2008 Financial Goals

Ive struggled with this for a few days now and I’m still figuring it out. Every book I’ve read and Podcast I listened to all say to write it down. So this is what I’m doing. I need to be accountable in 2008 so this is my plan starting in February. Why February? I am expecting some cash pay down debt substantially and we are still recovering from the holiday season.
I am also feeling bad because I feel like we should be farther along than we are in the area of saving money. We have both been in graduate school for the last 3-4 years since graduating college and my husband just finished his masters program in December. But I don’t want to make excuses anymore. We are a six figure income household and after meeting with a financial advisor back in October, she gave us a plan and said everything else was within its limits (mortgage, debts etc etc). We told her flat out that we needed to take control of our finances and be more responsible. I also needed her to give us a plan on what to do even though they are things we know already. Do we pay down debt first, save or contribute to our 401k? These are things we hadn’t learned as children and it was so apparent after looking at our spending patterns and trends in 2007. In 2007 we exhausted our savings due to buying a new house which included buying down the interest rate, new furniture, and a few family emergencies. Anyhoo, so I’m taking control and the first step by writing it down.
Wish me luck! I will post the 2008 budget and goals when I nail it down. I want it to be specific, attainable and measurable.

