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2011 Resolution Roundup

Another year, and time to set our goals. On New Year’s Eve, I posted mine, now it’s time to share what some of my fellow bloggers decided would be their 2011 goals.

Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents offered his Goals for 2011: Do What You Love. Jeff reminds us that if you have a goal or desire, you have a 90% greater chance of success of achieving it if you actually write it down. I think that’s probably true. The very act of thinking and committing to paper is a powerful process.

Lazy Man and Money listed his Goals For 2011, one personal and four relating to his blogging. His goals are pretty specific, 165lbs and 14.5% body fat. Hmm, I’ve never had my fat measured, maybe this is the year to do it.

At Budgets are $exy, J Money asked his readers to tell Him ONE thing you want in 2011. That’s focus, I’d say. J just has one goal to focus on.

At PTMoney.com, the most ambitious list I’ve seen, 35 New Year’s Resolutions For Your Finances.If you haven’t made your own list yet, perhaps you’ll find some goal here to adopt for yourself.

Evan at myjourneytomillions.com offers a very personal, introspective, set of 2011 Goals and Objectives. He breaks them down into Personal, Professional, Blogging, and Financial. A read of this post is a good introduction to Evan if you’re not already one of his readers.

At saving For Serenity, Matt Goulart guest posted his 2011 Financial Resolution. We are all at different stages in our lives, and for Matt, one simple goal is all he needs to get on track.

At ChristianPF, a non-disclosed guest poster wrote New Years Resolutions and the 80/20 Rule. A different approach to formulating and implementing your 2011 goals.

An English (as in “from England”) The Top 10 Financial New Year’s Resolutions You Should Be Making was posted at Everything Finance.Aside from the reference to Pounds vs Dollars and ISA instead of IRA, not too much is different across the Atlantic.

Sandy at Yes, I Am Cheap answers, What Are My Goals for 2011? She has some realistic, achievable goals. Maybe next time I visit NYC, we can meet her puppy at the dog park. I love dogs. Other people’s dogs, that is. Looking forward to seeing how Sandy does as the year progresses.

The Girl with the Red Balloon tells us that in 2011: My Year Without Frivolous Spending, she will only spend on necessities. Wow, that’s a tough one, don’t know how long I’d last at that, but I wish Red the best of luck.

Financial Samurai (Founder of Yakezie.com) shared his Goals And Resolutions for 2011. Sam has a lot on his plate, but I’d bet this will be a successful year for him, he’s always struck me as a go-getter.

At Upside of Money, Barbara tell us her UPSIDE: Goals and Gratitude – the Shortlist.Her list was unique in that it wasn’t just goals, it included a ‘wish’ as well as a ‘thanks.’ And, thank-you for tweeting me, Barb, glad to include you today.

And to finish this week’s roundup, Twenty Something Money shares his 2011 Goals. A nice list of five goals, one personal (seems we all need to eat right, whether to lose weight or just to stay healthy) and four financial.

Edit – many bloggers were still posting resolutions long after this post first went up, so I’ll share some more –

Fiscal Geek – 4 Best New Years Resolution Ideas for Your Money & Finances That Can Pay Off Big
My Pretty Pennies – 2011 Goals
Enemy of Debt – My New Year’s Resolutions for 2011
Taxgirl – Tax and Financial Resolutions for 2011
Cool to be Frugal – My Goals: 2011

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Welcoming in the New Year

Looking forward to a new year, welcome to 2011.

Joe

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Good-Bye 2010

It’s the end of another year. I hope 2010 was a good year for you, but more than that I hope that ‘good’ isn’t just measured by your balance sheet. For me, there’s far more joy in watching my daughter give a speech at her fifth grade graduation than in any market related success my brokerage statement reflects. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the S&P was up again this year, and getting back to where I was before the crash of 2008 is still a good thing.

Now that 2011 is just hours away, it’s time for the obligatory New Year Resolutions. They say that people who put their plans in writing are far more likely to achieve them, so here it goes:

  • Run 1000 miles. I actually did this in 2009, but this year, I got a bit lazy in the exercise department. Less exercise meant putting on a few pounds.
  • Lose 15 pounds. See resolution one. It’s less about diet, and more about exercise. I need to stay disciplined.
  • Network more. Both to grow my readership and to build relationships with other personal finance bloggers.
  • Continue to explore freelance writing positions. I am very excited that TurboTax and American Express  Currency have taken me on as a guest blogger and hope to get discovered by a magazine such as Money or Kiplinger’s.
  • Work with my daughter to develop our cooking site AnotherFineMeal.com. It’s a great bonding project, a common interest we both share and it’s been a random side project for me. If we are to make a go of it, we need to get a regular schedule going.
  • Complete my basement finishing project. I took on this project some time ago, but the end is now in sight. Partition walls up, wiring in and inspected, walls insulated. The drywall remains, along with a floor and ceiling. It would be great to have this completed by the summer.
  • One Money goal – to pay the mortgage down by 1/7. My daughter will be entering college in August 2017, and my plan is to have no mortgage by then. There’s no other debt, so after retirement savings, this is the priority.

Have you written your goals down? Are they realistic or just a vague wish? Do you check your progress midyear? I will, look for an update on June 30th, but I hope to see you here before then!

Happy New Year,

Joe

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A Boxing Day Roundup

Bet you thought today was going to be a “Post Christmas Roundup.” Well, my good friends to the north are celebrating Boxing Day today, and it’s a holiday in its own right.

I just found a deal, Coinstar with give you a $10 bonus gift card when converting $40 in coin to one of the many gift cards they offer. If you were planning to buy an iTunes, or other store cards, this is free money. No fee involved. Some time ago, I had some negative remarks about Coinstar, a fee of 9% to turn coins to bills made no sense to me. I called the fee an idiot tax. Now that they’ve offered a number of gift cards instead of cash and a fee, I’m ok with them. And their Redbox service is pretty decent. Last time I flew, I was able to grab a DVD at one airport, take a flight, and deposit it after I landed. A jusr released movie for $1. Not bad.

At The Tax Foundation, they asked Does Lowering Taxes Increase Government Revenue? Well, if you don’t know what the Laffer curve is, you might want to read this article. Can we ever know where we stand on the curve? And despite the evidence, will people go for it?

Russ Thornton at The Wealthcare Revolution started a seven part series on Understanding Monte Carlo Simulation. He’s up to the 5th installment, but it’s a great series you can read from the 1st installment. Monte Carlo Simulation is a way to predict long term market probability, often used to determine how a specific investment strategy will payoff over one’s retirement years. A complex topic, a great read.

The Financial Buff offers The Backdoor Roth IRA: A Complete How-To. Here is a step by step on how to transfer your post tax IRA deposits to a Roth without impacting your Pre-Tax IRAs. A sneaky but legit method, I like the idea.

Last, this week, a guest post on Len Penzo’s site, from his daughter, Nina on Why I Love Christmas: A Guest Post from My Daughter, Nina. I wonder if he paid her. When my daughter guest posted, she got a $1 per comment and that post got a record number. Anyway, Merry Christmas to you too, Nina.

Joe

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A Wonderful Wall Street Life

It’s A Wonderful Life remains one of the best loved holiday films, and since its story line revolves around a potential bank failure, it’s also a top money-themed movie. So, with apologies to Burt and Ernie (the policeman and cabdriver in the film)  this week’s cartoon is a wink and nod to this classic.

I wish my readers a Merry Christmas, a safe and healthy holiday to all.

Joe

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