2008 Goals

My goals for the upcoming year are simple.

1. Pay off all credit card debt. Currently my family is at about $2,500, which isn't that bad, but it's the last of about $15,000 from 6 years ago. We've been living like paupers for the last 6 years in order to pay it off. Once we get it paid off, we will not be falling into the same trap of charging when we don't have the money. I know it sounds simple, but it was such a bad trap to fall into. I say trap, because I truely believe that credit card companies trap consumers into high card limits in order to get them to spend beyond their means.

2. Establish Roth IRAs for both my wife and I and fund them both with regular bi-weekly contributions. The total goal is $2,000, $1,000 in each. I've read that once the company match is maxed out, one should put all the rest of the retirement money into a Roth IRA. The only restriction is that for my income bracket, I can put in a maximum of $5,000. For the first year, I'm going to keep my current deduction at 12%, but I turned off the automatic increase. I started at 6% (the company match) when I started working for my current employer, and have increased my contribution by 1% each year I have worked for them. The only real decision is what broker I open the account with. I'll do some research over the next week to determine what my options are.

3. Increase our savings account from the current $500 to $2,000. With all the other financial efforts, I don't want to set my goal out of reach, but this will be the first year I have an actual goal for the family.

4. Post a new blog at least twice a week. Most will be financial. Some may be about life in general.

Well, there they are. I hope I can keep on track, and I will pick up some readers along the way. Maybe that should be another goal - promote the blog. But, I think eventually something will pick up and people may start reading.