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Your Take: Your New Year’s Resolution?
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Two days ago I wrote a post about how to set a New Year’s Resolution you can keep and today I want to know what your resolution for 2010 is going to be!
Mine? I plan on taking half of our emergency fund and committing it to the stock market in individual company holdings. I’ve long been an advocate of index funds, all of our retirement savings are in index funds, and only recently have I been dabbling in buying stock in companies that offer dividends. Our emergency fund has twelve months of expenses, a conservative amount because I am self-employed and my wife is a lightly compensated graduate student.
We will invest half of the fund over the next six months in individual stocks and then replenish the emergency fund with income as the months pass. Part of the process will be learning more about the investing and the stock market in general, so this won’t be a random selection of stocks “we think will do great,” but a more analytical approach. The idea is to learn more about investing in the stock market, perhaps learning it’s just not for me, and the means to measure success will be in committing to investments and feeling good about it.
It follows the whole SMART mantra and I am confident this is a resolution we’ll be able to keep.
What’s your New Year’s Resolution? If you need some ideas, Bankrate has a list of New Year’s resolutions that will save you money (and years on your life!).
And Happy New Year!
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Work the Dave Ramsey plan and get the heck out of debt. I performed my “plastectomy” two days ago.
Plastectomy… cute name haha
That’s the term Dave has been using for it. I listen to his show on the way home from work every night.
Darn it, I just broke my first New Year’s resolution: Being Jim’s first poster for 2010!
Only 1 resolution – Time to shed some extra pounds. I’ve ignored it long enough. But I posted a bunch of other objectives for the year including 6 extra payments to the mortgage and building a guitar.
My main goal is to get an emergency fund of 6 months. I have an emergency fund now but my saving has been slow and I want to speed it up. Once that is done, I want to increase the amount that I contribute to my Roth IRA. I don’t think I’ll be able to make the maximum contribution but my goal is to contribute at least $2500.
My resolutions are to find a full time engineering position, contribute to my IRA, set some extra funds aside for the student loan payments, and to get out and get more of a life. No strict hard deadlines but all can be easily broken down into smaller goals throughout the coming year.
Mine is to keep my nose to the grind stone of frugality. To find new and creative ways to keep money in my pockets and change jars. To try not to be such a pack rat ( I come from a long line of them ). And to better organize my pack rattery stuff. To try to step outside of my comfort zone and learn other ways to make money. To keep trolling the net reading articles and blogs such as the ones found here to further my knowledge on matters of frugality and money. And the biggest one is to have fun along the way. Here’s to all of you, wishes of triumph over adversity and the fruition of your goals. Take care all. =)
this. i agree. and as i said somewhere earlier to try and actually take a vacation this year without going broke, which i guess fits the staying frugal theme ha
My New Year’s Resolutions?
1. To lose 40 more pounds by December of 2010. I lost 40 pounds in 2009.
2. To make at least one $500.00 month with my online business by December of 2010. I’m not making any money with it now.
3. To get rid of clutter by throwing some out each week.
4. To go to Mexico in May 2009.
I know you meant May 2010. I also need to be careful.
Participate more in the world around me, online & off.
Save and research for a vacation in 2011. Hopefully, this will start a tradition of traveling every other year.
To get rid of our last remaining non-mortgage debt – my husbands student loan. I’ve got a good start, in December I paid of 20% of the remaining balance. Well on my way!
This sounds like my plan. Reduce debt as fast as possible.
After reading that Consumer Reports found that personal care products for women can cost about 50% more than products for men (or those that were gender neutral), I am going to stop buying products that are marketed for women.
Sounds interesting Jim. I’m sure you’ll let us know how the individual investments go. Good luck
Just a thought, but if you’re going to dip into your emergency fund to purchase stocks, then replenish the emergency fund, why not purchase stocks as you get the money?
From what I infer, this isn’t going to be in a retirement account. You could setup an account with an online brokerage if you are worried about brokerage fees. That way, you have minimal fees for every purchase.
Just curious to know the reasoning behind going into the emergency fund for a non-emergency.
To blog more regularly… I’ve really let it slip the past few months amidst other obligations. I’m also working to pay off my last remaining credit card and put them away for good.
I have a few resolutions, but my financial one is to increase the money I save in 2010 100% from 2009. Even if I don’t reach 100%, I know I will benefit because my savings will increase regardless just from my effort.
start investing in ETFs using my idle brokerage account and take personal finance more seriously.
My main financial goal is to double my emergency fund, while maxing out my Roth IRA.
I’m with you on this Jim, stocks are the way to go – especially now. One of my new year resolutions is to master the stock market….
Try to always see the goodness in others.
a very thoughtful new year resolution.
My resolution is to put a set amount of money into my ING savings every single month, rather than just when we end up with extra.
to continue working on paying off non-mortgage debt. contribute additional $1000.00 to ER. become more physically active, starting at walking 3 days a week, 20 minutes a day.
To stop acquiring THINGS, and spend that money on EXPERIENCES instead. I don’t need any more clutter, what I want is to get out and live more.
I made quite a bit of progress on this goal in 2009. (Last month, for my birthday, I was tempted to get a bigger tv, but instead went to San Fran to see my first ‘Niners game.) I hope to continue that progress in the year to come.
My main goal is to fund my emergency fund from the 3 months that I have now to up to six months by the end of the year. Since I am contributing the max to my Roth IRA and meeting my company’s 5% match on my 401K it will take a little bit of time but will be well worth it.
In 2010 I will learn how to better objectively evaluate situations. Or at least reduce my emotional response when I get stressed!
I hold my resolutions to late January, that way I avoid the date pressure of the 1st of the year.
Most people abandon their resolutions by the end of January, and that’s when mine are just kicking in. They seem to last longer for the dely too.
Also, I prefer calling them plans or agenda as opposed to resolutions. There’s something about ‘resolution’ that demands abandonment
My husband and I are going totally cliche and we’re committing to going to the gym 3 times per week at a minimum and start bringing our lunch to work 4 times a week. All very do-able.
The financial goal of the year is to save 10k by September which is when we plan on starting our family. We are contractors/consultants and pay for our own health insurance so we figure that’s what we’ll need to pay for adding maternity insurance to our plan plus pay for other things we’ll need before having a baby.
My financial resolution is to have at least 5k in my savings account. Might not be doable, but if I take my lunch to work and limit the nights I eat/go out – totally could work. Another thing I am going to try and get going is a ‘slush’ fund where I drop all my change and dollar bills into a container to accumulate over the year. Each pay period I will add a $20 bill and then use that money to go on a fun vacation when I have a good bit saved up.
Use blog/extra income to pay an additional $1,000 on my student loan.
My advice for a resolution (which can still be upheld because it’s not possible to do just yet) is to throw 20% of your tax refund into savings and 80% pay off debt. No splurging.
My New Year’s resolution is to clean up some loose ends of my finances. I have an account at a credit union where I lived 10 years ago where I had the minimum balance required, solely to get a cheaper car loan. Every month, they send me a statement saying they added $0.01 of interest. I am going to close this account. I have several items that will not make a big difference individually, but will simplify everything. Also, I am going to move a Roth IRA that I never look at to my other retirement account provider so I have better visibility.
Oh ya, and I would like to loose a few lbs