2011 Savings Goals

It is 18 days into the new year and we have yet to finalize our 2011 savings goals.

We know that we will continue goals number one and number two from 2010. So goal number one is to max out our 401ks. The 401k contribution limits remain the same at $16,500 per person. Goal number two is to max out our IRAs. The IRA contribution limits also remain the same at $5,000 per person.

2011 Savings goals:
(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000

Other goals that we have been kicking around include the following.

We need to increase our emergency fund. Adding to our emergency fund was a goal for 2010 and we fell short on that goal. In fact we dipped into our fund for IRS issues and to fund Mr. Sam's investment experiment.

I'd like to work on paying down our mortgage on our primary home. While we have a low, fixed interest rate on our home mortgage, I would love to be debt free. In 2010 we put an extra $100 towards our mortgage each month, so I see us continuing this goal and hopefully increasing it. Maybe instead of $1200 towards the mortgage in annual principal prepayment we could go to $500 a month or $6,000 a year.

Home projects, we have been in our home for seven years and I'd like to put some money towards some home projects that we have put off. I've got window treatments, crown molding, a built in cabinet and maybe a few other ideas for home improvement budget. I need to price the window treatments which are on the yes list for this year and then see how much more we could spend on the other projects. I'm thinking around $5,000.

(3) Increase emergency fund - $10,000
(4) Pay down mortgage - $6,000
(5) House projects - $5,000

Ambitious goals, we probably will need to tweak the numbers on goals 3 -5 downward after we finalize our annual spending plan. $64,000 in savings goals is more than we have done in any past year. Generally, we seem to top out and run out of steam around the $50,000 mark.