2021 Goals?

[disneysteve]

We're less than 2 weeks away from 2021. What plans and goals do you have for the new year/

Personally, nothing terribly exciting. I just want us to stay the course.
$26,000 to my 401k; at least $100,000 total to savings (including the 401k)
Continue to consolidate our financial accounts. We're currently in process with a 403b and 401k rollover for my wife as well as a transfer of one non-Vanguard mutual fund into our Vanguard account. I hope they are all finalized by early January.

We do have some travel plans for 2021 already in place including a trip to Florida in March for a Give Kids The World special event and Disney World in October for their 50th anniversary. I don't know if the March trip will actually happen but I'm pretty confident that October will.

No specific big expenses planned as I replaced my car a few months ago and I think my wife's will be fine for a few more years.

My wife is actively working to build her sewing business so the spring may see us working some craft shows and seeking out new customers for her.

As for an actual dollar goal, I hope to end 2021 with $1.8 million in savings.

[corn18]

Retire with full severance. I can retire without it, and my boss and boss's boss agreed to my package, but you never know.

[disneysteve]

Retire

I like your goal a whole lot better than my goal.

[Jluke]

I’m contemplating not maxing the 401k this year. Roth is ready to be maxed for 2021.

I’ll pay more in taxes but feeling like I want more “cash” now.

I already decreased 401k to 6% for last pay of 2020 so I will leave it there for a month or so in 2021.

we’ll see how it plays out.

No plans for extra mortgage payments

1800 to Wellington in taxable (150/mo)

[disneysteve]

I’m contemplating not maxing the 401k this year. Roth is ready to be maxed for 2021.

I’ll pay more in taxes but feeling like I want more “cash” now.

1800 to Wellington in taxable (150/mo)

When you say "more cash now" what do you mean? Do you actually want more spendable money or do you just want less tied up in an age-restricted account (with other restrictions as well)? If the former, would it be better to reduce what's going into Wellington?

[Jluke]

When you say "more cash now" what do you mean? Do you actually want more spendable money or do you just want less tied up in an age-restricted account (with other restrictions as well)? If the former, would it be better to reduce what's going into Wellington?

Less tied up in the tax advantaged 401k account.

Between Roth and 401k (on a good market day) I have about 725k.

taxable I have 40k cash and 150k invested.

hitting age 44 this year so feeling like stacking up some easily accessible money as I approach 50.

[disneysteve]

Less tied up in the tax advantaged 401k account.

hitting age 44 this year so feeling like stacking up some easily accessible money as I approach 50.

That makes perfect sense.

Our situation is different. We are split almost exactly 50-50 between retirement accounts and taxable accounts that we have earmarked for retirement.

[ua_guy]

Pay off the house (June)
Maximize retirement savings.

As much as I want to stick to plans and have hope, it's difficult to do so after watching 2020 unfold. It's not quite over yet... Really hoping that this thread resurfaces in 7 months or so and everything is on a better trajectory.

[srblanco7]

2021 goal:
Max my 401k contribution at $26k
Contribute approximately $10k to DW 401k
Fully fund Roth IRAs for both of us
Contribute $8k to 529 plans and
continue to stockpile cash - targeting a minimum of $50k in 2021

Hopeful that our retirement savings exceeds $5M next year. That's my "walkaway" number. If we achieve that number in 2021, it may be my last year of FT employment. May work another 1-2 years on a PT basis to maintain health insurance, to continue to stockpile cash and take care of any major pre-retirement purchases (for example, I'll need a vehicle), and to allow my youngest to graduate HS and head off to college.

[bjl584]

Pretty boring here as of typing this.
Just stay the course continuing to save and invest.
I "might" consider doing a refi on my mortgage (my only debt) if the numbers make sense.

[HundredK]

Our goal is to stick to our financial plan... now that we're totally out of debt, that's essentially to save save save save save. I might make a game of seeing what % of our income we can save this year, just to keep it fun.

[terri77]

Stick to my usual plan of maxing out the TSP & IRA, but now that I’ve almost paid off credit card debt I can start building back my savings.

[Like2Plan]

I'm still tying to figure out our plan for 2020!

I'm usually way ahead of this, but this year has been full of twists and turns. First, DH decided to continue working instead of retiring mid year. Then, one of those events that happen every 11 or 12 years or so -- 27 pay periods (instead of the usual 26) in the year. (We saw this one coming, but HR insisted there were only 26--so we were kind of waiting to the end of the year to see how things would pan out. HR just updated their guidance last week. There are indeed 27 pay periods. )

So, my plan to do Roth conversions has been frustrated a bit. I have reworked the plan 2 times already this year. I just received my copy of turbotax, so I will be triple checking my numbers before I do any more conversions before the end of the year. There are lots of things go into the calculations, so that is going to keep me busy for a while. Then, I will turn my attention to 2021. One of the first things we are going to have to do is figure out an optimal 2021 retirement date for DH .

[disneysteve]

one of those events that happen every 11 or 12 years or so -- 27 pay periods (instead of the usual 26) in the year. (We saw this one coming, but HR insisted there were only 26--so we were kind of waiting to the end of the year to see how things would pan out. HR just updated their guidance last week. There are indeed 27 pay periods.

I had 27 pay periods as well. Other than the novelty of it, what difference does it really make? Why did you need HR to acknowledge it?

I understand that some people do their budget based on 26 checks, so the 27th would be a "bonus" of sorts, but other than that, I'm not sure why it would matter.

[Like2Plan]

I had 27 pay periods as well. Other than the novelty of it, what difference does it really make? Why did you need HR to acknowledge it?

For planning purposes. Who else besides HR should know for sure?

I understand that some people do their budget based on 26 checks, so the 27th would be a "bonus" of sorts, but other than that, I'm not sure why it would matter.

There are a couple of reasons that come to mind: Your annual taxable income for 2020 will be higher. For some folks-(DH actually does have a "true up", so this doesn't apply to him) if you didn't have a "true up" and you maxed out your contribution over 26 pay periods-you would be SOL on your company match for PP27.

For us, since we are doing Roth conversions up to the top of our current tax bracket--it means that we can't convert as much. Also, since we will both on Medicare next year we have to be mindful of bumping ourselves up into a higher payment schedule for Part B.