I haven’t really revamped my goals in a few years, so I’m going to give it a little change-up. You will see the goal updates on our quarterly expense reports.
Read 26 books
I have a reading goal every year, and I usually make it, so I increase it by one book each time to make it a little harder. Last year I just finished my goal of 25 books. Having a Kindle and getting e-books from the library was a good way to have a steady stream of new(ish) titles to read, but now I have a backlog of physical books from PaperbackSwap.com that I need to read and send back out so they’re not taking up so much space.
Burn 3,000 calories on 200 days
I use a Fitbit, which has really helped me stay on track with being active. I compete in a “workweek” step challenge every week, but although I used to win every week, I almost never do now. Not sure what changed. Some people will make a weight loss resolution for the new year, but I wanted one that was more within my control, so I will be using the Fitbit to track my calorie-burning. I made this goal in 2019, but never really tracked it. It looks like I got 133 days in the end. This time, the fact hat I will be reporting to you, the reader, might make the difference!
Save $19,500 in 457 Plan
They keep increasing the annual contribution limit on 457 plans. Might as well take advantage of it! Now that we have saved up a big stash of after-tax cash, I should be able to concentrate more on this goal.
Save $6,000 in both Roth IRAs
Hopefully stocks will take a dip, and at some point I will feel good about moving $12,000 of our after-tax cash into the Roths. Even if the stocks don’t dip, I should do it anyway at some point.
Save $10,000 in Marge’s 403(b) plan.
We came up a bit short on this goal last year. Hopefully, with our after-tax stash, we can stash more away pre-tax and finish this goal.
Savings Rate of 65%
This is a perennial goal, and it’s a bit aspirational. Remember, the average American family’s savings rate ranges between 5% and 10% depending what year you’re looking at. We got over 50% in 2019! Hopefully with some higher incomes and spending levels staying even, we can come close to 65% in 2020.
Total Non-Debt Spending of $35,000
If we end up buying a new house in 2020, our old non-debt spending goal of $30,000 will be laughable. I wouldn’t even be optimistic about getting under $35,000, but we’ll see.
Pay off Subaru
I bought my new (used) Subaru Crosstrek back in April with a five-year loan. I know, the horror! I know car loans are verboten in the personal finance blogosphere, but truth is, we were saving up for a new house, and I didn’t want some car preventing us from making a down payment on the perfect place. We didn’t find the perfect place yet, but now that we have a healthy cash down payment, maybe I can dedicate enough funds to the Subaru to pay it off? We’ll see. There is about $17,000 remaining now.
Pay off enough HELOC so $10,000 remains
We got the HELOC back in 2015 in order to buy our first rental property with almost all credit. It was a good idea, but we really need to start making extra payments on this. The car loan’s interest rate is higher, though, so I would concentrate on that first.