Have your financial goals changed

**homesteadmamma** · 09-15-2002, 04:38 PM

Have your financial goals changed since you've hit the 40+ years? Or are they the same as they always were?

**dolphin** · 09-15-2002, 08:11 PM

My financial goals have changed a lot! My ds just started High School this year. So I have 4 more years of needing lots of extras. Possibly more if he should decide to go to Community College. I have no grand ideas that he will go to a University because he has some learning disabilities and he just isn't motivated.

Now at 47, we are broke and trying to make our second million. (Already spent the first, lol).

We are cutting down on a lot of things and trying to live a more simple life.

We just want to be able to pay down on our home a whole lot before we retire. We would like to retire early but I don't see that happening.

**KathiS** · 09-16-2002, 04:03 AM

Seems like when we were younger, our goals were to acquire more. Now we have too much of everything and we are trying to scale back and live more frugally. We aren't so interested in things anymore. We spend our money more on doing things we want to do or saving more.

**PrairieRose** · 09-22-2002, 04:39 PM

I agree with both of you girls about the younger person's goals in life in contrast with a middle aged (gulp) person's goals. Ofcourse our goals have changed a lot. We have now paid off our home (about 8 yrs. early), are paying off 2 carloans (about a year each early) and have another loan we will pay off early by July of next year. Our present goals are to be debt free, pouring any money that we can into our retirement and savings accounts. We want to travel more, work less as the next few years come on. Being self employed I'm not sure we'll ever completely retire but it would be very nice to be able to, one fine day. We have a business that it would be possible to semi-retire off of and live a comfortable lifestyle as long as our health holds out. (comfortable but not lavish)

**Karla** · 09-28-2002, 03:23 AM

I sometimes wonder why I didn't see the changes comming years ago. Yes our goals have changed, now I just want to get out of debt that bothers me badly, kind of a bad nag at me. I feel we are almost where we were when the kids were little, just scraping by. I'm working hard to change that but maintain my sahm status, I need to be here for my ds..

**dozymom** · 09-28-2002, 04:29 PM

Sigh, yes. When I first wrote out our financial goals 15 years ago, they were to have the house paid off, money for the kids college, and lots of money in the retirement acct, and be debt free.

Well here we are, 3 houses later, and lost money on the moving, so that we are facing retirement WITH a mtg and for us it's a big one. Something I was sure we would have killed off by now.

But the kids are going thru their university degrees debt free, and they make enough with their part time jobs to pretty much pay their way. We buy their books from the savings we put by earlier, and their grandparents pay the tuition. They cover the remainder plus clothing, gasoline, bus fare, car insurance etc.

They both own their own cars debt free and they both have money in the bank. Good healthy savings.

We had to cash in our RRSP's again (had to clean them out when we moved her 3 yrs ago, we lost so much on selling the other house, we barely made it out at all, so that was our down payment)

The car needed replacing this year so we cashed them in again.

However on the plus side we are debt free, paid cash for the replacement car, the kids are nearly thru their degrees, and we don't owe anything except the mtg.

And even that isn't too bad, we've been paying a bit extra on it which should help. It's a house we plan to retire in, small but easy to keep up, and in a good neighborhood near the buses and shopping.

If worst came to worst I could rent out a bedroom to a student, the basement rec room in fact, and the student could have the downstairs half bathroom (there is a sink and toilet down there).

the house is close to the university bus route, and it's not far about 10 minutes by bus.

Even if dh had to take early retirement next year, (he could if he wanted, he qualifies) we could manage. We don't expect to, that is a worst case scenario. He is 52 and they can't make him retire till 65 so there are a few more years to rebuild our finances.

We talk it over every once in a while, and he is happy with our progress, and truthfully so am I.

It isn't where I'd expected to be

BUT I'm still a SAHM which was one of our top priorities and life is good.