For the past few years my significant financial goals have been really clear to me, such as paying off $20,000 in student loans, purchasing a used car, creating an emergency fund, and saving 20% in my 401(k). Now that those things have happened, I'm having trouble figuring out where to go next. I do have smaller goals, such as saving to take a two week road trip across the Pacific NW next summer, that I set aside a bit of money each month for. My husband isn't much help; we had a conversation that went like this:
Me: "What should our financial goals be?"
Him: "Save as much as possible."
Me: O_o "I'm not motivated by goals like that."
Him: O_o
Here are some of the goals I've thought about, along with some comments on each:
- Save to Buy a House.
Paying $980/month (38% of our current take-home income) for rent is grating on me, but I'm not sure we're settled in the area we're currently in. There are basically two other areas we could end up moving to in the next few years, and only one is a place where I would consider buying a house (the other has real estate that is disgustingly overpriced in my opinion and I don't want to live there more than a couple of years).
- Save more for retirement.
Early retirement isn't going to happen at a 20% savings rate, but the best savings/investment vehicles for this tend to lock in money or be more risky on the off chance that I need to access the money for something else more short term.
- Save for further education.
Save up to go back to school to get a more in-demand/specific skill set. My husband and I's marketable skills are mediocre at best, and it would be nice for one of us to be in a solid career we enjoy.
I have about $7,000 hanging out in plain old savings accounts right now beyond my six month emergency fund. Obviously the thing that gives me the most flexibility is to just leave it in savings accounts. I would start investing in a mutual fund, but without a goal I don't know if I'll need to access the bulk of the money I'm saving in six months or six years. Any ideas of what to do next?