Financial Goals for 2011

With the New Year right around the corner, I thought I would compile a list of what I would like to achieve financially.

1. Be rid of all credit card debt.
2. Earn $5000 in extra cash from side jobs.
3. Have $10,000 in non-retirement accounts.
4. Have $80,000 in retirement accounts.
5. Get total loans/debt below $200,000.

This will require some work on my part. We have to reign in our extra spending and work on creating some side income. I have some thoughts on the latter that I will share in the future.

New Goal for Paying off Auto Loan and Others

Back in April, I laid out our goals for paying off our debt. In there, I figured that after paying off the credit card debt, we could put all our resources towards the auto loan. The earliest I figured we could pay that off was August of 2014. Well, now that we have paid off the CC debt earlier, I believe that we can tackle the auto debt earlier. If all goes to plan, we will have it paid off by December of 2012. That would be welcome news, as we would then begin to tackle the 2nd mortgage.

By then, the mortgage will have about $56000 remaining. I would give us 3 years of accelerated payments to finish off that loan. That would be December of 2015. All that would remain now would be the 1st mortgage with $115000 remaining in principal. By throwing all that extra dollars($1350) into the principal every month, I see us paying off this debt within 3 more years. This means by December of 2018, the house will be all ours. This is one lofty goal, but if we can get back to two incomes next year, it will be totally doable. Also, I plan on working in some extra hobby income as well.

2010 Financial Goals

It being late in the first half of the year, I thought I would throw out some goals for the end of the 2010. This is all incumbent of my wife being able to find some part time work. If she doesn't soon, we are going to have to tap into the emergency fund even more and then lord knows what. I have been contemplating finding a second job, but my work sometimes requires weekend builds, so it would be tough to schedule. Lets hope we find something soon.

1. Emergency Fund: $5,000.00 (currently at $6200 and being taped into)
2. Taxable Investments: $2,630.00 (currently $1758.87)
3. Retirement Accts: $99,540.00 (currently $90980.79)
4. Credit Card Debt: $10,393.00 (currently $12793.42)

As I stated, if my wife does not find work soon, the emergency fund will really be dwindling, but I guess that is why we have it. I have started selling stuff on Craigslist and Gazelle, but that is going slowly.

On That Second Job

Number 2 in my 5 Steps to Acquiring a Dream had to do with adding a second income. Currently, my wife is out of work and is sort of looking for a job. I say 'sort of' because with our situation at home. We have two girls and the youngest one has medical issues that require my wife to be available for doctors and therapist appointments at odd times. Therefore, it is hard for her to do a 9-5 job.

Before her current unemployment, she was a part time tutor at a company that went out of business. It was perfect for her, because she could set her hours weekly. She was also in charge of scheduling, so was able to make sure she was taken care of. Well, it has been nearly a year now since she last worked and while we are still afloat, we will need to find some more income.

With that in mind, I have been contemplating what we can do for extra income. Then I looked at all the stuff we have around the house, and I thought maybe we could sell off stuff we do not use, such as books, toys and baby items. There are several options out there such as eBay and Craigslist, but what to do with books.

I did a quick search for selling used books and found Powell's Books. They buy used stuff and will send you prepaid shipping labels. You just have to box the stuff up and take it to the USPS. Now the price is not too great and they don't take all books. It is kind of hit or miss. So far, I have made a grand total of $5.50 from 4 books, but it is a start. I have some more boxes to go through, and am looking for more sites to try out.

All, this money is going straight into my PayPal account and will eventually be used to payoff some debts early. Also going into the PayPal account is money from tech toys that I have been selling on Gazelle. That is another decent site, that is comparable to eBay without the hassle of going through the bidding process. I have made some decent money by selling old cellphones and PDAs.

5 Steps to Acquiring the Dream

This post outlines the 5 steps needed to attain our dream of owning real estate in New York. While this is our goal, I believe it can be adapted by others to fulfill their dreams. This could be owning real estate or saving or retirement or maybe buying a boat or RV. It could be whatever you want to achieve.

1. Setting a price goal: I believe that $2,000,000 is the minimum to get a decent property in Manhattan, whether through a cash purchase or finance. We may find something for less depending on how the market is, but this is what we should reach for.
2. Getting a second income or increasing my income: Right now, we are working with one income, since my wife has been out of work since last year. Either she needs to find a job or I need to find a better paying job. I could also try and work part time online somehow.
3. Getting out of credit card debt: This is a tough one. We have some debt that we have built up due to my wife being out of work. While we have stabilized that for now, we need to get rid of it.
4. Paying off our mortgage: After the credit card debt is gone, it will be time to work on this one. We still have 23 years left right now, but is we can eradicate the $300+ dollars we are paying on step 3, that money will go towards the mortgage.
5. Look for a place and move: Self explanatory, but still complex, with all the details involved with uprooting.

The list is not set in stone of course, but is a good guide to use in trying to reach for our goal. This would all be thrown away if I were to find a good paying job in NYC and we were to move closer to the city, whether is a suburb or in a neighboring state. Then we would go directly to step 5.