Photo Credit: ivanx

It’s the beginning of the month and I’m reviewing some of my goals for 2008 with you. As always, please leave any suggestions on how I can successfully complete my goals. I also love hearing what your goals are and how you’re doing.

Let me first review my goals for this year:

• Income: I would like to earn $37,000 for the year.
• Spending: I’m going to continue cutting back on eating out to twice a week, including weekends.
• Investing: I’m going to enroll in my company’s 401(k) and meet the employer match. I’ll also continue to contribute to my Roth IRA.
• Saving: I will have $2,000 in my emergency fund by September 1, 2008. I would also like to put our income tax return into our house fund toward paying down the car loan.
• Debt: I would like to pay off my car loan by July 31, 2008. I would like to have my car loan out before I have to start paying student loans.

Here’s how I’m doing:

• Income: I’m modifying this to be a household income. The goal is $70,000 for the year. We’re good to go on this one (for the time being – with life you never know).
• Spending: May’s spending has improved. We’re pretty much settled, so there shouldn’t be any moving related expenses popping up. I have to get my car repaired this week, so I’ll keep you posted on how this is going.
• Investing: I’m still investing in my Roth IRA. Automating my IRA is one of the best decisions I’ve made.
• Saving: My husband has found a job nearby, so that will help significantly with savings since we’re watching our spending. The goal is to keep expenses low enough for one of us to pay it.
• Debt: I’m still pushing back the car loan pay off to August 31,2008 to give me some breathing room. Whenever we get the stimulus check (still waiting), we’ll put it towards the car loan. Any income from the blog is also going to go towards this debt. Thank you for all your support.

All in all, it’s been an improvement financially. We’re just trying to keep on the goals in front. Personally, the move has been going well, I just want our friends to come down and join us here in the new city.

• July 2008: Progress Update   Wow, where do I begin with this month's review? Since resigning from my job, I have to update some of my plans. So far, I'm enjoying my 'vacation' and managed to take care of a lot of things we had put off since moving. Let me first review......
• Two Ways To Wisely Spend Your Tax Refund Start or add it to your emergency fund. You should do this first if you don’t have at least $1000 in your emergency fund. One great place to put it is in a high interest savings account, some of which are several times higher than many brick and mortar banks. There’s also HSBC......

• Investment Strategies With $10,000 or less #3: Preauthorized Investing Setup Last week, I discussed why I really like index mutual funds. Some readers might prefer to trade ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) directly, in order to replicate stock market indices with lower fees. However, there are 2 major inconveniences with ETFs when you are investing smaller amounts (i.e. less than......
• Great Debates: Traditional vs. Roth IRAs Welcome once again to the little corner of the blog where we discuss some of the greatest arguments in the personal finance world.  Today, we'll discuss which is better when planning for your retirement, a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA.  (There are also traditional and Roth flavors of 401(k)s,......