2016 Goals! AKA that's a good question!

2016 is going to be an interesting year for me - namely it's a transition year for my finances.  

I was unemployed (by choice) for 7 months in 2015.  I used part of my savings to support myself.  I started a new job in mid-December 2015 and so 2016 is about getting back to the level I was at previously so that I can spring forward.  This basically means replenishing a savings account that is not part of this blog's goals.

It also means figuring out how much money I have to play with.  I made the decision with this current job to take a step-down in total compensation in exchange for what I hope will be slightly reduced responsibilities.  The ultimate hope is that this will translate into more flexibility in my personal life to explore areas that are important to me.  From a financial perspective this translates into me receiving a much lower bonus (it's going to be less than half of what I received previously) and it means I cannot supercharge my goals.  I managed to keep my base salary the same; however, I am working in a different geographical area and my taxes have gone up.  So my paychecks are lower - how much lower I will only know in January once I have a normalized paycheck.

(Note in 2016 I may not receive a bonus.  This is due primarily to the date that I started work as well as the fact that my company has a different fiscal year end date and thus pays their bonuses during a different part of the year.  Anything received in 2016 would be a token - say $2,500 or so.  To be conservative, I am assuming nothing for 2016.)

The other issue that will impact 2016 is my 401k monies.  I won't be eligible to contribute to my 401k until July 2016.  Since I normally contribute, this means the paychecks I will receive in Jan-June will be higher than they will be going forward.  My plan is to invest a portion of those monies into a mutual fund I already own (not part of this blog's goals) to sort-of mimic the 401k contributions.  This mutual fund will be different from my IRA which I will contribute to separately.  It just has the effect of reducing my take home salary.

Ultimately, all this means is I have no real clue what my budget is going to look like until July 2016 :-)  But I will manage and adjust as the year goes by.

This is a bit of a crap post about 2016's financial goals but I'm a little bit in limbo because of all of the above.  

Without fully crunching numbers that I don't yet have, I have decided to just write down some goals and start working towards them.  Frankly, if I can be consistent with making any sort of contribution towards these goals, that will be a step in the right direction.   

2016 Financial Goals:
1) Overpay my mortgage by an extra 3%.
2) Invest $6,250 into my new brokerage account.
3) Save $625 into my Rewire account.
4) Save $625 into my G2H-FU account.
5) Save $2,500 into my 2nd Home account.

This adds up to $10,000 plus my mortgage over-payments.  It's far less than what I would ideally like to do in a year but I do have other financial goals in 2016 (like replenishing a separate account) that should not appear going forward.  If I can do more great!  I will just try not to do any less.

One thing to note is that I am putting in less cash to my Rewire and G2H-FU accounts but offsetting that with a little more into my brokerage account.  My investments in the brokerage account will give me dividends that are far more than the interest I would earn on a savings account.  It makes sense to me to invest more in the brokerage account in the beginning to reap this benefit.

Here's hoping 2016 is a very prosperous year for us all!

What are your financial goals for the new year?

Pru