» My 2009 Financial, Blogging, and Personal Goals

My 2009 Financial, Blogging, and Personal Goals

by PT |

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It’s the beginning of a new year: a great time to set some goals for yourself. I took some time today to think about the year ahead and what all I would like to accomplish. To help keep me accountable I’ve laid out my financial, blogging, and personal goals for the year.

Savings and Retirement Goals

Reach our savings goal in the FNBO Direct Pay Yourself First Challenge by March 1, 2009 – only $1,000 remaining to get to our goal of $7,500 DONE
Max out 2008 Roth IRA contributions for Mrs. PT and I by April 15th, 2009 – $10,000 DONE
Max out 2009 401k contributions & get the full company match by December 31, 2009 – $16,500 + match
Max out my company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan twice (May DONE and November 2009) – 10% of paycheck (These shares are sold as soon as purchased. See ESPP flipping. Funds are used to pay property taxes)
Maintain our emergency fund at the current level
Stretch Goal: Begin saving for a down payment on our next home or real estate investment

This may look daunting, but most of it is done by automation and separation: two keys to increased savings. I’ll share more about my methods for saving in the coming year.

Debt Reduction Goals

Payoff the auto loan or get a newer vehicle and loan with a more reasonable interest rate DONE
Stretch Goal: Begin making double payments on our student loans DONE

This could be the first year that I don’t have a debt with and interest rate above 4%, excluding the mortgage. Would be nice.

Blogging Goals

Write at least 3 valuable posts a week
Continue providing deals and money-saving ideas here and via Twitter.
Continue growing traffic by 15-20% per month
Grow subscribers to 2,500 by December 31, 2009 – Subscribe
Double the monthly blog income by December 31, 2009 through diverse sources

Personal Goals

Sleep more (odd thing to say for a guy who’s about to become a Dad)
Spend more time with family and friends
Develop better time management skills (write faster)
Learn to converse in Spanish
Run another half marathon

The personal goals are a bit generic, but they’ll have to do. Also, could someone please loan me a couple of extra hours each day? That would really help.

What are your goals for 2009? Share them in the comments below…

8 Responses to “My 2009 Financial, Blogging, and Personal Goals”
By Jfunk on Jan 2, 2009 | Reply

Nice list PT. I’m with you on the sleep and Spanish. Maybe if I multi-task with osmosis, I can kill 2 birds w/1 stone!
By J on Jan 3, 2009 | Reply

Gotta buy a house so I can stop living at work, literally. Specifically a 2-family; when the other half is rented, it will just about take care of the mortgage payment.
Stretch goal: get certified in financial management…something I already do for work, but get grossly underpaid for.

Happy New Year!
By Studenomics on Jan 4, 2009 | Reply

Some ambitious goals you have set for yourself. The learning to converse in Spanish is something that I have been thinking about for many years. I have learned a little bit but not enough to have a full out conversation.
By PT on Jan 4, 2009 | Reply

@JFunk – yeah, I don’t think the wife would like me blaring Spanish lesson during the night. Guess I could wear earphones.

@J – Looking forward to hearing about your home purchase. Sounds like a neat investment too.

@Studenomics – Yeah, gotta set the bar high. We’ll see where I land when it’s all said and done. I’m sure life will throw some kinks in the plan, but it might also throw us a bone.
By Millionaire Acts on Jan 8, 2009 | Reply

I also had blogged about my personal financial goals and wish list for this year 2009. I hope that we could all achieve our own goals and really hoping for the better this year 2009.
By Dividend Tree on Jan 11, 2009 | Reply

PTM: it was good read. Good luck for 2009.

Best Regards,
DT
By PT on Jan 12, 2009 | Reply

@Millionaire Acts – Thanks for stopping by and for the comments.

@Dividend Tree – Thanks! Right back at ya!