Thursday, June 4, 2009

2009 Goals: A look at the Halfway Point

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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4 comments:

  1. 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!

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  2. I'm also trying to build up my emergency fund, though I'm nearly as far along as you are. Nice work!

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  3. MK- 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!

    David - Ya emergency fund has felt so nice!

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  4. Keep working it out man, you're doing incredibly!

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