Frugal Babe

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Financial Goals for 2008

December 26, 2007 By Frugal Babe

Since we’re just about to start a new year, I thought I’d write about our goals for 2008 as far as money is concerned.

  • Max out our HSA ($5800)
  • Max out my Roth IRA ($5000) and my husband’s traditional IRA ($5000)
  • Pay off $5000 in principal on our HELOC

In addition to these very concrete goals, we’d also like to look into either siding our house or repairing/replacing our roof. Both of these things need to be done, although neither one is an emergency. We could repaint the house, but since we’re planning to stay here forever, we figure that siding would be a better long-term solution. So that will be on our list of considerations next summer.

Our financial situation is easier now that it was at the start of 2007, since we paid off the last of our business debt in August, and we’re going into 2008 able to save everything that we don’t need for day to day expenses. But when the baby is born, I’ll have to decide whether to keep working at the library or quit, and that will have an impact on our finances. If I stay, we’ll have enough money to easily meet our financial goals for the year, but I’m a little concerned that I might be putting myself in a more stressful situation than I want. If I quit, it will ease the stress level considerably, but it will tighten our money situation quite a bit. We’ll have to really stretch to meet our goals if I don’t work at the library for the second half of the year. I would continue to work as a sub, but that would obviously mean a significant reduction in pay.

For now, we’re going to focus on saving as much as possible over the next five months. I’d like to have the HSA maxxed out by June, so that we can move our focus to the IRAs. We currently have $200/month going into an index fund in my husband’s IRA – I might increase that to $400/month, so that we could automatically have $4800 in it by the end of the year. My Roth IRA doesn’t have an automatic contribution set, because I want to buy an exchange-traded fund with one lump sum of money at some point in the year.

Overall, I’m feeling really good about where we are. We’re happy, healthy, excited about the baby, and feeling settled and secure. We don’t have debt other than our mortgage, we’re living on less than we earn, and we have goals for 2008 that are realistic but at the same time will require a stretch to reach I like it that way. I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and here’s to a great new year!

Filed Under: goals 4 Comments

Comments

  1. Fabulously Broke says

    December 26, 2007 at 6:14 pm

    You’re such an inspiration for me :) I loved reading this post because it made me think about what *I* want for 2008

    Reply
  2. cindy says

    December 28, 2007 at 3:01 pm

    Thanks for your inspiration! I am determined that 2008 will be an even better year toward my financial “freedom”. I am a single mother with two children in college. I’ve had some rough times, but am glad to stay this year I will be free of credit card debt.
    I need to work hard to build my savings and be able to see that I can plan and move toward something better and that can be a real possibility. I have had to take some steps backward in the last two years and am renting again. I need to make a plan and stick to it!
    I will keep looking for inspiration!

    Reply
  3. mary watkins says

    December 28, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    i am 66yrs old taking schooling to work at home, is it to late for me for IRA and other savings you mentioned. How much can I at my age put in IRA ALSO I would like more info on no load mutual funds, and how much i need to invest i am getting an error stating invalid email address this is valid

    Reply
  4. FrugalBabe says

    January 1, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    Mary,
    You can contribute to a traditional IRA until age 70.5, and there is no age limit for contributions to a Roth IRA. But whether or not you should contribute to either of those depends on your particular situation. Here’s a link to a SmartMoney IRA explanation article: http://www.smartmoney.com/tax/retire/index.cfm?story=iraoptions

    I would recommend that you talk with a financial planner or at least someone at a discount brokerage or even a bank, who can walk you through the options available to you. Best of luck!

    Reply

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