1500 Days to Freedom

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Ask the Readers: What is your financial goal?

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Hi there, Mrs. 1500 again, wanting to know about your financial goals. Do you want to have $10 Million before you retire? Do you want to own a string of rental properties? Do you just want to be comfortable enough to buy everything you want? But first, let’s talk about last week’s question.

Last week I asked a question about minimum wage, and got a flurry of responses. There were arguments both for and against raising the minimum wage.

I know when I was a minimum wage earner, I was all for raising it, and the sky was the limit. But when I was a minimum wage earner, there were lots of other people just like me, looking for my same, unskilled job. I worked harder when I earned minimum wage than I did making 5 times as much. (Note, 5 times my minimum wage isn’t really all that much, considering when I did make minimum wage, it was less than half of what it currently is. Yes, I am that old.)

I think everyone SHOULD work for minimum wage at some point in their lives. It will teach you the value of a dollar (you have to work REALLY hard for that dollar) and show you that sometimes hard work isn’t rewarded. Minimum wage will also show you that it is not a living wage.

Yes, in today’s crappy job market, there are many people with college degrees who are working at minimum wage jobs. But let’s look at the degrees these people hold. Did they study useless things, such as Fashion Design? (That was my major.) Are they good employees? I worked at a company that kept bad employees on, just so they would continue to have that much money in their budget every year. My department could get by with only 4 people in my position, but they kept an extra person on, giving her busy work and wasting money. She was the first to go in the downsizing, and the we didn’t miss her at all.

Mr. 1500 is quite the accomplished computer programmer. He has worked very hard and taught himself many different programming languages on his own so he is in more of a demand. There was recently an ENORMOUS problem at his job, and he was concerned the entire project would be canceled. He posted his resume online, and within one hour, received more than 300 emails. Some of those were not jobs he wanted, as anyone who has posted a resume online can attest. He doesn’t want to move and he doesn’t want to work in sales. He was very specific about what he wanted, and there were at least 5 absolutely perfect jobs he could have had. Ultimately, he stayed with his company.

I have a cousin who was downsized. He doesn’t want to move from his very small town in central Illinois, and he doesn’t want to take less money than what he was making before. So he is on unemployment, and has been for quite some time. If that dried up, instead of being extended again and again, you can bet he would be working some less than top dollar job. Or he might be persuaded to move. There are a number of jobs he could get if he would move. He has a rather specialized skill, that is in little demand where he lives.

As a child, I moved around quite a bit. My dad has good skills, and moved his way up in several different companies. But we were transferred quite a bit, and every time a new opportunity arose, he would discuss it with my mother and then we would move. One company he worked for had a weird policy and he was let go because his boss was doing very bad things. This led to me moving twice in 6 months, and going to three different schools in second grade. Possibly not the best thing for me, but I used to be shy, and I am no longer.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What are your financial goals?

 

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  1. Honestly, I have no idea what I’m going to want down the road. I just keep saving as much as I can, figuring that, worst case scenario, I’ll have a large pile of money to spend. If we can have kids, I’d love to be able to stay at home and raise them, and it would be nice to buy an apartment at some point, but I can also see that our future may turn out very differently. I can’t see a scenario when having a lot of savings would hurt, though, so why not?

    My husband is a software engineer, and last year when he was job hunting, he posted his resume on dice.com and was immediately inundated. I so should have worked harder in math class.
    Meg recently posted…Consumerism Thursday: The Incredible Shrinking Woman Drowns in BrisketMy Profile

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  2. First goal, pay off my student debt. That’s basically the only goal I’ve got my eyes on for now.

    But I guess, in vague terms, eventually I might like to have/adopt kids, and eventually I might like to stay home with them when they are very young, and eventually they probably might go to college, and eventually I’d FOR SURE like to retire comfortably.

    I worked for minimum wage 10 years ago at $5.50/hour, and it has gone up surprisingly little since then. We need a living wage, not a minimum wage.

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  4. I am 22 and want to be debt-free (besides my mortgages) in 5 years. Then starts phase two: accumulate enough wealth the retire at 40. Not that I will quit my job when that happens. I love working – I am an accountant – but I want to have options. Read – Financial Independence, less stress, and I want to travel.

    Love it!
    Retired By 40 recently posted…We Have a Budget Leak!!!!!My Profile

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  6. I’m 45 and debt-free (except the condo which will be paid off when I’m 60). My goal is to continue saving for retirement at 20%+ annually.

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  9. Like pretty much everyone else here, my short-term goal is complete financial independence. Since my wife will ultimately take 9 full years off to stay at home with our girls, this won’t be in the next 5 years, but I predict that 10 years from now it will certainly be a reality.

    My real time horizon is 100 years though. I know this might sound a little wacky, but I often think about my future great-grandchildren; I want them someday to look back on me as the person with the vision, wisdom and the discipline to make our family exceptionally wealthy.
    Brad @ RichmondSavers.com recently posted…Travel Hacking Update – September 2013My Profile

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  10. I have been completely debt free (including a free and clear home) for the last four years. My long-term goal is to grow my existing assets to a value of $1.625 million so that I can withdraw at a rate of 4%/year. That will generate an annual income of $65k and not erode my principal.

    To do that, my assets must average growth of 9.25% per year for the next 10 years. Doable with a little luck!
    Ree Klein recently posted…Survey Sunday: Are You a Conscientious Saver of Stuff?My Profile

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  11. Our first goal was to get completely debt free. We’ve did that in August! Now, our goal is to save $750k, at which point we would be financially independent enough to literally not work.

    In reality, we will have our third child before we reach this mark. As such, our financial goals are to save as much as we possibly can before having one of us stay home full time. We figure if we can reach even $300k the second parent could work a reduced schedule, which will be necessary when once number 4 and 5 hopefully arrive.

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  12. My goal is to have enough savings where with a safe withdrawl rate of 3 or 3.5 percent, I wouldn’t have to work if I didn’t want to. When I have kids, I want to be able to spend as much time with them as I can and have the opportunity to take the occasional slow-travel trip to explore other cultures.

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  15. Just hit our first Financial Security goal at 30 (could survive but not do most of what we want). So shooting for doubling potential retirement income by 35 to reach full FI, while building some more trade skills like construction, car repair, maybe get my real estate license, etc. . .

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  16. My first financial goal is to get my student loans paid off. While paying them off, and especially after, I want to save up enough to retire early. Ideally I’d like to have about a million before that point, but I know I could live on less – I’m just a worrier and like to have all bases covered. I want to own a few rental properties, possibly renovate a house (like you guys!) with my dad, maybe flip it, or maybe live in it. I would really just like financial independence though – no debt, not chained to anything.
    E.M. recently posted…Student Loan Debt: Update #4My Profile

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  18. Mrs. 1500, I appreciate the various stories. My financial goals are to pay off our car, mortgage, invest and be financially free to work when we want and on what we want. Our conversations and planning sessions are going well, but we don’t have a specific date. I know we have done more in the past year than we thought possible in regards to paying off loans, decreasing bills and spending, and increasing savings and contributions. It’s been a great weight lifted and catapulted into the clouds. Hope you are doing great!
    Tammy R recently posted…Knowing When It’s Time to MoveMy Profile

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  19. First is to pay off my student loans, but after that, there really isn’t much that I have planned for. Just being able to save makes me feel a lot more secure. However, it’s also important for me not to get too caught in saving and end up missing out on life. That’s why I love setting aside some fun money and thinking and planning what is it that I can do with it now instead of waiting for retirement.
    Amanda @ Passionately Simple Life recently posted…Sunday Thoughts and ReminiscesMy Profile

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  21. Our recent vacation has made us think more and more about moving. Which means we’re actually thinking about what we want to do or at least where we want to be in five years. It’s not a detailed plan, but it’s going to require us to save and invest 50% of our income. I think it’s doable. Especially if our income increases, which I’m hoping it does.
    SavvyFinancialLatina recently posted…Don’t Go Into Debt For CollegeMy Profile

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