4 Financial Goals for 2020

GMONEY is back, sharing goals and helpful tips! In my previous post, I mentioned going in depth about how I plan to achieve my main 4 finance goals. This post here is exactly what I promised to deliver: an in-depth financial plan. In order to achieve my goals, I always strive to break the goal down into small, reasonable actions which will add up to the overall goal. My goals will more than likely change throughout the year depending on my mindset or financial position.

Goal Numero Uno – Lower my car insurance monthly payment:

My current car insurance payment is about $125/ month (and for those interested my monthly car payment is $278/month – yikes!). Both of these are too high in my book. I regretfully bought a car that I had been leasing and now my car is worth SEVERAL thousand less than my loan. So, I am unable to sell my car without taking a huge hit. My plan is to simply make the car payments and not buy another car for 10+ years in order to get the most out of my money.

In reference to my insurance payment, I plan to get it lowered by contacting my agent and asking her to run the numbers on my car again. I plan on asking to see three different options as far as my insurance goes because I feel like I would be able to get cheaper insurance despite having a newer car (2016).

Goal Numero Dos – Have less than $3000 in student loans:

There is a stipulation to this goal. I technically have two separate loans, one for about $6,400 and one for $11,100. The smaller of the two has an interest rate of 4% while the other one has an interest rate of 10% (again – yikes!). The first loan has such a low rate that I’m not concerned with paying it off immediately because my money can be put to better use. The high interest loan is the one I would like to have below $3,000 before 2020. This means I need to pay off $8000 in 12 months or $666.67 *devil noises* every month. My savings rate is currently about 26% and if I keep this up, I will be able to make the monthly payment. To go along with my W2 job, my side hustle income will also help me make the payments.

The Third Financial Goal – Own a portion of a student rental:

I have a unique opportunity awaiting me this summer if it all works out as planned! My younger brother is currently attending a college not far from where I live. Several of his buddies go to college with him so what better way to help my brother with housing cost and dip my toe into REI than with a student rental? The plan is for my Mom and I to go 50/50 on the down payment on a 3- or 4-bedroom house. We would rent by the room (with my brother being in one of the rooms) until he graduates. Then, we would just rent out that last room after he leaves. I love the opportunity, but it is tying up a lot of my money that could be used to pay off my student loans. The plan for now is to research the area and run numbers on a few houses every week to understand the market better.

Last Finance Goal for 2020 – Complete one wholesale deal:

This goal will probably be the trickiest for me as I have less experience in the wholesale area of real estate than land lording (meaning I’ve read multiple books on land lording but none on wholesaling). My plan to complete a wholesale deal is to continue to network by attending RE meetups and speaking with current investors I’m connected to. Once I have a favorable network, I will analyze deals online and cold call owners in order to find potential deals. Once I have these potential deals, I will speak to investors within my network and try to make a sale. I plan on analyzing 5 properties every week to become familiar with the market and trying to find the best deals offered. The money I earn here would be put towards paying off those student loans!

That’s it for my 4 big financial goals! Just to recap, I am going to contact my insurance agent to lower my monthly payment, analyze a few houses weekly for a student rental, analyze 5 properties a week for the wholesale deal, continue to keep my savings rate high, and continue to perform side hustles to pay down my high interest loan. I hope these goals sparked interest in your own smart, financial goals and that you’re able to achieve big things in 2020!