We had a snow day here today; stayed home and had a no spend day. DH did walk to Starbucks to do some work away from the noisy household, so he spent a little. But I did not!
Here is what I've settled on for financial goals for 2015. I'll probably post some personal goals later.
(1) Track all variable spending; report monthly totals on blog
Variable spending includes gas, parking/tolls, cash, clothing, alcohol, dining our, groceries, gifts, household, leisure, miscellaneous, and personal care. (Listed in the order my software puts them; not in order of importance 
)
We have a rough budget for these, but I'd like to see if our amounts are reasonable by tracking for a couple of months. Once we have a handle on what we're actually spending, we can target certain categories for reduction in spending.
(2) Open mutual fund accounts for each kid (2.5K for DS1, 1K for DS2, add 500 for each this year)
These accounts will be theirs to use for educational expenses, or for something else if they're not needed for that. We'll aim to put $500 in for each kid on his birthday. This is also where we'll deposit any $$ received from relatives for college savings.
(3) Do our wills
I'm embarrassed we still haven't done this. The primary reason for doing this is so that it's clear what we want for our kids if we were to die. Both of our families know the plan, and there shouldn't be any issues in executing it, but it's just better/safer to have it legally done.
(4) Add 4K to educational investment accounts
These accounts contain the bulk of college savings for our kids. We are saving most of it in our names because we aren't sure yet how much we will contribute financially to their college educations. We also don't know how much will be needed. If we don't need it, it can be used for our retirement. This will be automated with $334 a month, so this goal should be automatically met.
(5) Save 10K for home repairs/improvements
Some of these are badly needed, and some of these are more wants. These include some plumbing repairs/upgrades, new storm doors for front and back, some landscaping, and a rebuilt from porch. We usually save $275 a month in this category. This year I will bump that up to $400 a month. The rest would need to come from other sources, such as credit card rewards, our tax refund, etc. I'm not sure this is doable, but I'm going to try!
(6) Add 5K to emergency fund
We have a pretty solid emergency fund in place, but I'd like to work to increase it, especially since we've added another member to our family. This year I'd like to add 5K. I plan to use our tax refund to cover most of this, along with dependent care flexible spending reimbursements.
(7) 50K in an opportunity fund
I'm not really sure this goal is possible, in fact it might be a huge failure. DH recently started receiving royalty payments for a product he created. We aren't sure how big these will continue to be, or how long they will last. We used the first two to beef up our emergency fund after a few costly home repairs this summer. Now that our EF is funded, I asked DH what he wanted to do with this money. Initially he (half-jokingly) wanted to save up to buy a Tesla But instead we decided to sock it away in what we're calling an "opportunity fund." This could be useful in the future if we decide to relocate closer to family (and to a higher cost of living location.) Or if we want to buy an investment property. Or something like that. Unfortunately, DH says that a trip to Tahiti isn't really an "opportunity." Darn it!
Snow day and 2015 financial goals
January 7th, 2015 at 03:37 am
January 7th, 2015 at 05:40 am 1420609240
I was alarmed to read you have two young children and no will. This is a very important, not to be delayed action because you are inadvertently inviting the government to make decisions for your children, your assets which will not be the decisions you would choose.
As a starting point, I suggest you download a basic will form, note assets adding a statement like [or future holdings]. Make a clear statement naming an executor/executrix. Assign who you wish to be guardian of the children and state religion, school values/preference, and/or specific values like vegetarian or military service etc.
I hope you and DH will fill out an Advanced Care Directive and Revokable, Living Will. These are invaluable should anything downright ghastly happen. It's kind of a umbrella to protect you from Murphy's Law. I sincerely hope you'll move these two projects to # 1 on the list. Once done with signature witnessed by notary public you're safe. You can see a lawyer or legal aid sometime in the future to make it tighter using legalese.
January 7th, 2015 at 03:23 pm 1420644227
January 7th, 2015 at 06:22 pm 1420654922
January 8th, 2015 at 12:00 am 1420675236