Setting specific goals is an important step in the personal finance journey. They give us something tangible to measure our progress against. Without specific goals, it’s easy to just meander through our finances without having a sense of purpose as to what we’re doing.
At the beginning of the year I set a few financial goals for our family. Now that we’re halfway through the year, let’s see how we’re doing.
Goal #1: Pay Off Our Credit Card
I’ve mentioned a number of times that we had our baby boy last year. And while we saved up a lot of money beforehand to cover most of our baby-related expenses, we seemed to spend a little more than we had saved. So we ended up building a balance on a credit card.
The good news is that it was a new card with a 0% interest offer. The zero percent rate is set to expire in August, and our final payment on the balance went through in June. I consider this a win. We received $150 in rewards for signing up for the card and paid off the balance in time to avoid any interest.
Goal Status: Complete
Goal #2: Add $1,000 To Our Emergency Fund
While we do already have an emergency fund in place, it is by no means fully funded. And by “fully funded” I mean enough to cover three months worth of living expenses. And once we reach that level, I’m sure my definition will change again to six months worth of living expenses.
To be honest, we haven’t done much with this goal yet. I was focusing our efforts on paying the credit card off before the zero interest period ended. But now that we’ve done that, we should be able to add $1,000 to the emergency fund by the end of the year.
Goal Status: Not Started, But On Target
Goal #3: Continue Contributing To Our Son’s College Savings Account (529 Plan)
I have monthly automatic contributions set up for this, and I have a mental note to increase the monthly contribution every year around his birthday.
Goal Status: On Target
Summary
So far, we’re on track with our goals. We’ve done a pretty good job of keeping our expenses low so we can meet our goals. Sometimes months are better than others, but it’s nice to look back and see that progress is being made.
Here’s hoping nothing too big comes up in the second half of the year to derail our plans (knock on wood).
4 comments
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Modest Money
July 5, 2012 at 3:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You gotta love those 0% interest offers credit cards are always handing out. I wonder if many aggressive investors use those to leverage investments.
It sounds like your goals are all doing well. Keep up the good work Justin. It’s definitely a good idea to clear off that credit card balance before worrying about the emergency fund.
Justin
July 6, 2012 at 10:30 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Back when CD rates were higher I considered playing that game. Open up a credit card at zero percent and open a one year CD at the same time. I never actually tried it out though.
Michelle
July 5, 2012 at 3:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s great about the credit card! The 0% interest is great also of course.
Lance@MoneyLife&More
July 5, 2012 at 10:05 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Congrats on keeping up with your goals and keeping them on track for the year. Keep us updated on adding the extra money to your efund!