13 Jan 2016 22:24
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I am late with setting my 2016 goals but I had to re-plan all my future goals due to the loss of an early retirement pension benefit and to a lesser extent the elimination of the Social Security file and suspend option.
Unfortunately, after weeks of number crunching and long talks with my wife, my retirement goal had to be moved out by two years from 60 to 62. To top it off this is only achievable if my wife goes back to work full-time so we can accelerate savings while still funding college for our three children over the next 8 years.
The silver lining is that my retirement is moving due to factors outside of my control and NOT because of bad investments. This reinforces the success of my investment discipline and approach.
This year I am keeping my goals on this blog linked to financials and keeping my personal goals private as they are more intimate between me and my family. Without further ado here are my 2016 goals.
2016 Goals
- Grow dividend income by 15%
- Transition my old 401K into an IRA with a dividend growth strategy
- Establish a ROTH account and maximize the 2016 contribution
- Buy daughter a car so she can commute to college
- Fund 100% of daughter's first year of college
- Reduce my debt by 20%
Of all the goals the hardest will be number 6. Reducing my debt by 20% while taking on more debt from buying my daughter a car and funding her first year of college will definitely be challenging but I think it is achievable. I need to keep the family on budget and hopefully in the fall my daughter receives a STEM scholarship for $7,500 a year. If these two things happen then I have a fighting chance :)
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Close previewNice list of goals. #2 will be a huge catalyst for your retirement. I did the same thing last year. I moved $115k from a 401k to an IRA. From there I bought all dividend paying stocks. Best of luck to you with your 2016 goals.
Thanks IH for the post, I should have included that #2 is also a huge reason why I can retire at 62. Without I'm looking at an additional 2 years.