My Financial Goals for the Next 12 Months
The following is a reprint of a post that I made from my old blog Getting Out Of The Poorhouse. To find out why, see here.
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Time to get started. The following is a list of goals that I would like to accomplish within the next year. I understand it’s what financially responsible adults would do :) The following is a rough draft, I’m sure I’m going to make changes and add to this later.
Goal number 1: Start an emergency fund of $1000.
I got this idea from PF bloggers who’ve read Dave Ramsay’s Total Money Makeover book. Seems like a good idea since I have an extra $1000 lying around. I’ve only had a checking account until recently when I decided it’s time to grow up and get a savings account. I’ve opened up a Wamu online savings account (www.wamu.com). It’s got a decent interest rate of about 3.30% APY but you have to have a checking account linked to it to get the rate so I opened one up with them as well. Good thing we have a branch close to the house and it only took me 20 minutes to open the checking account and an additional 10 minutes to open the online savings (Less than 7 minutes according to their site but I type slow.)
Goal number 2: Contribute enough to the company retirement plan to get the full match.
I’ve been with my current employer for 3 years now and have just recently started to contribute to my retirement account. Since new employees need to wait 1 year before they can contribute to the retirement plan, I’ve essentially wasted 2 years of free money(Hangs head in shame). Plus I’ve wasted 24 months of compound interest (Hangs head lower). I also missed out on tax benefits since they take out the money pre-tax, it lowers the adjusted gross income (Hangs head even lower, hits desk).
Goal number 3: Track expenses and make a budget.
I’ve listed my monthly bills and expenses in a spreadsheet and I must say that it really is helpful to see where the money goes. Case in point - I pay $161.94 monthly for TV (HD Cable and Satellite). Clearly this is an example of a want versus a need. And looking down at the list I see many wants. The bad news is it’s going to hurt, at least initially, to say goodbye to these things. The good news is I’ll have a lot more money to throw at goal number 4. Speaking of which…
Goal number 4: Pay down my debt
I have about $25,000 in student loan debt. Last year half of it is at a decent interest rate (4.75% government loan) while the other half is private loan with a variable interest rate (anywhere from 7-8.75%, yikes!) I thought about refinancing the private loan but the rates I’ve been quoted aren’t that much better. So the plan is to pay the minimum amount required in the government loan and throw everything else at the private loan. My goal is to pay off the private loan in 12 months. This is where goal number 3 should help out a lot. Even so, that may not be enough. So thinking a little more I introduce you to…
Goal number 5: Make more money.
Anyone have any ideas? I had a few but can’t seem to recall them at the moment as my head is hurting from hitting it on the desk. I’m going to ice it and lay down for a while. Until next time 
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