Progress Report on Goals for 2006

I was in a reflective mood this morning so I thought I would share my list of goals that I set for myself in January 2006. I will tell you the goal and then my comments on whether I have reached the goal or am going to fall short.

Professional Goals

1. $500,000 in production credits in 2006 for my job. My father and I are on track for this goal, but we don't have a lot of slack. We need to keep it up for 3 more months.

2. $95,000,000 in assets under management. Currently we are at 91 MM. It's still possible but looking a little tough. I probably have 1.5-2MM in the pipeline, but some of it will probably not come in until 2007, and we may need a little market appreciation.

3. Qualify for Chairman's Club. This would have taken 600k in production credits so it was in conflict with goal #1. A little too optimistic.

4. One new client from Phoenix Country Club. Nobody yet, however I did get one client to join Phoenix Country Club so that should help in the long run and passing my name around.

Personal Goals

1. Show Michele I love her by doing at least one nice thing for her every week. I think I have lived up to that for the most part.

2. Get Michele pregnant. Baby Jake is due to enter this world on November 17th. This was probably the goal that was the most fun accomplishing. :-)

3. Lose 10 pounds and keep weight at 220. After I set this goal I managed to ballon up to 235. I had recently dropped to 225 and have probably slipped a little since then. It's still possible with a little discipline.

Poker Goals

1. Win over $1,000 in a poker tournament. On 5/29/06 I won over $1,500 in a World Series Main Event Qualifier.

2. 40% in the money and 20% ROI on the $50 SNG's. Not even close. I am currently refocusing on the $20 sits and hope to do well. Now that Party Poker is closed, I am not sure I can get the hand histories from Full Tilt or Doyle's Room into Poker Tracker.

3. 4 table with 2 monitors at 3-6 online with 2 BB per 100 hand win rate. Once Party Poker opened up 6 handed tables, all the fish seemed to move there. I was not as confident in my short handed game and never moved up to that high a level.

4. Win a satellite into the World Series of Poker Main Event. This is the goal that was the most fun trying to achieve, but train wrecked my other poker goals. I tried for the first few months to build up my bankroll to make a satellite run. I hit a bad patch, so my bankroll was not as high as I would have liked. I came very close in a couple of satellites to qualifying, but washed out.

Golf Goals

1. Shoot par for one round of golf. My lowest score over the last 6 months is a 77. The golf gods have conspired against me on this one. I herniated a disk in the summer of 2005 and it took me until January of this year to feel like I was back to 100%. This was just in time for our golf course at Phoenix Country Club to go into the shitter. It would have been a miracle to shoot a really low score on the dirt greens we had early in the year. Finally they hired a new greenskeeper and he shut the course down for the summer as he installed new greens. I could still play other courses in the valley, but I could not practice my short game. The course had reopened on Labor Day in great shape, but it was only for 1 month before they had to shut it down again for overseeding. In the mean time, I had another minor back episode that kept me off the course for a couple of weeks.

2. Handicap of 5 or lower. See above for most of the explanation. With a baby due in one month, this one looks impossible. I would have shoot at least 4-5 rounds in the low 70's to bring my handicap down that far.

3. First place in a golf tournament at PCC. I came really close with my friend Mike, in the Sidewinder in March. We had the lead going into the final round. We ended up losing by 1/2 a stroke.

Financial Goals

1. Save $20,000 in a taxable account.
On 12/31/2005 I had the following:
Cash $17,705
Mut Funds $25,894
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Total $43,599

Currently I have:
Cash $9,393
Mutual Funds $35,239
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Total $44,632

I have been putting in $1,000 a month into different mutual funds, but apparently I have just been whittling down the cash balance I started with in the beginning of the year. Although, that number is deceiving because I had to write a check in April to the IRS for about $2,400 net in taxes from selling my rental home last year. That was money I had set aside from the sale in 2005, so my cash balance at the end of the year was a little over inflated.

2. Save the maximum in my 401k including company match. I hit the max of $15,000 in my last pay period. This is the first time I have ever maxed out in the dollar category of 401k savings. My first year at Arthur Andersen out of college I maxed out at 15% of my pay, but my salary was only 30k.

3. Rent my house on Carson for $1,200 a month starting in March. I did accomplish this for 6 months. I am now trying to sell the house. I started it at $399,900 and have lowered it to $369,900. Bill seems to think it may need to go down to $350,000 before someone bites. That sucks because the comps 6 months ago would have priced it at least at 400k.

Overall, it's been a pretty good year so far. The main upheaval is the poker section, obviously. It may take until January 2007 for me to get a feel for what I can accomplish with the new online landscape.