JoeTaxpayer

As Saturday’s political cartoon Is There a (viable) Republican Candidate? suggested, it seems there’s some anti-Romney sentiment even within the party. When watching this past Friday’s Washington Week with Gwen Ifil, she used the expression “Anti-Romney Rubric” the implication being the party itself might prefer it had another front runner.

Last month, a regular reader and sometime guest poster Elle led me to an article in the New York Times, Two Romneys: Wealthy Man, Thrifty Habits. In this article, the comparison to Warren Buffet seemed clear to Elle and me as well. The article quotes Mitt as saying “Just because you can afford something doesn’t mean you should buy it.” He’s rich, for sure, but he’s not a show off. Not only doesn’t he own a plane, but he shoots for discount fares on Jet Blue as a regular means of travel.

We still have over ten months until election day, and I’m keeping an open mind so far. When comparing the candidates’ plans for the economy, it seems that Romney will seek moderate changes, a bit of tinkering. Others’ plans appear too radical to stand a chance. 9/9/9? Never happen. Ron Paul’s elimination of the individual tax, along with the federal reserve? I can’t see even his own party voting these radical changes into law.

I’ve continued to think on this, but I’ve not yet put my 2012 goals in writing. I understand that there are those who believe that writing goals down makes them real and helps form a commitment. At this moment, I’m stuck on my own advice to my 13 year old Jane 2.0, “You can do anything, you just can’t do everything.” So in thinking about what I want for my future self a year from now, I feel I should be specific, but also limit the goals to a short list and focus on just a few important things.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading my fellow finance bloggers’ goals and would share them with my readers today. First, Free Money Finance posted My 2012 Financial Resolutions. He has 7 goals, which might seem too many to me, but a few are tasks that don’t really take the year to complete. He’ll update his will for one. We need to do the same. Our will was written shortly after our daughter was born. There’s a bit in our will that needs adjusting. During these years, our financial profile has changes along with a number of relationships. FMF offers an interesting list, check it out.

Barbara Friedberg wrote 2012 Foolproof New Years Resolutions (part 1) and (part 2).  Donna wrote “I am convinced, that writing down your short and long term goals, working towards them diligently, and accepting inevitable failures along the way, is the recipe for lifetime achievement.” She’s determined and dedicated, it was my pleasure to meet and talk to her at last year’s FinCon 2011.

One of the goals I know will hit my list is to continue the de-cluttering effort. At Zen Habits, Leo Babauta wrote How to Tackle Your Clutter. Not quite a resolution post, but if decluttering is on your 2012 list, a good read. At times, I ask myself how I’d feel if when I was away for a few days, if I came home to find that Jane had thrown all my stuff out. After the initial shock, I’d probably feel relieved, and I’d not miss much of it. Hmmm. There’s an idea.

Young and Thrifty gave a lookback with 2011 New Years Resolutions- A Year in Review. Interesting to see how tough it is to stick to the new year plan, I don’t feel so bad missing some of my own goals.

At The Centsible Life, Kelly shared her goals in Viva La Resolutions! , spread among Family, Money, Life and Work. A Mom of four, she really seems to have her priorities in order.

And to wrap it up, Financial Samurai’s Predictions for 2012. I read Sam’s predictions and as the year goes on, will hold on to two of them, a 10% rise in the S&P, and Obama’s re-election. We’ll see. 10% would be great, Sam.

By the way, not one of my fellow bloggers is prediction the end of the world this year.  I consulted my ‘made in Jersey Magic 8 Ball and when asked if the end was near, the response was “fuggettaboutit.”

From what I’ve read about Mitt Romney, I think he’s a good person (more on that in an upcoming post) but is he a viable candidate? This will be a tough race for the GOP.

Another year has passed. Later this week, I’ll have my goals for the new year to share, but for now, I’ll just take this moment to wish all my readers and fellow Personal Finance Bloggers a Happy, Healthy New Year.