Financial Goals for 2006

If 2005 was "The Year of Getting Finances in Order" then I hereby declare 2006 "The Year of Increasing Income". My theme in the last year was really about educating myself about our financial picture and finally putting some goals into place and I really feel it made a difference.

This year I'd really like to focus on increasing income. I'm not sure a job switch is in my future for this year, but I'd like to augment my current income via other means (Ebay, Adsense?, etc) at the very least and pursue some other money-making ideas along the way. Clearly I need to keep noodling and hatch a plan and some goals to that end, but that's the "theme" I've chosen for the year.

Here are our specific financial goals for 2006:

• $10,000 in an emergency fund before mid-year
• Maximize 2006 Roth IRA contribution (and finish 2005 by April)
• At least $10,000 in 401(k)
• Networth of $275k by EOY
• Save 35% of our combined income
• Reduce monthly expenses (this is becoming more of a hobby than a goal)
  

We've prioritized the emergency fund so we can sleep better at night, then we'll figure out the rest of the tax-deferred and tax-exempt savings schedule (save in parallel? or Roth then 401k...that sort of thing).

I'm interested to try out having a networth goal. I think 275k might be a little bit of a stretch, but I want to try it. And I'd like to try to save a little more than 30% of our income so I chose 35% and we still need to do this while absorbing some household expenses this year.

So my hope is that this batch of goals are meetable but challenging and that they'll give me focus for the upcoming year.

I wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2006!