2010 Goals

In 2008 I made a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish during the year and I did well, completing almost all of them. For some reason I never made that list for 2009 and it felt like I was floundering a little during the year, sailing through life without a ruder. I’m sure that I made progress both financial and personal, but I couldn’t quantify any of the gains.

With that in mind, I made a list of what I would like to have happen during 2010, both financially and personally.

Financial:

Max out Roth – I’m already sending in enough to max it each month, I just have to keep making the contributions.

Maintain 16% in 401k – maybe even increase it to 17%

401K balance of $60k – current balance is $42,156, additional investments should bring it up to about $55k so I’m hoping for roughly a 9% return to make up the difference.

Make an extra $500 – I want to make extra money on the side but as I’ve never done this before, I’m going to set a low goal in the hopes of reaching it and getting some positive reinforcement.

Maintain $10K emergency Fund - this means that I'll resist the temptation to spend it and also that there won't be an emergency in 2010 major enough to cause me to tap into this fund.

Net Worth $200K – currently my net worth is just under $150k. This is a bit of a reach and I’m not sure if I can get to $200k but with a diligent saving and investing plan and some decent returns I might be able to get there.

Sell something on ebay – again, this is something I’ve never done but want to learn how to do.

Pay down student loan to $32,000. The balance is currently $40,398 and I just sent a wire transfer for $5,000 which will bring my balance down to $35,398 and I’m estimating that with my regular payments the balance will be $33,370 at the end of the year, so in effect my goal is to pay another $1,370 in addition to the regular payments. The interest rate is only 1.9% so I’m in no real rush to pay it off, but even paying small additional amounts can make a big difference in the length of the loan so I want to start making an effort to pay it down. I’ll write about that more later.

Personal:

Climb 5.11 – I climbed a few 5.10c’s, so hopefully by continuing to go regularly I can reach 5.11 by the end of the year.

Climb/Yoga 3x per week – my plan is to either climb or do yoga on a T,Th, Sat schedule.

Consistently work out 3x per week – my plan is to go to the gym by my work on a MWF schedule. With vacations and days off, I won’t get there every day but my goal is to do it consistently.

Weigh 178 lbs – Here my goals are coming together, by going to the gym and working out more, I’m hoping to add muscle mass and increase my weight to 178 lbs. But, I need to do this through exercise and eating right because I want mostly additional muscle mass. I don’t want to eat doughnuts and chips all year long and gain fat weight.

Take two vacations – R and I have been talking about going to Hawaii some day, maybe this will be the year that someday arrives. I also want to take another vacation either with R or by myself, just to get away, relax and go someplace I’ve never been before.

Look into moving – there are some things about our apartment that really bother me, so we’re going to look into finding another apartment that is a similar price range but has better amenities. It would be great if we could find a place that costs the same of less, but that might be wishful thinking in SF.

I have a lot of goals on my list this year, and I probably won't get them all checked off but if I can get most of them and make progress on the others I'll still be much better off than if I never made this list. I also like the accountability of having my goals on paper.