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I can't believe it is already September. This year has gone by so fast it almost seems like a blur. In a little less than four months, we'll be roaring into 2009. I guess we get so caught up in the daily hustle and bustle, the days and nights just pass us by and we don't take time to enjoy them. One of these days, I'll be out of debt and financially independent. I'll be able to take time to enjoy nice, relaxing days on the beach instead of spending my time stressing at work about things I have no control over.

In order for those dreams to become anywhere near a reality, I must get my finances in order. I feel that I am doing okay but things can always be better. I've set goals to plan and track my financial journey. At the end of 2007, I posted a list of financial goals I wanted to accomplish in 2008. My last update on the list of goals was back in April and I had not met any of the goals I'd previously set. Here is a recap of the goals and an update of the status:

• Increase Networth to $75,000. I actually exceeded this goal a couple of months ago and I've since increased the goal to $85,000. Depending on how things go for this month, I may increase the number a little more.
• Increase Freedom Account balance to $5000. This is the account that I use to save for minor unexpected expenses, insurance premiums, automobile maintenance and as backup funds to my rental property account. At last check, the balance is a little over $3000.
  
• Increase Rental Property Account balance to $1500. This is the account I use to cover rental property repairs. I've met this amount twice but I've had to use this account a couple of times this year to pay for repairs. Right now, the balance is just shy of $500.
  
• Decrease my non-mortgage debt to less than $40,000. Done!!! Paying off my car loan helped to get this down to $22,500 which is the balance of my consolidated student loans.
• Increase my credit scores to over 720 with each bureau. Done!! At last check, I had a 783 score with Equifax, 733 with Transunion and 721 with Experian.

I've added an additional goal to the list. I'm trying to minimize my expenses and keep my monthly outflows to less than $4000 per month. This number allows me to save over $1000 a month after all expenses.

How are you doing on your financial goals?

Related Posts:
Update on My Financial Goals
Twelve Year Car Loan
One Year Later - How Have My Finances Changed?

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Now that the car loan is gone, I have an additional $556 to work with in my budget. I don't want to let this extra money get wasted and/or spent frivolously so I put the pen to paper and re-evaluated my financial plan. I know how I want my finances to look and I'm setting a plan in action to accomplish the desired results. My new plan consists of a fully funding my Emergency Fund, Flexible Savings Account and continuing to reduce debt.

Emergency Fund. I've determined that if there were a situation where I had absolutely no income coming in, I could live on $2500 a month in bare bones expenses. This includes the mortgages on my primary home and rental property, food, utilities gas. I've also included money for health insurance premiums that I'd be paying out of pocket. I've calculated that I would be comfortable having at least 8 months of expenses available to keep me afloat. $2500/a month for 8 months comes to a nice round figure of $20,000. As of this post, I am roughly $2000 off. If I pay my former car payment to my savings account, I should be at my $20k goal in about 4 months. It should be even sooner considering I will get an extra paycheck in July and my stimulus check should be coming at the end of June.

Flexible Savings Account. I would like to keep a minimum of $2000 in my Flexible Savings Account. This account is used for any unplanned expenses or when Murphy decides to visit. My flexible savings account now stands at about $1400. Once the Emergency Fund is fully funded, I'll throw a couple payments into the flexible savings account to boost the balance of that account.

Debt Reduction. The original plan was to eliminate my student loan once the credit card debt and car loan were paid off. I've since decided to go another route. My second mortgage interest rate is 8% and my student loan interest rate is less than 6%. With the falling home prices, it is more important than ever to reduce my loan balance as quickly as possible in case there is a situation that comes up that forces me to need to sell my home quickly. There is a position at my job that I am possibly considering. If I were to take the job, I would need to relocate.

It feels good to have a plan in place for my finances. As they say, "If you fail to plan, plan to fail. " I've made significant improvements in my finances and I surely wouldn't want to go back to my financial life of 2-3 years ago.

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We're a quarter of the way through the year and I haven't updated you guys on how my goals are going. With the poor economy, it is even more important to have a plan for your finances and track every penny.

The last time I posted about my financial goals was back at the end of December 2007. Things are moving along slowly but surely on the financial front.

My main financial goals for 2008 are:

• Increase my Net Worth to at least $75,000. As of yesterday, I'm at around $70k. The stock market will have a big effect on this number. I am currently down about 5% in my 401k and down 11% in my brokerage account. I am sticking to a strict budget to manage my cashflow. If you want to start a budget but aren't sure where to start, consider taking advantage of the free trial at Mvelopes to get some ideas on how it works. Be sure to cancel before the end of 30 days so you won't be charged.


• Increase my Freedom Account balance to $5000. I was doing pretty well until I had to borrow money to pay for repairs to my rental property. I also paid for my landlords insurance policy for the year and paid my auto insurance in full for 6 months.


• Increase my Rental Property Account balance to at least $1500. Right now, the account has about $94 in it. Here are some $25 ING Referrals that I am using to help build the account balance back up. If you use one of my referrals to open an account, I will get a $10 bonus for referring you. Be sure to open the account with at least $250 to get the $25 referral bonus. If you don't have $250 to open an account, you can use this link instead.


• Decrease my non-mortgage debt to less than $40,000. This one is moving pretty slow. I am tempted to take money out of savings to pay off the car loan but with the slow economy, I never know when my job might decided to "reduce the workforce". Right now, I am right around $45,000.


• Increase my credit scores. I would like to have at least a 720 credit score with all three bureaus. So far, I am 2 out of 3. I'm not sure what is going on with Experian but I keep hovering around 700.

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Lynnae at beingfrugal.net was picked on to share the progress of her 2008 financial goals. Since she got picked on, she decided to pass the love on to me. Luv ya Lynnae!

How have I done with my 2008 financial goals? If you need a refresher of the list of my goals, click here.

1. Pay an additional $200 towards the principal of my car loan in order to decrease the balance to below $20,000. I was partially sucessful on this one. I'd $200 allocated in the budget but had to move $50 to another category. I was able to pay an additional $150 towards the principal. Next month, I have budgeted $250 to make up the difference.
2. Increase Net Worth to $75k. This one is way too early to call. Check back later in the year.
3. Increase Freedom Account Balance to $5000. Close, so very close, after the additional $1500 I added, I made it up to $4700. I should be able to meet or exceed this goal by next month.
4. Increase Rental Property Account to $1500.00. Done!!
5. Decrease non-mortgage debt to below $40k. Working on it!! Don' think this one will be a problem.
6. Increase all 3 credit scores to 720+. I am so close with TU, Experian is being a pain and Equifax has exceeded my expectations.

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