2021 Goals?

[Singuy]

I don't think I've seen you mention that before. I hope you'll share your picks with us. I'm curious what you feel is a good dividend in the current market.

Looking at things, Low volatility high dividend powershares is one, the reit ticker symbol O is another. They have yet to recover from their all time highs. Which makes them relatively low risk.

[riverwed070707]

Taking on a no goals 2021. Normally a very goal driven person and I've decided to take a year of observation. More journaling, meditating, reflection, conscious actions. Less stress, judging, negativity, rigidity. More go with the flow, less planning.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

See how DH's start up goes. That will likely make or break us over the next 5 years. It will likely determine if we are "retiring" very comfortably in the next 2 years. If it succeeds well then yes he can stop working if he chooses. If it does okay we'll be meh. If tanks well then we just lost out on about $1.5M in income over 2 years and well it is what it is. I would say we are riskier than most people.

[breathemusic]

Remodel the main floor of the house.
Have my nesting partner recover his business back to pre-covid levels.
Start to build my savings back up after spending a pretty big chunk on the remodel.
Keep maxing out my TSP like last year.
Go on a real vacation.

[scfr]

Got closer to achieving one of my 2020 financial goals which was buy a house. Yes, I know it's 2021.

We bought a piece of land earlier this year and are having a house built on it. The first half of the year property taxes were part of the land closing, prorated. But the second half of the year property taxes are totally on us and are due next month. Got the bill, set up an online account, and started a brand new manilla folder for them. Once you start getting the bills and have to add to the filing system, it's real.

[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.

Q3 Goal update. My 401k is maxed. On track to hit Roth IRA and 529 goals as well as adding 50k to our cash stockpile. Hit our "walkaway" number (perhaps better called our FI number) around the end of Q1 2021. Plan is to transition to 4 days/wk next year while we continue to build a cash stockpile.

Re-reading this thread, I'm very interested to hear from many of you on your goal updates.

[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)

Update:
Going to max 401k and Roth was maxed January 2

about 300 in extra mortgage payments.

stopped Wellington after lump summing around 5k.

boring but good.

[disneysteve]

$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.

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.

Update:

I've just about maxed my 401k. That will be done soon. The accounts mentioned did all get consolidated.

I don't know about the 100K to savings but that became somewhat irrelevant and blurred by another big change to our finances.
My cousin died in May and I inherited somewhere around $1.2 million, maybe more once everything is totaled up.

The March trip did get postponed until September. We did that earlier this month and we are currently on the October trip.

My wife has done 3 craft shows so far and has 2 more scheduled in October so that's been going well.

As for that dollar goal, right now we're sitting between $3.1 and $3.2 million. September hasn't been kind to the portfolio but that's to be expected. If things turn around in the final quarter, we could end the year around $3.3 or so which would be amazing.

On August 3, I gave notice at work to drop down to part time. That will take effect on December 1 so that's my first big step toward retirement. If all goes smoothly, I hope to drop down to just per diem before the end of 2022.

[kork13]

[edited for brevity] 2021 will be busy for us. DW is giving birth to our first daughter (child #3) in mid-March, I'm deploying from Apr-Oct.

Here are the most notable goals:

FINANCIAL:
- 15% of gross going into retirement accounts. Max 2x Roth IRAs, rest into Roth TSP. I could max the Roth TSP, but I need to build up a non-retirement bridge account.
- Rebuild taxable investments after selling off to buy our current home outright. Build $70k-$75k total (up by $50k) by end of 2021.
- Longer-term goal: $1M invested between retirement, rental real estate, and taxable investments by end of 2022.
- Continuing to add to DKs' 529s (and opening one for our new DD), ~$4500 total.
PHYSICAL:
- Return to running/working out 3+ times weekly.
- Get steady weight down to 165-170lbs from ~180lbs.
- Prepare toward & run a half-marathon in Sep'21
PERSONAL:
- Use 30+ days of leave.
- Finish my masters degree (3 courses including my thesis remaining, planning to finish in Oct'21).
- For DW, finish pre-req's needed to apply for a Physical Therapist doctoral program.

- DD was born in March & is doing great, and I'm finally returning from my deployment in mid-Oct!
- Retirement: Roth IRAs are both on track to max out, and surprisingly, my Roth TSP is also on track to max out this year. I honestly don't remember making the change, but pay stubs indicate it was in ~April. I intended to do 15% of gross into retirement, but I'm actually at about 18%.
- Taxable investments: May not quite make it back up to $75k this year. Currently at $65k, and adding $2400/mo. So we're just about there, and we'll likely be somewhere in the $70k-$75k range.
- We've actually already crossed the line for $1M in total investments (taxable + retirement + rental real estate), over a year early -- currently ~$1.04M.
- Like retirement, DKs' 529s & UTMAs are on autopilot... but doing well.
- Due to how busy my deployment has been, I've only been able to reliably go running/biking/assorted other workout 1-2 times a week. But it's improvement, so I'll take it, and keep trying to get there.
- Weight has gone nowhere. I've been living in a hotel since April, so my cooking options are pretty limited. Frankly, I haven't been eating terribly well, and my high stress level hasn't helped either.
- No luck being ready for a half-marathon -- there's not been enough time for me to train properly for it. Though I could probably complete it at any time (my normal weekly run on my day off is a comfortable ~7 miles), I might injure myself to just jump right in and do it.
- Tickets are bought & plans are made for using ~30 days of leave before the end of the year! Sure, I'll be using almost half of those leave days to work on writing my masters thesis... But hey, by the letter, this one should be a win!
- Afghanistan blew my masters plans out of the water, and honestly I haven't quite recovered my focus yet... My thesis is stalling, but I'm under the gun to get it finished NLT end of the year to have it complete before I meet my next promotion board next ~March. Fingers crossed.....
- DW applied, was accepted, and began a hybrid DPT program in August. It's challenging for her (especially while wrangling our 3 kids with only intermittent help), but she's doing fine overall & making it work.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

See how DH's start up goes. That will likely make or break us over the next 5 years. It will likely determine if we are "retiring" very comfortably in the next 2 years. If it succeeds well then yes he can stop working if he chooses. If it does okay we'll be meh. If tanks well then we just lost out on about $1.5M in income over 2 years and well it is what it is. I would say we are riskier than most people.

We maxed out 401k and Roth IRA and 2 ESA contributions this year but also saved $16k for 2022 Roth/ESA. We don't have a 401k anymore or we'd max it out. We also saved about $50k in taxable this year, and set aside $20k in sink funds which I guess can go to pay for our HVAC.

Next year I guess we are saving Roth IRA, ESA, sink funds and hoping taxable again. I want to save 20% of our income period. That might be a stretch

[GoodLiving]

We've got no debt(no mortgage) so it's just a matter of continuing to squirrel away retirement. In about three years I can do a phased retirement which means I can work from .8 to .4 for up to 6 years with full benefits. I'll have to get on a wait list for this opportunity and I look forward to it. I'll definitely have a better sense of things at that point.