Woo Hoo! It can be done!!!

[sunnysandiegan]

I set a bunch of financial goals for 2009 and I just finished reviewing them. We met every single one of our goals!!!! One of them was just met tonight, which is technically 2010, but I don't think the date is quite as important as meeting the goal.

Even with a decrease in salary in 2009, we were able to do the following:

~ Maintain paying extra towards principal on our mortgage.

~ Increase our mid-term savings from 4.73 months worth of essential expenses to 9.38 months worth. (Huge accomplishment on so many fronts!)

~ Grow our short-term savings for a vacation we had planned last summer and then never took due to a major flood. We kept up the contributions and can now take the vacation this year to celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary. (There were adjustments made along the way, but the amount is adequate for a decent vacation to the place I have been dreaming of going for 20+ YEARS!)

~ Fully fund our Roth IRAs for 2008 and 2009.

~ Cut expenses through a variety of methods. Meal planning, tracking and sharing a monthly dining guide (dining out expenses in an at-a-glace chart), and calling all companies we pay to discuss lowering bills/services were the most significant. (The fact that DH was willing to drop certain services and I was willing to take on a lot more of the food prep are probably the most amazing. I still marvel that I am beginning to enjoy cooking. DH used do 90% of it and isn't nearly as thrifty as I am in purchasing food. We're trying to increase the nutrition value while decreasing costs, so it is a double challenge for us both. )

~ Purchase more financial investments and find a new financial advisor (didn't like current one), preferably locate an old advisor. I used to work in securities and I did free up some funds in order to buy stocks and mutual funds in 2009. Just tonight, I found the advisor I have been searching for and am calling to make an appointment tomorrow!

~ Lower our healthcare costs significantly and get better coverage out of it. We have an HSA and HDHP now for DH & I. Unfortunately, his company HR person just told him on Monday that the rates went up considerably for 2010. He (HR guy) is searching for a new plan, so I'm praying it will remain HSA-eligible and be reasonable.

~ Finish some home improvement projects. It was on the goal list, but the way it came about is unusual. We had a major flood! Insurance covered most of the repairs and replacement costs related to the original flood. (Many other "events" occurred within 3 weeks of that first flood. Sigh.) Since we did the labor ourselves, we were able to stretch that money to cover some additional projects that made sense to do while much of the main level was down to studs and the concrete slab.

I loosely defined our financial goals for 2010 awhile back. Now, I am more motivated to put them in writing and print it out!!!

Anyone else set goals and accomplish them? I love to hear success stories!

[shepav]

Wow! Congratulations! We also dealt with a decrease in pay (dh took pay cut, we had another baby which resulted in daycare cost), but once we had goals in mind and we really paid attention to what we were spending, it has made so much difference.

I'm thinking about putting our goals on the refrigerator so that when we're tired from a long day's work, and we just want to go out, we can stop and think about those cabinets that we want...

[annethcz]

That is fabulous! For me, it's unlikely that I'll do well unless I have very clearly defined goals. I'll do much better if my goal is "save $X per month" rather than just "save money" or save as much money as I can". The goals have to be quantified. You've done the same thing, and it sounds like you've done a great job with it.

Are your goals for 2010 similar?

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by annethcz

That is fabulous! For me, it's unlikely that I'll do well unless I have very clearly defined goals. I'll do much better if my goal is "save $X per month" rather than just "save money" or save as much money as I can". The goals have to be quantified. You've done the same thing, and it sounds like you've done a great job with it.

Are your goals for 2010 similar?

Thanks! Yes, our financial goals for 2010 are similar to 2009, but the focus is slightly different. We need to rebalance our retirement and mid-term savings more than add to them at this point. (We'll maintain fully funding the Roths, but grow the mid-term savings at a much slower pace this year. My goal is to take it from 9.38 months worth of essential living expenses to 12 months worth.) We'll be using the short-term savings and then building it back up (consistent slow pace). I want to use more income to purchase new investments this year and we need to figure out a way around the caps on Roth IRA contributions for retirement with some kind of tax benefits. (That is where the advisor comes in because he is trained in many more areas than I am.) I need to find better healthcare coverage for us and was planning to add DD to DH's work plan (mine and DD's are at 100% our cost; DH's is covered 100% by his firm), but that may not be wise at this point. Depends on what the HR guy finds. We also need to evaluate every single one of our expenses AGAIN in order to accomplish the above (i.e. free up funds). I operate on a zero budget (bottom line is under $1), so every investment purchase and savings dollar has to come from somewhere...... I'm actually working on those reports today to go over with DH tonight......

[mtm]

Great job making all your goals! We squeaked ours out too, or will once we sign our wills, that was our only holdback.

[MyTwoAs]

Congratulations on achieving your goals! This post is definitely inspirational. I have never set specific financial goals but I am now motivated to do so for 2010.

[TiredX2]