2011 Financial Review

[Telephus44]

I'm still working on 2012 goals, but I always try and start by reviewing what when right and what went wrong for the year before.

This year I had 5 goals. I figured I could reasonably achieve 2 of them, possibly 3. As of right now, I have achieved NONE of them.

They are:

*Get EF up to 5K.
*Pay off both cars (one will be paid off in Dec 2011 even without extra payments)
*Fully fund Roth IRA for 2011
*Max out 401K
*Pay mortgage down to the point where we can get rid of PMI


So here's what happened:
*Get EF up to 5K.
--- This probably would have happened except I dipped into it twice. First was to make a contribution to my 2010 Roth IRA and the second was to cover car insurance. Right now it's about $3300.
The good news is that we are continuing to fund it at $200 a month and I increased automatic withdrawals for my Roth IRA so I shouldn't need to raid it next year.

*Pay off both cars (one will be paid off in Dec 2011 even without extra payments)
--- I kind of decided to bypass this goal, since the interest is pretty low and we had other financial goals of higher priority. We did pay off one car in Dec as planned. The second car is scheduled to pay off in Aug 2012.

*Fully fund Roth IRA for 2011
--- This one isn't done yet, but will be. I've put in $4000 out of $5000, and I will come up with the last $1000 before April 15th. I was really hoping to have it done by Dec 31st and not have to use the run out period this year, but it didn't happen. The biggest thing helping me was that I started automatic withdrawals of $250 per month so when I got to Dec I only needed to find $2500 instead of all $5000.

*Max out 401K
--- This was a real stretch goal for us. We had a hard enough time juggling other commitments that I didn't change anything. DH currently puts in 14% and this will go up to 17% in Jan. I put in 4%, which is the max amount for me to get the most company match.

*Pay mortgage down to the point where we can get rid of PMI
--- This was kind of a stretch goal, but a lot more realistic for us than maxing out 401K's. We did manage to pay extra on 8 months out of the last 12, but not enough to be able to get rid of PMI. We need to knock out another $10K worth of principle.




On our overall financial picture, this year went really well. DH and I both remained employed all year AND we both received raises. We were able to save a significant amount on car insurance. We paid off one of the cars. We hit a significant goal for us as far as net worth goes. We have stayed even on the house (not underwater - if we had to sell it, we could still pay off the mortgage balance).

The only major negative drawback this year financially was our mini basement remodel. It cost us about $8500, and we put approx $5500 of it on a 0% credit card. I'm ok with carrying zero interest credit card debt, but it's still something we'll have to pay off next year.

I'm still working on my 2012 financial goals. The biggest challenge for me is that we're having another baby in May, and I'm trying not to be overly ambitious, but I don't want to sell myself short, either. I am hoping to have them posted by next week.

[ansley]

Way to go.

After 10 long years we completed bs2 about may. Then realized bs3 was done about Oct or Nov. Relaxed a bit Nov and Dec (also our slow season; nov, dec, Jan and feb). Finally started 401k up again in aug at 5%.

Now I'm trying to decide what to do next year. I want to up the 401k but I also want to be done with this house. Oldest child starts college in 2013. I have some money saved but only for a year or two.

Good luck with your 2012 goals.

[khaski]

My goals were:
- pay off cc, machine loan, business LOC- DONE debt free execpt house as of 10/10- a good 5 months ahead of original plan
-put $3k into my Roth- DONE have put in a little over $3k since 4/15, not sure how much I put in the first 4 months of 2010 without looking, probably roughly $300-500
-get EF up to $5k- DONE just in the nick of time, check to put us over $5100 added today!

Also added roughly $3500 to 'next car fund', started vacation fund, hubby's 'fun car' fund....

Working on next year's goals...would like to max out my Roth and start one for hubby- have been really remiss in saving for retirement, time to get going! Would like to roughly double EF, take a $3-4k vacation next winter, be close to/at my $10k car fund goal.....haven't gotten #s solidified, but initial calculations for all put us at about $20k saved.....would be a good challenge, but how do-able it is if I go by those #s depends largely on how much OT hubby gets in the new year and how well his home machine shop, part time, does.I also breed dogs and how many litters, how many pups in each, any unexpected vet bills also come into play. Those variables make a HUGE difference in how we do financially for the year. Also not sure if we're +1-ing the family with a new addition or not quite yet....I may wait another few weeks to be sure one way or another before solidifying #s- also a huge factor. If there's a baby on the way, more expenses- but bye-bye winter vacation!

[peanut]

You didn't do too bad Telephus. At least you achieved some financial things.

We had: visit the kids in the Maritimes, which we did; redo our wills, which we did as well as power of attorneys and living wills; renovations on the house, which we kind of did.

When we found out how much work needed to be done on the house and what it was going to cost we couldn't believe it. Now we are trying to manage with what we've got. We did have the upstairs ceilings refinished, a new fireplace hearth installed, new lino in the back entry, and hardwood flooring repairs done. But after that we just went with getting quotes for things.

This year we'll be cutting back on travel and saving more to have part of our fence replaced, the utility room redone, and the front yard redone. I also want to spend more time making our patio garden more productive. I'm on a mission to cut costs and increase productivity. I also want to sell my crafts.

[khaski]

Peanut, if you sell on esty (or another website) I hope you'll let us know where to find your crafts!

[peanut]

I already have an Etsy shop - SDGStudios. But my photos are not the greatest. One thing I have to work on this year... I hate that the postage is so much to ship things. I suspect my pricing is off accordingly. Would be great to get some feedback on the pricing and shipping end of things.

[Ceashels]

Reading what your goals for 2011 were... wow! It sounds as though you worked hard on ALL of them and saved or payed out a lot of money this year. That is very impressive.