constructive (I talk about it elsewhere in the blog showing historical returns – you might do better with a targeted geography but the global funds do not show promising evidence to me in the past 10 years). I don’t own bond ETF’s as my fixed income allocation is in BAC-L and WFC-L. This is probably worth a post of its own. Thanks for getting me to think on this.