It’s Time to Set Money Goals for 2019
Now that we’ve talked about goal setting and reviewed our results this year , it’s time to talk about next year. To this end, my goal for money for 2019 …
[Drumroll]
Saving as much as possible! Hooray! The original, I know. But in order to really achieve that goal in the coming months, I’ll need to start breaking it down into weekly or monthly mini-goals that I can cross out as I’ve written here .
This includes:
- Automation of Roth IRA deposits every month . I automated my contributions last week, so I’m on my way. Maybe you also increased your 401 (k) or IRA contributions last week? I also made a reminder on my July calendar to increase my contributions.
- I actually bring lunch to work . Going further, this can be broken down into finding simple tasty recipes that work well for travel (hello, MTA), or stocking up on inexpensive takeaway lunch options. The sub-goal I set is to spend more time with Trader Joe’s rather than resorting to the more expensive grocery stores in my area. No, I don’t think bringing dinner will make you rich , but I know that I am often lazy and it can be an easy way for me to save money, especially in New York.
- Cut back on alcohol and nights out . It is good for my health and my wallet. Instead, I’ll try to organize some low-cost evenings or focus on activities I enjoy doing on my own.
- No new clothes . I mean, I’ve got enough, I’ll be fine.
- Track my expenses with DollarBird . I recently started using DollarBird and this is the first budgeting app that I really liked because it is relatively simple and doesn’t cost much .
- Finding ways to make more money . Nothing helps like replenishing your cash flow. I am looking for other ways to make more money in 2019 and hope to write more articles in this vein in the new year.
Much of this boils down to building a better daily routine , structuring your day in a way that helps, not hinders, success. There are, of course, a million ways to do this, and I’ve only stopped at a few. One of the most important is to remind myself that I am saving up for freedom , and not just because some financial professional said so. And, you know, I’m just doing it instead of talking about it .
It is also an acknowledgment that I am not going to stick to all these mini-goals all the time. I’m (definitely) going to screw up. But if the general trend is in the direction in which I would like to move, then this is not bad.
Here are what some of you have called your New Year goals.
Girlinacardigan plans to save more too :
I paid off my credit card in June and kept it maturing for the rest of the year! Next year, I’m going to save money (and hopefully find a new job with a higher salary to save more!).
Banannerpants specializes in retirement accounts:
2019: Make the most of both 403b and an open IRA, and try to have a baby without going off the rails.
Both yvanehtnioj and hubby will enjoy the fruits of their labor:
The goal was to pay off all my student loans so that by the time we needed to start saving our child [arriving January] for college, we still wouldn’t be paying ours. In May I learned that my husband had his last student loan at 8% (!!!), so instead of paying off my last two loans at 2.5% and 1.75%, I paid off all my loans with a higher interest rate and its last.
The Mint informed me that we have paid over $ 78,000 in student loans since January. What madness. Now that we can use this to amass wealth, I look forward to my upcoming daily voyage into the gold coin vault.
So what else is in store for us? How do you get there?