One of the first initial thoughts I had with creating this blog was to set out some concrete goals that I really wanted to accomplish. If you are a regular reader of MMS you will hear me talk about goals almost daily. I have said that all this personal finance starts with setting goals and reaching everyday to accomplish them. Goals are a very important part of any aspect of life, you cannot score a touchdown without one. I am a firm believer in setting goals that are very unattainable because it makes you work harder and it makes it more rewardable in the process. I cannot believe it is already halfway through the year, man does it fly by! So let's check in with some of my financial goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year:Max out my Roth IRA (5k): $1,537.66 - I am going and have to step up my contributions to make this happen. As of right now I am putting $237.00 a month into this which is going to bring my total to around $2959.00. This will not make the goal I set out for myself, so I will try and save or produce more for this goal. I also have to April 2010 so I might still be able to beef this up a little in 2010 even though I would rather be putting towards 2010 Roth IRA.
Max Emergency Fund (10k): Goal attained! I was sitting pretty at the beginning of the year with around $7,000.00 so it didn't take me that long. It is a wonderful feeling to know I have this to lean on if something where to happen to my job. I suggest everyone build an emergency fun for nothing else except peace of mind. I have been blessed to be able to save as fast as I have. (On a side note - I am currently looking into purchasing a house, I might have to break into this for some of the down payment. I don't think I would use all of it as it is such a nice cushion if something was to happen.)
Down Payment on a House (10k): As of right now I have around $3000.00 plus about $2313.00 in stock that I am going to sell if it remains to go up, I will probably pull the trigger on selling the stock if the market goes to 10,000. I cannot count on this so I will either hold it or sell it if we purchase a house. I am also saving around $780.00 a month into this fund, we are looking to purchase a house sometime between August and December 1. That will bring my total in September to $3120.00(new) + $3000.00 (now) + $2313.00(stock) for a total of around $8433. I am on track to meet this goal if I can remain focus and the stock market keeps going up (fingers crossed).
So overall I think I am doing pretty well, I just have to remain on track and keep going at it hard everyday and month. I have to admit for some reason I thought I was going to be closer to Maxing out my Roth IRA than I am? I not sure if I will be able to reach, but I will try my hardest to save more and cut my budget somewhere else. Hopefully with paying off the engagement ring in February of next year I will have some extra cash sitting around in that fund. Since I had money sitting in it before I purchased the ring and I am paying the minimum while adding the equal amount (cost/12months) to the fund. I also have been kicking around the idea of going on a 17 day boat trip to Indonesia to surf in 2011, thats on top of trying to save for a honeymoon in 2010. I got a feeling that the budget is going to be put on lockdown at some point in the near future, but I have to set some lofty goals right?
How is your goals going, do you have any crazy goals coming up in the future? Leave a comment and let me know!
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My goal isn't a savings goal, I've met most of those already (other than my house downpayment, but I keep contributing what I can to that) but my goal is to have my car paid off by the end of the year. That gives me 6 months to pay off just about $3k. If I do that I'll have my car paid of 14 months early! Then put those old payments into a savings account for a new car or car repairs. Boy would it feel great to be rid of that last piece of debt!
ReplyDeleteI'm also trying to build up my emergency fund, though I'm nearly as far along as you are. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteMK- TYa I hear ya I need to pay down my car payment, I just have to much going on right now and not sure I will be able to unless I cut somewhere else...which I dont have the desire to :) keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteDavid - Ya emergency fund has felt so nice!
Keep working it out man, you're doing incredibly!
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