Give Me Back My Five Bucks

Short-Term Goals (1-2 years):

• Get out of debt - achieved as of May 11th, 2007! I'm officially debt free for the first time in over 5 years. It's a great feeling. It's my life goal to never be in debt again, aside from carrying a mortgage. I know it probably won't be attainable because I do want to purchase a new car in the next 2 or 3 years (once I get a suitable down payment ready), and I also want to go back to school. Tuition will run me $13,000.

• Find full-time permanent employment - achieved as of January 21st, 2008! I moved from the island to Vancouver to take on an amazing job with a not-for-profit organization. I had to take about a $8k pay decrease, but I know in time I'll be back up to where I want to be salary-wise.
  

• Establish self-employed graphic design business for a return of $5,000-$10,000 annually - Well, I think this goal was a bit optimistic for my first year of my side business. So far, I have earned zero in revenue, but I have prospective clients established. I have also finished designing my company website, and when my position is up at my full-time job, my boss is looking to hire me on as a contractor to do a lot of the graphic design work.

• Create a positive net worth - achieved as of April 2007! You can check out my networth here.

• See an 8-10% return on my investments - so far, my mutual funds are returning around 9%, but because of the MER, I'm actually only seeing about 7%. Just recently, I took control of my non-registered account and will be managing it myself. Since taking over the account, I've seen a better rate of return than before ... but I'm not sure if that's due to my savvy investment skills, or just because the market is hot right now. :)

• Save money for a down payment for a condo/townhouse - Ideally I'd like to have $40,000 (plus closing costs) saved up ... which would probably amount to the 20% down payment needed, but I'm willing to pay the mortgage insurance if I found the right place.

• Get my B.A. in Communication Studies from Athabasca University - I know how important it is to have a degree, so I'm going to try and achieve this before I'm 30. This will all be done through distance education courses so I can continue to work full-time and further my career.

• Have $30,000 in my RRSP by the time I'm 30 - As of right now, I have just over $16k in my RRSPs and I'm 25.
  

• Set up an Emergency Fund of $3,000-5,000 - Barring any major disasters, I believe I can have this funded to at least $3k by the fall of 2008.

• Set up five 5-year escalator GICs - I would love to invest $1,000/year for five years in Outlook Financial's 5-year GICs, so that a GIC would mature every year. The rate of return is great for their GICs, with the first year starting at 4.30% and going up to 7% for the 5th year. That would only mean I'd need to save $1,000 every year, so this goal is definitely attainable. My investments don't necessarily need to be at Outlook Financial, it's just that their rates are the best available at the moment.

Long-Term Goals (5+ years)

• Set up an Emergency fund of $15,000 - This would equal 6-8 months of expenses, depending on the amount of my mortgage, if I have car payments, where I'm living, etc.

• Have $100,000 in my investment portfolio by the time I'm 40 - I have yet to really figure out how I'm going to do this, but one of my life goals is to retire before I'm 60. Ideally at 57. Maybe I should make it a goal to win the lottery.