2014 Financial Goals

[ichangedmyname]

I'm starting to think about my goals for next year. I really want to invest more, save more, etc. Need inspiration from y'all. Please share your goals.
So far I have
"Double my networth."
Have a decent food budget to reduce ordering out or fast food stops.
Lessen food waste by not making too much of one thing, forget about it then find it 2 weeks later growing stuff on it.

Also, is there a free software or app or whatever to help me track my goals i.e. save 65% of pay check.

[Koala0924]

We have several goals for 2014 (well, I do, my DH is just kinda along for the ride. He has great potential though, I know it.)

• Debt reduction of $16000
• Contribute $10000 to my 401K
• Fully fund a ROTH IRA
• Continue to refine the budget / build funds for irregular but expected expenses

May have more than this, but its a start.

[olivia]

I want to pay off the rest of our debt, including student loans.  I also want to get a promotion or new job that pays more than what I'm currently making.  I like my job and it's at a "prestigious" place, but the pay is shit.  Prestige don't pay the bills! 

[ruthiegirl]

Last year our goals were crazy:  sell our house, sell our car, move across country, settle into new town and new job. 


This year is easy by comparison:

10% gross pay to retirement account.

$35,000 to fund a down payment on a house. 

[Herbert Derp]

I want to become FI in 2014. Also, a promotion would be great.

[marty998]

Half a million net worth would be nice.

[limeandpepper]

I'll be quitting my job and going on a travel sabbatical of sorts from mid-2014 onwards for an indefinite period, so my goal is pretty modest and simple. I just want to be able to enjoy my sabbatical without having to dip into my principal, if possible. Since my stash isn't that big yet, I hope to find enough odd jobs here and there to keep my net worth intact, even allowing it to continue to grow, if I can.

[NinetyFour]

1) Continue saving for (unmustachian) purchase of Four Wheel Eagle camper
2) Reduce debt by $20K
3) Increase investments by $36K
4) Continue to lower monthly expenses, especially groceries and insurance

[Gray Matter]

1.  Fully fund our 401(k)s - 35K
2.  Continue contributions to 529 plans - 12K
3.  Save DH's entire bonus - variable (net usually between 9K and 25K)
4.  Reduce monthly spending so I can work part-time

[Rural]

Fully fund 403(b) and 457 ($35000).
Fully fund HSA ($5800 because of a small employer match)
6.5% of both paychecks into pensions (easy; this is not voluntary!)
Finish paying back a small family loan on building supplies -- this will be done in March, paying $1k a month
Figure out what to do with the extra 1k a month after that. Likely more building supplies through the summer, then maybe start a driveway paving fund.

We look set to save/ put into equity 70% of gross this year, base salaries. But that doesn't account for my summer pay, which my employer will not put into pretax accounts. Don't know yet what it will be. May be time to look at taxable accounts with it assuming the EF holds up.

[clarkm04]

1. Pay down our mortgage to get PMI off. 

Signed papers 6/28/13 5% down; 30 year fixed.  Shooting to get to 20% down by 9/1/14. We're already 14 months ahead on the mortgage but it'll be another 16 K to hit 20%.

2. Fully fund two ROTH IRAs (11,000 K).  We'll probably have to spill over into 2015, to hit the max.

3. Fully fund my FSA (2500 K) - Check

4. Fully fund wife's HSA (3300 K total) [2800 K with 500 employer match] - Check

5. Continue funding my 403B plan at 16% (including 6% employer match)

6. Continue funding wife's 403B plan at 15% (including 7% employer match)

[Le0]

Here are my 2014 goals.

1. Pay Down Debt

2. Reduce Overall Spending  - On a per month basis we would like to cut our spending to $2500 a month. That will help pay down our debt.

3. Increase Income – I want to become more diverse in my income. Less reliant on a full time job and more profitable with my time.

http://pathtofi.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/2014-financial-goals/

[Le0]

Also, is there a free software or app or whatever to help me track my goals i.e. save 65% of pay check.

While I often suggest YNAB, Excel might be your best bet if you are looking for free and simple. If you don't have excel Google Docs is free, however it is online.

[cbr shadow]

My 2014 Goals:
1) Fully-fund both 401k's again: $17,500 x 2 = $35,000
2) Fully-fund both Roth IRA's again: $5,500 x 2 = $11,000
3) Learn more about investing by reading more
4) After #3, open a taxable fund with Vanguard and invest $10k this year
5) Replace driveway - $3,500
6) Remodel kitchen - $8,000
7) Vacation with my wife in Italy for 10 days - $4,200 (based on expense of our last trip last year)
8) Increase my income by 15%

[Le0]

My 2014 Goals:
1) Fully-fund both 401k's again: $17,500 x 2 = $35,000
2) Fully-fund both Roth IRA's again: $5,500 x 2 = $11,000
3) Learn more about investing by reading more
4) After #3, open a taxable fund with Vanguard and invest $10k this year
5) Replace driveway - $3,500
6) Remodel kitchen - $8,000
7) Vacation with my wife in Italy for 10 days - $4,200 (based on expense of our last trip last year)
8) Increase my income by 15%

This is pretty impressive. Good job on being able to save so much and do all the remodeling. I'll get there.

[CommonCents]

To be edited as I refine my thoughts and goals:

My 2014 Goals:
1) Sell condo
2) Track expenses for new house
3) Fully fund both 401ks: $35,000
4) Increase my income by 7% (involves 4.5% in guaranteed raises and 2.5% in side hustles or other mechanisms)
5) Learn more about investing by reading more
6) Open a taxable fund with Vanguard and invest $5k this year
7) Purchase: washer, dryer and grill for new house
8) Begin a vegetable garden
9) Bike to train at least 2 quarters
10) Vacation in Turks & Caicos or Brazil (TBD) for friend's wedding for 7-10 days

[arebelspy]

1) Purchase 3-5 Properties adding at least 15k to my annual cash flow using conservative estimates.
2) Increase net worth by more than our gross salaries (~90-100k with tutoring/summer school) without counting any equity gains on our properties, increase NW by 200k+ counting equity gains.
3) Save 75%+ of net income

Not really goals I guess, as none are really a challenge, but more like progress markers.  I'd be very surprised if we don't hit them all without much effort.

I don't really bother with stretch goals anymore.  We're happy with where we're at, and just plugging along.  So I guess I'd call it more like "what we expect to accomplish financially in 2014," rather than "goals."

EDIT: Okay, thinking about it later in the day, I came up with these goals: Buy ~8 more rentals this year, adding 30-35k cash flow to my portfolio, and hitting full FI by the end of 2014.  It'll be a stretch compared to what we fully expect to happen (above), but it isn't infeasible, I can see a few scenarios where this occurs.  Most of those scenarios are either 1) Out of my hands, and will require luck, or 2) Will require a LOT more work than I'm willing to put in (i.e. an extra full time job worth).  Two won't happen, so it'll depend on the first scenario.  We'll see.

[jrhampt]

...I guess I'd call it more like "what we expect to accomplish financially in 2014," rather than "goals."

Same here.  Here are my expectations for 2014:
1.  Pay off ~75k of the mortgage, getting us down to under 100k (because it's doable and it will be exciting to get into the doublek digits).
2.  Continue to max out 401ks (total contribution for both of us 35k, plus employer match gets us to about 45k).
3.  Total investments of about 750k by year end (combination of continued new investment in taxable and tax deferred + gains), or an increase of $150k (this was our target for 2013 also, but we exceeded by a lot due to salary raises and market gains - I'm not expecting these again in 2014 but will be pleasantly surprised if they show up).
4.  Total net worth including house of ~900k by year end.
5.  Upgrade insurance to include umbrella coverage.

I'm undecided on whether to start seeking promotion opportunities at work or not, but I may add that to the list.

[rockstache]

1. Fully fund both Roth IRAs
2. Build up emergency fund back to its previous level ($10,000)
3. Sell car that we don't need.
4. Increase net worth by 50% ($45,000) - I'm not sure that is actually possible, but I'm going to try!

[jflo]

Still have $78k in student loan debt - paid off $20k this last year.  Next year I'd like to pay off the two remaining smaller loans at $2,800 (3%) and $8, 775 (2.5%) and knock $12k out of the larger ones, for a roughly $25k reduction. 

Fortunately the big chunk of my loans is at 2.25% so I've also been maxing out retirement and will try to pay extra on the mortgage too.  So, I guess the big goal is to live off as little as possible and wipe out as much debt as possible. This is the first year I've tracked so I can only get better.

[JessieImproved]

2014 Goal: 100K in net worth. It can be done! :-)

[twbird18]

Goals:

1 - Follow the budget!
2 - Max 401K - pretty simple since it comes out automatically - $17.5K
3 - Max 2 IRA's - $11K
Hard part
4 - Contribute to TSP & taxable accounts $32K
5 - Locate/purchase 3rd rental property
6 - Pay off 1/3rd of our 1st house, now terrible rental property
7 - Earn 20K from side business
8 - Double our networth

[FIreDrill]

2014 should be a good year!

Goals:

1. Stay on track to graduate Spring 2015.
2. Sell a bunch of stuff....
3. Complete my CCNP Certification.
4. Throw 40k into investments across various accounts. (Roth IRA, 401k, and taxable)
5. Sell a car! (This should help with the 40K)
6. Achieve a savings rate of 50% take home.


Bring it on! :)

[Carrie]

Our ambitious goals are
1. max out retirement, a 401k and 2 Roth IRAs (we're about $7k shy right now, so it'll take some budget magic)
2. continue funding college savings @ $3k per year
3. pay mortgage principal down by $20k (this takes a backseat to maxing retirement)
4. work extra between now and mid-summer to make these goals possible; encourage spouse to go for a promotion
5. would love a net worth increase of $120k to beat our 2013 increase (of about $114k)

[kendallf]

To the OP: Try Mint, www.mint.com.  I find it very useful as I was too lazy to categorize my spending and Mint does it automatically once you've linked your accounts.

My goals for next year: complete renovation work on my old house (~$10k?) so that we can get it rented out!  That would be huge and would offset the $1k in monthly mortgage payments I'm currently sending up into what feels like thin air.

I'd like to fully fund my TSP account for the year, but that matters less right now than the house.  I'd also like to finish the year with a reasonable cash emergency fund, something I have never managed.

[SwordGuy]

Savings 2014

• Continue to stay out of debt.
• Continue fully funding both 401ks ($46,000).
• Vanguard index fund on 1 of 3 paychecks per month ($24,000)
• Cut costs on Cable TV and phone.
• Figure out if the "hidden cushion" in my checkbook really is the $10,000 it appears to be (and invest it if it is).
• Save $10,000 to use as downpayment on rental property.  Wait for a good bargain before buying.

[Nudelkopf]

(1) Stick of my budget of ~$12,000/yr!
(2) Have $50,000 in assets by the end of the year (don't care about net worth because I have $25k in HECS which I'm in no rush to pay off).

[RobertBirnie]

To the OP: Try Mint, www.mint.com.  I find it very useful as I was too lazy to categorize my spending and Mint does it automatically once you've linked your accounts.

Goals in mint are ok. The bummer is that for them to track a new goal each must be in a separate account. ie. Vanguard is my 401k goal, this checking is my downpayment goal. Makes it hard to organize so many accounts and keep them for specific purchases.

Personally:
Save 50k for a down payment. Buy first place.
Max out 2x 401k and IRA.
Finish paying off all 6.8% student debt ~10k

[pac_NW]

Quick thought on the goals tracker - I have used Excel your years and have a tab for each year if goals and then a tracker to monitor them. Has worked well. Happy to share a template if folks are interested.

Goals for 2014:

- continue saving 50%+ of gross pay
- invest excess cash - rental, business, another asset besides stock market
- make the step towards semi-retirement. I keep putting it off.
- continue working on my new blog at www.takenextsteps.com
- start building another business, locally

[mm31]

Just like in 2013, my number one goal will be to spend less than 24k a year while enjoying domestic and international travel and going out 1-2 times a month.

My saving goals won't change much:
- max out 401(k)
- max out IRA
- invest 10K in taxable fund
- maintain my asset allocation

[Catherine]

This seems like a good thread for jumping into the forums.

Here are my 2014 goals:
1. Pay off car loan
2. Increase income from side hustle (string quartet)
3. Promotion and raise at my main hustle
4. Increase telecommuting days from 1 per week to 2.

Baby steps.

[Ipodius]

Great thread :) I'm impressed by a lot of the goals around here!

1. Increase income by 50% minimum (change jobs)...
2. .... while not increasing our living expenses
3. Max out pre-tax retirement accounts
4. Increase overall savings rate (taxable and pre-tax) to 40% of gross income
5. Pay for an overseas trip to visit my sister cash

[basd]

Inspiring.

1. Increase income by 15% minimum, either through a raise, a promotion, a new job or a steady side hustle
2. Double our savings fund to 30k
3. Find and start using better savings accounts (or a low risk investment account)

All this while adapting to living with a household of three instead of two.

[kpd905]

Pay $30k toward my student loans (matching what I did this year).
Max out my 401k for the first time.

The big one:  try to hit zero networth by the end of the year.  Through student loan payments and 401k contributions and match I've been adding ~$5k per month to my networth, but it is at about -$50k due to the student loans.  Soon....

[Able was I ERE]

• Max out one 401k and two IRAs
• Pay down mortgage below $50k
• (stretch) increase networth by net income for day job (side hussles, employer match and investment gains to equal expenses)
• Reduce day job hours / salary to 80% FTE

All while taking a month-long unpaid sabbatical for a cross-country roadtrip.

[aj_yooper]

I'm starting to think about my goals for next year. I really want to invest more, save more, etc. Need inspiration from y'all. Please share your goals.
So far I have "Double my networth."

Also, is there a free software or app or whatever to help me track my goals i.e. save 65% of pay check.

Yes.  Post a journal regarding your 2014 goals. 

[Insanity]

My 2014 Goals:
1) Fully-fund both 401k's again: $17,500 x 2 = $35,000
2) Fully-fund both Roth IRA's again: $5,500 x 2 = $11,000
3) Learn more about investing by reading more
4) After #3, open a taxable fund with Vanguard and invest $10k this year
5) Replace driveway - $3,500
6) Remodel kitchen - $8,000
7) Vacation with my wife in Italy for 10 days - $4,200 (based on expense of our last trip last year)
8) Increase my income by 15%

How big is your driveway and what material?  I'm looking at re-doing ours (we have a corner property and current the driveway goes out to the wrong road for me :-) ).

[ASquared]

Max husbands 401k (17,500, plus will get about 5000 matching)
Max IRA for myself and my husband (5500 x2)
Max ESA for baby (2000)
Get investment accounts to 350k by Dec 2014 (currently 285k)

[anastrophe]

1. Fully fund my Roth IRA
2. Hit 50% savings rate for a minimum of 4 months
3. Increase net worth to $15,000 (1 year's expenses)
4. Finish my master's degree (related to future finances)

[Nancy]

1.) Max out our 401Ks and IRAs and contribute to taxable accounts for a 74% total savings rate (net)
3.) Reduce eating out/grocery budget
4.) Sell older bike

Edited for increased badassity

[Maltipoomoney]

1. Complete a Fat Emergency Fund of 6m living expenses (already 6% there - by July 2014)
2. Then Start aggressively paying down the mortgage to be done in 2-3 years instead of by 2021
3. Save 60% of income
4. Prove we can live on 40% and save like maniacs and be on track to accomplish FIRE in 4 years


Mustachians; I am in the 30% overall tax bracket, would you calculate savings rate based on pretax or after??

[cbr shadow]

My 2014 Goals:
1) Fully-fund both 401k's again: $17,500 x 2 = $35,000
2) Fully-fund both Roth IRA's again: $5,500 x 2 = $11,000
3) Learn more about investing by reading more
4) After #3, open a taxable fund with Vanguard and invest $10k this year
5) Replace driveway - $3,500
6) Remodel kitchen - $8,000
7) Vacation with my wife in Italy for 10 days - $4,200 (based on expense of our last trip last year)
8) Increase my income by 15%

How big is your driveway and what material?  I'm looking at re-doing ours (we have a corner property and current the driveway goes out to the wrong road for me :-) ).

My driveway is only about 30' x 15' and is concrete.  If it was asphalt it would be less expensive.  This quote also included a small walkway to the front door (3'x10' roughly).

[YK-Phil]

Financially, I am doing good financially thanks in part for always being frugal and in part for having had good fortune with my past careers and real estate purchases, but I am a complete ignorant -and I put it very mildly- with anything related to investments. Right now all my money is sitting in various bank accounts with low or no interests, TFSAs and RRSPs, and I have no clue whatsoever what they are earning, and what would be best in my situation. So my 2014 resolution is to retain an independent financial adviser and learn about investment strategies so I can figure out where I am going instead of making best guesses.

[Le0]

Financially, I am doing good financially thanks in part for always being frugal and in part for having had good fortune with my past careers and real estate purchases, but I am a complete ignorant -and I put it very mildly- with anything related to investments. Right now all my money is sitting in various bank accounts with low or no interests, TFSAs and RRSPs, and I have no clue whatsoever what they are earning, and what would be best in my situation. So my 2014 resolution is to retain an independent financial adviser and learn about investment strategies so I can figure out where I am going instead of making best guesses.

This is more of a 2015/16 goal for me. But I did look into Canadian Couch Potato for investment advice. You will have to pay a fee based adviser to start but I guess TD and ING both have investment accounts that you can manager yourself. 

[pachnik]

If my 'temp to perm' job goes perm (and my fingers are crossed), here are my financial goals:

1.  Start by putting $1,000.00 per month into my RRSP.  This is about 33% of what I take home.
2.  Then increase the percentage. 
3.  I have some cash sitting around - put it into TFSAs or whatever - but get it working for me.

[Nicster]

1. Move. I have too much house. This will free up about $700/month by lowering mortgage payment from $1700 to $1000. This will be the hardest thing. My kids don't remember living anywhere else.
2. Fund 403b (17,500)
3. Roth 5,500
4. Pay down mortgage on rental (current balance $38k. Want to get it down to $14k in 2014)

[TheGadfly]

• Stick to a budget!  I haven't been disciplined enough on this
• Reduce my SL principle by $10k
• Switch to a cheaper wireless provider (with my middle finger)
• Save at least 45% of my income (this is not easy in Washington, DC)
• Find a different job and move out of Washington, DC

[DTown]

Financial Goals:
- Max out 401k for the first time (I've been paying off student loans first) +$17500
- Start an IRA and max it out as well +$5500
- Pay off remaining student loans ~$5000 (I can't wait!)
- Stash another $5k in taxable accounts
- So my total net worth should increase by ~$33k, more than double what it is now.

Mustachian Goals:
- Finally get grocery spending under control (Rice and lentils!)
- Ride the bike to work at least 80% of the time
- I might need to find a new living situation in April, if so, make sure it costs $100 less per month
- Continue simplifying and minimizing stuff

[SwordGuy]

Savings 2014

• Continue to stay out of debt.
• Continue fully funding both 401ks ($46,000).
• Vanguard index fund on 1 of 3 paychecks per month ($24,000)
• Cut costs on Cable TV and phone.
• Figure out if the "hidden cushion" in my checkbook really is the $10,000 it appears to be (and invest it if it is).
• Save $10,000 to use as downpayment on rental property.  Wait for a good bargain before buying.

Some good news.  My lovely wife called me the very next day at work and suggested investing all of her paycheck each month.   :)

[HappierAtHome]

Save $50k minimum.

The BF: save $100k minimum.

So between us, we anticipate a pretty good year.