Financial Goals for 2009 (part 1)

I have never been one to set New Years resolutions, so I am not going to start now. However, I do think setting goals is a good idea. Good goals have some pretty simple characteristics such as being attainable, being measurable and being realistic. The primary reason most people fail in the area of personal finance, is because of a lack of goals and long-term planning. When you set a goal you provide motivation for being successful. You have provided ‘hope’ to your situation. Proverbs 13:12 says:

¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

In other words, when there is nothing to hope for, we will be emotionally sick, but having a goal (or something that gives us a reason to hope) will instill life into our situation. Today, I want to share with you some of our financial goals for 2009, and then over the next few days, we will look at 6 financial milestones that MSN Money thinks everyone should achieve before the age of 30. Here are three of our goals for this year:

1. My wife and I are going on a cruise in January 2010. The final payment is due October 2009, and since we will be paying in cash, we will be setting monthly goals to save the amount needed for the cruise (and some spending money).
2. Begin saving for our next replacement vehicle. Since we just purchased a replacement van for her, we are likely going to be saving to replace my Toyota Prius.
3. Depending on how the first six months of the new years goes, we will likely increase our contributions to our children’s college fund.

These are all good goals, because they are attainable, measurable and realistic. How about you? What are some of your goals for this new year?