Overall goals: Pay off all debt, save a lot of money, learn how to invest it, and live well (and well within our means) for the rest of our lives.
The Plan: Well, I formulated those goals gradually over the past year, after 33 years of not being able to see past next payday. So part of me thinks I won't get to where I'd like to be. But the good news is, every step I take at least gets me to a better place than I was before. :-)
Step 1: Only make purchases we can afford. Stick to a budget. (Has worked well for almost a year.)
Step 2: Pay off all credit card & personal debt by 12/31/09. ($63K to go.)
Step 3: Put future raises partly toward debt snowball and partly into quality of current life (travel, gifts, home improvement).
Step 4: Clear out room in budget to make and start tending to babies in 2-3 years.
Step 4: Learn best way to invest (we're planning an international move in 5-10 years and aren't sure if maxing out US-tax-free venues will save us anything if we have to pay UK taxes on them eventually).
Step 5: After CC debt gone, babies getting taken good care of, quality of life satisfactory, and investing knowledge gained ... find a good balance between paying down remaining (house & education) debt and investing/saving like crazy to make up for lost time!
Whew. Overwhelming when I look at it this way. Better to just focus on Step 1 for awhile. :-)
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