2009 Personal Finance Goals
Jan.13, 2009 in
Misc
A new year brings new challenges,and new goals. So, just like I did last year, I’m going to set a few personal finance goals for myself. Hopefully I can manager better than a D+ this year. Without further adieu, here are my goals for 2009:
- Increase my savings account to $20,000. Stretch goal: $25,000. That’s a lot of cash to save – but I need to focus on a bigger cash cushion, even at the cost of putting off some investing. It’s hard, as I want my cash to grow… but I need to have a bigger pile of this stuff sitting around, just in case.
- Earn $35,000 outside my day job. Sure, that’s the number I hit in 2008. But, I had a record 4th quarter, which I don’t like to count on. I’m shooting to match last year’s small business earnings.
- Resist the urge to stop my 401(k) contributions. Pouring money into my 401(k) every month, only to watch the value drop every month is incredibly painful. Sometimes I think I should just take out the cash, put it in a big pile, and burn it. However, in the very long term, I know that sitting tight is the way to go. Stopping now just hurts me later on.
- Go for year 2 with no new cars. A whole year – pretty good. Two in a row – outrageous! I can do it though, as long as I can avoid the car dealerships.
- Consolidate my finances. A broader goal than last year’s credit card goal. With so many cards, and so many banks, it’s a pain to keep track of everything. I need to consolidate everything, make things simpler, and I’ll spend less time paying bills. What’s not to like about that?
- Embrace the envelope system. No more Visa. Period. Not for Birthdays, Christmas, or even our anniversary. Make the cash in the envelopes last, and even ( gasp ) save some for gifts.
- Get back to Zecco. It’s hard to invest in stocks when they are tanking. But, deep down, I know that it’s the best time to buy. As long as I do the research, and make smart choices, buying now is smarter than buying when they go up 20% from today’s prices.
- Redesign Llama Money. The look is old and tired. I need to find the time to not only write more, but give the site a fresh look.
- Build my Precious Metals Store into a useful item. Right now, there’s not much to see. The interface is ugly too. But I’m a big fan of the shiny metals – and I want to have an easy way for my readers to buy them.
- Increase my net worth to $70,000. Stretch goal: $80000. I came a long way in 2008. It will be harder this year, with my wife not working. But I intend to come out of the year with a much higher net worth.
That’s about it – 10 goals this time. That’s one more than last year. Think I can do it? Hopefully you’ll stick around, follow my posts this year, and find out.
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January 13th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Good Luck on your 2009 goals!
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Wowwww, if you could pull of just half of those you’d be ROCKIN’ it! man, that’s awesome…and i get that resisting the 401k one, if it weren’t so black and white for me (we get 100% matching 100% we put in up to the max allowed limit), i’d drop my % down in a heart beat
The “no new cars” one is pretty cool too, i know soooo many people who trade in every year or so…crazyyyy.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:59 am
100% Match? I’d find a way to max out my contributions too! That’s an incredible perk to have. At my job, we have a completely mysterious % match. No one knows what it is, or what to expect. But the company tosses some in at some random points during the year. Still free money.. but I’d like to have a better idea of how much it is.
As for the new cars, we were those people! Last year was the first year I went without a new car in quite a long time. It hurts to think about all the money wasted there…. and I’m ready to stop it.