2008 Goals
Of course, posting one’s goals for 2008 in late May isn’t exactly ideal. But it isn’t as if I’ve just now decided upon them; they’ve been in my mind, as well as tracked on my sidebar, clearly set for the most part for the better part of five months.
Only now, I’m laying them out in black and white, with the reasons behind them. Feel free to comment/advise/suggest alterations:
Goal #1: Max my Roth IRA contribution to the full $5K.
I start with this goal because it’s easy to set, as the contribution is capped for me. The government will let me contribute $5K; I’m going to contribute $5K.
Note: as of now, this is my only retirement savings account. I maxed it out in full for 2007 ($4K) and will continue doing so. I do not, however, also have a 401K. I could get one, but my company doesn’t offer a match, and I’m just not that concerned about it to go get one otherwise. Thoughts?
Goal #2: Get a total of $50K in my stock portfolio by the end of the calendar year.
$50K would be a 20% downpayment on a $250K house. While I’m not genuinely planning to move right now, I’d like to have the full $50K set aside (plus some) before I do. I think this is very, very attainable (save a stock-market crash or something drastic) as I currently set aside a huge part of every paycheck and I’m already at $41K, before I hit the halfway mark for the year.
Goal #3: Get a total of $8K in my emergency/freedom fund by the end of the calendar year.
I started this fund last year. Given that I’ve deposited any extra funding into it: my tax refund ($1000+), my economic stimulus package ($600), etc., this little account (an ING) is already past $5K. It gets $200 auto-deposited every paycheck, so that’s around $3K more by the end of the year, putting me at my goal.
There’s nothing magical about the number $8K, but I feel it’s well more than I need. I currently live very comfortably on about $900/month, and that’s with my company’s health plan taken into account. So even if I lost my job, I’d be able to survive for quite a while on $8K. I like to be overprotected, though, since you never know what you come up.
Temporary Goal #4: I’m going to California in June, and I’ve set the target goal at $1000.
Truth is, I definitely don’t need this much, especially seeing as I purchased my plane ticket already, and that was the biggest cost. As of now, May 24, I have a little over $400. I’ll try to deposit any leftovers I have at the end of each two-week period. If I don’t get up to the full $1K, it’s not a big deal.
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4 Responses to “2008 Goals”
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The other big benefit of the 401(k) (beyond getting your employer’s match) is that it lowers your adjusted gross income.
Once you get your emergency fund and house fund to where you want them, you might keep deducting those amounts (whether to savings or to a 401(k)) so you won’t fall into spending more.
Most people I know who don’t save well into their 401(k) don’t because they see letting go of $15k in take home pay as impossible. If you’re in the 28% bracket, though, it costs less than $12k in takehome pay to save $15k.
Most people would probably say giving up $1000 a month is impossible, too, but your income will grow over time. If you’re disciplined in the next 5 years, keep saving what you are saving monthly and add to the monthly total as you get raises, you’ll probably be ready to fully fund a 401(k) when you start.
Now that’s good advice. It definitely would make sense for me to keep my savings routine even after fully funding my goals. Thanks, FGS!
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