Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The Fourth Financial New Year's Resolution

1. Give 5% of my income.
2. Open a Roth and automate contributions.
3. Earn the full employer match in my 401(k).


My fourth financial New Year's resolution is to start and automate contributions to a travel fund. I hope to get the chance to visit friends in Amsterdam in October or thereabouts, and I continue to look forward to realizing my two cherished travel goals (Trans-Mongolian Railway and North Africa) in the near future. None of this is cheap. The immediate goal is the Trans-Mongolian Railway trip; Amsterdam is kind of optional (and, secretly, I'm hoping that the plane ticket will be a birthday present) and North Africa is a longer-term goal. I wish I could say that I can save $5,000 this year towards this goal, but that's clearly impossible. A more manageable goal is to save $2,000, or $80 per paycheck. That means that if I wanted to take this trip at the end of this year, I'd need to use money above and beyond this savings account. Cross that bridge when I come to it--it's most important to me to set a manageable and constructive goal.

So:
4. Establish and automate contributions to travel fund with savings goal of $2,000.

1 comment:

kelly said...

Travel is wonderful. Definitely something to save for. I've been reading a book called Women, Get Answers About Your Money by Carolyn Castleberry, which has been a great resource for learning about different ways to save, and various other money matters. It may be a great resource for you. cheers.