What are our financial goals for the new year?

Exciting times in the year of perfect vision! A new year means new beginnings, and new goals! Goal setting is something I do regularly. Often, they are small goals, like bringing lunch to work or getting a workout in, but I try to set new goals regularly and assess as I go!

Since we are six months in to intern year, I know on average how much we are saving each month.  I have thought a lot about the different options where our money can go – be it paying down student loans, opening a 401k in addition to our Roth IRA, paying our mortgage, putting it in a CD etc. I have also read a plethora of blog posts and forums on the topic, to see if I was missing some sort of hidden gem.

Ultimately, if I had my way, I would like more money so I could pay down our student loan principle. I think fundamentally that is key and once I am able to attack our student loan principle, I will be even happier in life. Apart from this, I know during residency one strong financial move is maxing out our Roth IRAs each year. If you are new, I posted in the very beginning on all the reasons this is great for residents – and the post is on our blog!

The rest of the options of paying down mortgage, opening a 401k, putting it in a taxable account and intermittently trading – are not financial moves we are going to choose.

Our financial goals for the year are:

  1. Max out our Roth IRAs for the year – $12,000
  2. Keep up with our student loan interest this year – $15,500

Total savings goal: $27,500

Based on how much we have saved each month; this will be a small stretch. Luckily, every couple of months we get an extra paycheck based on the number of days in the month. These extra paychecks I plan to put toward our financial goals. Ultimately, my secret goal is to bring down our principle slightly, but this would take a more aggressive savings rate. We will see how the year goes!

What is one of your financial goals for the year? Comment below!