At one time in my life, I managed a staff of 35 with a budget of $10 million. This time each year I would start preparing my budget. I would list what I needed to do for the remainder of the year and what big projects I would do in the next year. Some of the stuff that was budgeted was additional phases for existing projects, others were new projects, and some was maintenance.
This caused me to focus and what I really needed to get done in the last 5 months of the year and what I could do now to achieve my goals for 2009. It could be educating myself about some project before it started. It could be altering a current project slightly to make a future project easier.
The point was to line everything up and start removing any roadblocks that I could see in the road. And with that, I am starting to think about my goals for 2009. Some of tmy goals for 2008 may spill over, but hopefully not.
So there are basically two types of goals: tactical and strategic. My strategic goals are my long term goals of financial freedom (not having to work for a living), starting a real estate investment business, and spending more quality time with my family.
Now my tactical goals are what do I need to accomplish to move me towards these goals.
My 2008 goals were to set down a solid foundation (get out of debt, emergency fund, college savings, will, and life insurance) as well as some maintenance goals (max 401(k) contributions and rebalancing portfolio).
So for 2009, the maintenance goals will move forward. (max 401(k) contributions, rebalancing portfolio, and college savings). That's the no brainer as far as goals go.
The next step of goals is to start thinking about the next tactical steps to achieving my long term goals. The first few will be to continue saving.
The first goal will be to fully fund the college account for both kids. I will add $14,000 to their college fund over the year. In other words, I am going to catch up to where the accounts should be if I was contributing $2,000 per kid per year.
The second goal would be to save an additional $15,000 into investment accounts. This I can use for the business eventually or other big ticket items. I am thinking of saving 100k for the business. I want to go in cash heavy to start off cash flow positive with capital left (kind of like a business emergency fund).
The next goal is to continue to pay down debt. In this case, paying down on my mortgage at a rate of $2,000 – $3,000 a month. If I do $2,000, it will be paid off on 12/1/2017. If I do $3,000, it will be paid off on 10/1/2015.
So the last goal is to educate myself. This would include personal finance, how to run a business, real estate market, land lording, etc.
That's how my goals for 2009 are shaping up. I'll probably finalize them in Sept/Oct and then post them on the left.
So what are your goals next year and what are you doing today to help you to achieve them? You only have 5 months left.
Rough Goals for 2009? Already?
July 28th, 2008 at 05:37 pm
July 28th, 2008 at 06:52 pm 1217271122
July 28th, 2008 at 08:28 pm 1217276903
There are just so many variables coming in the second half of 2008; some I knew were coming (mortgage reset; student loans) and some I couldn't have predicted (hefty tax withholdings for AS's free tuition). I'm afraid I can't even see what the next few months will look like, let alone the next few years.
I guess my goals are: maintain a good quality of life, pay off extra debt every month (amount unknown), incorporate all my upcoming new bills without blowing my budget, and save for babies. The exact numbers of all these are unknown, unfortunately. And probably my Big-Picture Goal will need another 6 months to a year added on; I don't see 12/31/09 happening at this juncture.
July 28th, 2008 at 08:51 pm 1217278300
ceejay, good start. Just firm them up.
July 28th, 2008 at 09:07 pm 1217279257
Great job on the debt payoff...looks like recent medical is out of the way and car is almost paid off!!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:38 pm 1217284726
July 29th, 2008 at 01:10 am 1217293817
Chances are good that my 2009 goals won't be much different from my 2008s, as my 2008s is not much different from 2007s.
I just have to keep chugging along....
July 29th, 2008 at 02:28 am 1217298526
July 30th, 2008 at 12:59 am 1217379586