2008 Goals

Well we are well into March and I haven't updated My Financial Odyssey with my 2008 goals. Can you blame me? With so much uncertainty in my job situation and moving to one of the most expensive cities in the country, I felt like any goal I set in January without my living and job situation nailed down would have been in vain.

With that said I have thought long and hard about this year's financial goals. Due to extenuating circumstances I was not able to achieve any of the goals I set out in January. However, this year I am employing the SMART Goal system.

For those of you who don't know SMART stands for...

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time Based

On that note here are my 2008 Financial Goals:

Goal #1

What: Establish a $1,000 E-Fund

How: Based on the $325 currently in the account (I took some money out to help pay for the move to NY) with $100 monthly contributions I should easily achieve this goal.

When: By 2008 Year End

Goal #2
What: Repay parents the $2,500 loan that was taken from them in November.
How: Pay $500/month which will be matched by my girlfriend.
When: May 2008

Goal #3
What: Save $5000 for engagement ring and proposal.
How: Save $500/month till May (when parents are paid back). Then increase saving to $1000/month.
When: September 2008

Goal #4
What: Save 6% of salary in my company's 401K.
How: Starting in July (when I am eligible to enroll) set up automatic paycheck deductions of 6% of my biweekly pay. By year end contributions should total $2,250.
When: By 2008 Year End

And now for the STRETCH GOAL!

What: Pay down $8,000 in Credit Card Debt! This will more than but my credit card debt in half!
How: Pay $500/month till September (totalling $5,000). Then contribute the cash I was contributing to the engagement ring towards the credit card debt for the remainder of the year (totalling $3,000).

When: By 2008 Year End

I think that the first four goals are very attainable assuming no major expenses arise during the year.


Cheers,
TMac

[Photo Credit]

Dave Ramsey Video Shorts

I recently watched a set of Dave Ramsey YouTube video shorts. I have heard a ton about Dave since I have entered the PF blogosphere. However, I have never read any of his books or heard his radio show. He has a very catchy way of talking and it is very infectious. After watching each of the 10 minute videos I was inspired to further look into my finances and take action!

Check these out if you have a lazy Sunday in front of you

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five
• Part Six
• Part Seven
• Part Eight
• Part Nine
  

Some of his themes and topics are very religiously oriented. If you can look through it and take the value of the lesson for what it is worth!

Cheers,
TMac


Subscribe to my feed and be automatically updated when I post!

Debt Allocation - March 2007

I ran the monthly debt balances and allocation and there is good news and bad news. Bad news first...

I took out a personal loan from my girlfriend so that I would have the liquidity to make the ING envelope system work during the first month. Lucky for me she is not charging me interest. However, I still think I am going to pay her back at least prime + 1% (simple interest). I will plan on paying it back once the credit card debt is payed off.

The good news... the progress towards paying off the debt is steady, albiet, slow. Overall, I am paying off my debt at an average rate of 1.4%. I think that this will be accellerated as I finish up spreading out my CC debt over several 0% cards. This month about $250 of my total contribution to the credit card debt went towards accrued interest. Once this is eliminated, my progress will be accelerated.

Reducing Debt - Advice Please!

What are people’s opinion on the best way to eliminate credit card debt.

I have about $18,000 in credit card debt spread over three cards, two of which are balance transfers with a 0% interest rate till next spring. Should I pay the balances on 0% cards, or should I try to knock down the card that carries the balance with the 14% APR? Here are the debt balances for each account and their corresponding APRs.

Discover Card: ($4,900) 0%
HSBC Platinum: ($1,000) 0%
American Express ($12,200) 14%

Should I pay the minimum towards the AMEX and then use the remainder to knock down as much of the principal of the other accounts as much as possibe or just focus on the AMEX and pay down the others as a secondary objective?

I have applied for another card to transfer even more of my balance away from my Amex to save on the interest charges.

What have others had success doing?

Current Debt Allocation

Today, I ran the numbers for my debt accounts. I wanted to see at this point in time where all my money is tied up. I think I am going to make this a monthly post so it provides visibility into the progress of eliminating my debt.

Here are the raw numbers that go along with that graph:

Credit Cards	$17,903.00
Student Loans	$33,842.00
Car Loan	$20,314.00
Personal Loans	$ 700.00
Total	$72,759.00

As you can see, my student loans make up a significant portion of my debt load. I think this is pretty normal considering that I just got out of college and financed almost all of it myself.

The car loan is higher than I would like it to be, but I had a car crisis last year when my 13 year old car decided to have some intermittent electrical problems. Right now, I owe more on the car than it is worth because I had fully financed it at the time of purchase. I won't make that mistake again!

My credit card debt started snowballing out of control sometime last year after I lost my job when I was living in Philly. I started using it for everyday purchases because I need to conserve the cash I had on hand and coming in from unemployment for monthly fixed expenses like student loan payments, car payments, and rent. I will be the first to admit that I didn't live as frugally as I should have. I think my mentality at the time was that I would be able to make ends meet and my time without a job would be short. It turned out to be a 5 month lay over without work.

Starting from here, let's see what we can do!