Winter Reading Roundup: Personal Finance Goals

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We’re in mid-January. This is about the time when our New Year’s resolutions start to falter and fall away. But gaining control of our personal finance troubles is too important to let go! This is not like your resolution to never eat dessert. A crazy resolution, anyways, since dessert is so delicious! Getting on top of your finances has so many important benefits. Instead of just scraping by, you will have money left over at the end of each month. You will feel confident that you have a sound retirement plan, and may even be able to retire early. You feel in control of your financial situation, and an unexpected expense won’t blindside you or set you back for months. Keep reading this roundup to discover what 23 amazing personal finance bloggers know about achieving financial goals.

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Thanks for the Mention!

I want to give a big shout out of thanks to the following amazing personal finance bloggers for mentioning me on their blogs recently:

Mark Seed of My Own Advisor highlighted my recent post Will the Stock Market Crash in 2020? in one of his Weekend Reading series. Mark is hoping for a small correction this year in order to pick up some cheap stocks!
In his latest Weekend Reading post, Mark mentioned my current article on investing a lump sum of money, and added, “Dollar cost averaging is essentially striving to time the market, strategically.”
Robb Engen of Boomer and Echo included me in one of his recent Weekend Readings: An economist tackles a big question – will the stock market crash in 2020?

My Financial Sensei also included Will the Stock Market Crash in 2020? in a recent roundup, highlighting the important take-away that we should be investing for our goals rather than market speculation.
Future Females is a global organization in support of female entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. I am honoured that they recently asked to republish two of my budgeting articles on their website: The 50/30/20 Budget Rule is already published, and the Highlighter Budget is coming soon.
Tread Lightly Retire Early included my article on The True Cost of Going Back to Work for SAHMs (and Dads too!) on her Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: week 67 roundup.

Sarah and Laura from Keepin’ it Frugal wrote a comprehensive article on saving money by using YouTube videos for DIY. They highlighted our savings of over $100,000 over 20 years of home ownership by choosing DIY on many projects. Check out their article for before and after pics of the kitchen reno in our first home!

Setting Personal Finance Goals

I wrote about setting and achieving personal finance goals recently, and how using budget planners and debt trackers can help keep you on track and motivated throughout the year.

Great Personal Finance Goal Ideas

Ben Huber at Dollar Sprout summarizes 18 personal finance goals to pursue this year. Numbers 1 and 2 are build an emergency fund, and boost a low credit score.

Nathan, from Life Before Budget, talks about the philosophy of goal setting. Read about how to push past your comfort zone to accomplish BIG goals.
At Invested Wallet, Todd covers eight important personal finance resolutions – not goals – that we should all be incorporating into 2020. Some examples are tracking your net worth, asking for a raise, or getting life insurance.
John and Sam from How to FIRE have great advice for anyone struggling with debt. Starting with the signs you’re spending too much, then figuring out where it all goes, and several steps to make 2020 the year you turn things around.

The Personal Financial Planning Checklist at Moneylogue covers three main points: debt reduction, savings goals, and investment options.
If you’re thinking more long-term, Melissa from Perfection Hangover has a 10-year financial challenge. Start by paying off consumer debt, then set aside emergency savings, and end with paying down the mortgage.
Halfbare includes concrete steps to achieve specific goals, such as paying down debt, investing, or building a financial plan.

If you’re looking for a more spiritual approach to setting your personal finance goals, Eugenie might be just the thing. She writes about building a financial wellness plan, including eight pillars: physical, nutritional, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, financial, and environmental.

Personal Finance Bloggers’ Own Goals for 2020

Let’s see what other personal finance writers are saying about their 2020 goals.

Mug with writing, "today's goal keep the tiny humans alive"

Mark Seed at My Own Advisor writes about his goals – a process which helps him be accountable and successful. His 2020 goals are achievable in this calendar year, but also feed into his long-term goals for his investment portfolio and eliminating his mortgage. Best of all, his goals include fun money – a travel fund!

Genymoney has also recently published her personal finance resolutions, including to max out her TFSA and RRSP contributions. She has also, wisely, committed to reading 5 personal finance investing books this year. Learn from the experience and expertise of others!
Moriah, from Our Table for Two, discusses her challenge setting financial goals this year in light of their long-distance move, and having to find new jobs. I’m sure this is something we can all identify with, trying to plan your finances around big financial unknowns.
Learn how Maria, at Handful of Thoughts will create habits and systems with her 20 goals for 2020. Discover how she plans to get $250 in “found money”!

Sarah, at Smile and Conquer, has reframed her goals as a “20 for 2020 bucket list”. While most are not personal finance goals, she does plan to increase her retirement contributions by 20% this year. Awesome!
EducatorFI has some exciting news! They have pegged their Financial Independence (Optional Retirement) date as July 2022! Their very specific short- and long-term finance goals, including a review and adjustment process, are sure to lead to success.
Full Time Finance looks at how they will set their financial goals now that they have paid off their mortgage. This frees up a lot of cash flow. They continue to donate 5% of their income to charity.

Our Bill Pickle was one of the very first personal finance blogs I found, and it’s awesome to see Tara has some great goals for this year! These include rebuilding her emergency fund, paying down the student loan debt, and saving towards the future goal of home ownership. She also writes about the difference between goals and the tasks you take to accomplish those goals – worth reading if you’re unsure how to set achievable goals!
Chris at Heavy Metal Money is planning to bring in an extra $1,000 every month in 2020 through passive income.
FrugalStu writes about why having only 3-4 goals and choosing a short time frame such as 3 months makes for greater success. He’s planning to increase his net worth by $10,000 in 2020Q1.

Fight to FIRE has a big year ahead, with a goal of 50% savings rate, adding €10,000 to his trading account, and achieving €400 in dividend payouts.
Joseph Wells has a 10-year vision to amass a net worth of $2 million. See how he has broken down this big goal into 1-year processes, quarterly steps, and weekly actions.
The Prosperous Blonde has 12 mini financial challenges – one for each month of 2020. Each is a bite-sized goal, such as reducing her food budget by bringing lunch to work 3x per week.

10-Year Target plans to reach several investing milestones in 2020, including reaching NOK 1,000,000 (about $112,000) in his investment fund and a total portfolio value of NOK 2,500,000.

Stay Accountable to your Financial Goals

We all need a little help with our goals. You can find a wide range of personal finance printables and debt trackers on Etsy that will keep you motivated and on track! Check out this beautiful pastel budget planner. It includes 25 pages of budgeting, income and expense trackers, debt repayment, savings trackers, and more.

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