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Graduate school for me.
Second car (for me).
Saving, up retirement, up credit.
Take short yearly, meaningful vacation.
At least one solo show a year.
Expand my business.
DH moving up to supervisory role.
Start looking for studio, home combo. -
Babies, hah hah, but as we all know they don't go according to plan, so I should probably focus on things I have more control over.
We'll likely end up settling down somewhere more permanently by the end of five years. I don't have a ton of job security now but should eventually. So the biggest goal is to find good jobs that we both enjoy in a place where we want to live. I'd also like to spend more time with family, which is a bit tricky since we don't live nearby and everyone works, but still I'd like to prioritize making it happen when we can.
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@Anagram: Wow that's really aggressive. Our goal is just to have a paid off house when we retire. I'm more like you - I want to be able to take vacations and have date nights, etc.
I feel like these years go so fast. I want to enjoy the time with my family while my kids are little enough to want to be around me
. I want to go to Disney with them and go on big bucket list types of adventures like scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef. And enjoy a fall weekend in the mountains, or a skiing trip in the winter. And in the meantime I like the breathing room in our budget. I like to be able to get takeout for dinner on crazy nights and pay a cleaning lady to clean our house. Those things are all more important to me than having a paid off house in 5 years.
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@ShootingStar: I am like you. And my husband would DIE if we had a cleaning person now, when he could be putting that money towards a mortgage, or investments, or whatever.
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@Anagram: My DH is more like yours but not as extreme. He didn't grow up with a cleaning person and for a long time he fought it. But with two kids and full time jobs and an hour commute I am just tapped out. We had originally agreed to get a part time nanny with LO2 but that got downgraded to a cleaner.
And I mean, I love money as much as the next person. It would be great to save and invest more. But I love my sanity too. And having a clean bathroom, lol.
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@brownepiano: a piano is on mine too
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@Anagram:
We just finished our set of goals we made when we were first married, so now we are having to set our next set of goals for the next decade!
- Pay off house in 15 years. My DH would love to do it in 5 but I'm with you, I want vacations and to make purchases without stressing out like we have in the past
- Have another baby. It looks like we are going to have to go to an RE, so this will impact some of our goals depending on cost.
- Save up for a down payment on a rental home on the beach. My favorite goal!! -
@Anagram: I couldn't even fathom paying off our house in 5 years unless we won the lottery.
I love 5 year plans! The last one I had was so helpful. It's nice having a big picture.
My 5 year plan is 2015-2020. We've got our family goals set but I have to adjust some things because I'm taking a longer than anticipated maternity leave at the moment.
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Have baby #2, God willing
Remodel our house
Go on a family trip involving a flight before baby #2 -
I'm loving this thread! We've not actually talked about a lot of these things so these are my personal plans for our family. I doubt DH has any objections but who knows...we should probably discuss lol
-get my freelance career into full swing
- completely pay off our student loans
-end the lease on my van and buy it
-save for and purchase a truck for DH, no financing (this is less likely to happen but if you don't set big goals you'll never reach big goals!)
-renovate our home -
-Decide if we're truly one and done ( I think we are) or open to another (which would only be via adoption, of an older child. Not interested in the early stages ever again). If we decide we want another, then hopefully have that second LO within 5 years.
-Retire, or at least become more picky about how I work.
-Decide on where to settle for the next 12-15 years, basically during LO's school years.
-Sell off our 2nd home (where the in-laws currently live) and move them to a different place. -
@Anagram: What's the plan after you pay off the house? Buy another property? Remodel? Quit and be job free?
I am with you--I think life is meant to be enjoyed. Don't take that to mean I am not a saver, because I totally am. However I do think you need to strike a balance. What if I work myself so hard that I keel over by the time I am 40? I will have missed out on so much that I put off for "later". On the other hand, having your home paid off is so freeing and is such a big achievement. We have 2 in daycare and we are on a 15 year mortgage so I feel your pain on the monthly expenses.
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This really is a great thread. We haven't really discussed and it we so should! That being said, I know we definitely want to:
-have our second baby (that's on my as soon as possible list, fingers crossed)
-do some repairs on our home this year (new doors, minor kitchen work, a couple windows, roof)
-determine if we want to remodel or move
-continue with one nice vacation per year (not necessarily fancy, but so far we went to Maui last year and my MIL's home country the year before) -
- Secure a job that I'm happy with
- Finish all of our home renovations
- Upgrade our car to something more roomy
- Pay off our student loans -
1. DH gets a good post grad school job
2. Buy a house
3. Have baby #2 (and done)
4. Pay down a lot of our debt
5. Buy DH a new (to us) car in cash
6. Go home to NZ, ideally twice
7. Take another international trip -
We are almost a year into our 5 year plan, which takes us up to our 40th birthdays, by which time both of our children will be in school and we will only have before and after school childcare and holiday provision to pay for.
Last year we achieved:
- baby born to complete our family
- new kitchen
- me lose weight (40lb gone)2017:
- me get new job (provisional offer made!)
- DH get promotion
- pay off credit card (ran up while I on mat leave)
- become part of school community (we find out in April which school E is going to)Beyond:
- build extension
- loft conversion
- career development for both of usI'm aiming to start having occasional date nights going forward, but only once the credit card is paid off. I guess that will start with some regularity next year. We prioritise annual family holidays (vacations) but alternate between staying in the UK and going abroad. We went to Ibiza last year. We are staying in the UK this year, going to Devon, and plan to take the girls abroad in 2018.
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This is such a great thread, without my husbands input I'd say our 5 year goals are:
-review the books and most likely buy into my firm
-meet with a financial planner and discuss 529's, paying off our mortgage, and retirement savings
-take one big vacation each year
-Camp close to home 2-3 times each year, and farther away 1-2 (including the beach this year)There are other things that will happen over the next 5 years but I think these are the big things that I want to make sure happen. We are taking a parent only trip this weekend. We should discuss this.
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Have one or two more babies.
Be halfway through paying off student loan debt (this is, sadly, ambitious but doable)
My husband will be partnered in his medical practice in 4.5 years. Our plan after that is to get our current house ready to sell and hopefully by 5.5-6 years from now be in our forever house.
I'm not sure what will happen with my work. I may stay at one day a week for a while, or increase hours when the youngest kid is in preschool. Depends on how many we have and how crazy it feels!
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Love this thread! It really has me thinking!
1. Move into our forever home. We only took out a 15 year mortgage on our starter home and we've been here 5 years now. A huge chunk has been paid off already giving us a decent down payment to work with.
2. Pay off more student loans. 1 will be paid off with taxes this year. But we will still have 40k left.
3. But minivan. This will be in the next few months.
4. Possibly have #3 & #4. I'm due with #2 in August and want our kids close in age.
5. Try to actually take a vacation! We haven't yet since DD was born.
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-Pay off all debt except house and a car (mine is 12 years old I'll need a new to me car in the next 3 years I'm sure)
-have 1 year emergency fund
-continue small house projectsNot a lot planned really, just trying to get ourselves to a comfortable financial state. We have less than 17k in debt (minus house) so I think it's totally doable!
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5 year plan:
- move into home (we are beginning process of building currently and will hopefully be in the next 6-7 months. This will be house until kids girls graduate from high school most likely)
- have our 3rd and final baby
- pay off credit card & car loan
- pay down student loans - most likely be 7-8 years on the plan we have mapped out
- finish basement in house (not fully finishing it right away and doing it on our own)
- Disney trip
- 10 year anniversary trip -
@Anagram: @sunny: I had the same thought regarding paying off your house faster. What does paying off the house allow you to do in the future (versus the trade offs of what it will allow you to not do now)?
I get the sense that this is an anxiety driven goal for your DH and not based on examining all the pros and cons...
(sorry, if this is overstepping to say, I know I don't know you personally but just from what you've written!) -
Get a real job
Move
Buy a "forever house" that we will stay in at least through high school for our children -
@petitenoisette: Yeah, he doesn't like debt of any kind. For example, he's never financed a car in his life. Didn't take out loans for his undergrad or his grad degree. His big dream is to pay off our house now, sell and go elsewhere and pay cash for a house. Just because it would feel good to pay cash and never pay a dime of interest.
I don't think it's a bad way to be, it's just different than what I would do, so we have to talk things out and think about different angles.
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We did sit down and make a 5 year plan last night! It was a long, drawn out, and much needed conversation. And we came to some compromises and agreements, which was great.
I was resistant at first, because I'm just not into these things, but now I'm super glad we did it. And I got to add in my own line items into our 5 year plan/budget, so I think it was a win-win.
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-have kiddo #2 (due this year)
-pay off car #1 (will do this after taxes this year)
-replace car #2 and have paid off
-finish our basement (probably 2019)
-last of student loans paid off by 2020 (only have my professional school loans left)
-at least one major vacation per year (Hawaii this year, Jamaica next year) with a sans kids trip for our 10 year anniversary in 2020
-start 529 for kiddo #2 and increase payments to each - plan to increase significantly once LO #1 starts public school
-move from full time to part time work by 2020I guess most of this is financial! We're fortunate in that we already own the home that we will be in for at least the next 10 years and both have jobs we love.
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loving thinking about this too! goals in semi-chronological order:
-make partner at my firm (hopefully this december)
-go from family of 3 to family of 4 and later maybe 5
-build up retirement and 529 savings
-pay off our house
-make next 5 year plan
@anagram, I am like you, I think it's worth it to enjoy some expenses in the short term and wait a little longer on the mortgage. but for us, our forever house is in a neighboring state to where we're currently working, so the goal is to pay it off and then start planning to get out of the rat race where we are now, so both of us can afford to be more flexible in taking our next jobs, and with LO in great neighborhood public schools. we're still not sure the exact time frame for that.
if DH had input, he'd probably add like three major construction projects on our house that would torpedo most of the financial goals i have outlined! -
@Anagram: Are you or your DH familiar with the blog Mr. Money Mustache? His whole approach to finance is about finding ways to cut down on your spending while still loving your life and enjoying it to the absolute fullest - seems like it could be a great avenue for combining what your DH wants with what you want. The MMM philosophy is all about recentering your desires away from expensive material needs and shifting toward getting joy from free/cheap activities (like playing in the park with your kids or cooking meals with friends etc). So you end up cutting your spending by a lot, achieving major financial goals quickly, without feeling like you're sacrificing your family's happiness. Could be worth a look. It really is smart to cut your expenses if you can, but I disagree with your DH about using that money to pay off the mortgage; it would be smarter to put that money into your 401(k) or a market investment account.
As for us - we are very lucky that we have no debt at all, made a seriously lucky investment with our first home that has paid off big-time in this crazy housing market, and have been able to stick with our jobs while staying in the neighborhood we love. So our only real 5-year goals are:
-Buy a slightly bigger house (though we may wait a while on this since we love where we live) and decide whether to sell our current home or make it a rental/income property
-Have another baby
-Probably eventually replace our car, which turns 10 years old this year!
-Regular vacations (some with kids, some just DH and I, some with grandparents)
-Stick with our current aggressive savings approach (we've maxed our 401(k) withholding for years, and are funneling a lot into DD's 529, and have a high goal for our investments on top of all that) -
@PawPrints: I'll check out that blog. Sounds good!
To clarify, Dh doesn't want to pay off the house instead of fully funding our retirement or saving money in other vehicles. He wants to do all that AND put more money into the house, instead of pay for luxuries like a house cleaner or a nanny or big vacations or eating out regularly. So we have had to sit down and come up with compromises and each talk out what we need, what our goals are, etc. But we did that last night and came up with a plan that satisfies both of us.. It was good! We also walked away with homework for each of us. I kind of want to have these talks monthly now...like a "state of the _______ family finances" talk, haha.
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@Anagram: I am just curious, what were the compromises? Is it along the lines of eat out twice a month, or get a housekeeper once a month, or get a second job?
My husband and I hadn't had a state of the family finances in a long time and I wasn't aware of what the full financial picture really looked like. I was thinking we were one paycheck away from living on the street when in fact, it wasn't like that at all, but I tend to paint things a lot worse than they are. Once we had that discussion and I saw on "paper" what things really were, I was able to calm myself down.
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Family will be complete when LO2 arrives this month.. soooo...
1. decide whether to remain in current home and make adjustments to it or sell it and buy a better fitted house in same neighborhood
2. regular big vacations (Disney, tropical, sight seeing out west)
3. save, we have maxed out our 401k's, our savings account is where we want it so now we are exploring other investment/saving options/college savings
4. new cars when current ones need replacing -
@looch: We agreed to a date night at least 1x a month, agreed to the big vacation I wanted this summer with a budget DH thought was reasonable, agreed to keep a very small portion of DHs bonus to potentially give me some kind of part time childcare this summer when I'm off work, and agreed to put everything else into the house. So we're both happy at the end of it.
Our homework after the discussion is to calculate the benefits of paying off the house (saving interest) vs putting more money into college funds and to seriously try to nail down what kind of childcare we will be using next year. I already called 1 after school care place today and we have an appt for a tour on Friday. I really, really love our nanny but as part of our homework, I agreed to explore other options for next year so we can run numbers and maybe meet all of our spending/saving goals at the same time.
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Save!
Actively exercise outdoors again and implement plant based diet consistently.
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We have a list of house items to complete including a kitchen reconfigurement, adding a shower to our half bath, replacing some windows, and a lot of work on the exterior and landscaping.
We will be done growing our family by then but not 100% decided if we are done now or will try for one more. If we are done, I will be looking to go back to work or school part time when our youngest is in preschool.
I want to take the kids to Disney and go on a nice trip for our 10 year anniversary.
And this is a silly, little thing, but I want to make yearly photo books! I haven't been good about them so I need to get started. -
Get kids out of daycare!
Pay off cars.
Start saving aggressively into 401k again.
Take a big family vacation (Disney or Hawaii) -
love this post! so many great plans
-buy a house
-baby #2
-buy a second car (and pay it off asap)
-vacation
-build up savings -
I typically have not been big on 5y plans (TTC/pregnancy/kids and medical training are all too volatile to predict or plan around!), but now that we're done with the babymaking and relatively settled, we're talking about it.
Interesting to read all of the ideas on here -- keep it up!
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@Anagram: I actually don't love Mr. Money Mustache. I find that he's a bit impractical for me, though admittedly I read a few blog entries and then haven't gone back. He no longer has a 9-5 so he's able to trade his time to save money. DH & I work 40+ hours a week so it isn't always practical to spend time to do something that an "affordable" amount of money could achieve.
@looch: DH & I sit down and look at our full financial picture once a month. We review all of our accounts: savings, investments, retirement, mortgage balance, etc. I found that by doing it monthly we got into the habit of doing it. When it was less frequently, we would forget and then it wouldn't be done for a year. It only takes about an hour, so it isn't a big time commitment.
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6+ months of emergency funds in savings
no credit card debit
add to retirement/529/college savings for kids
refinance house at 15 year mortgage vs 30 year
10 year anniversary trip -
2017:
have baby #2 (due in April!)
Get a 2nd pup (just brought her home 3 weeks ago!)
Get a promotion (wouldn't happen until Dec 2017)
DH either get a significant raise or a higher paying job
Pay off my student loan2018:
we'll have 2 kids in full time daycare, so i don't expect to save any money for the foreseeable future...2019:
start TTC baby #3 (our last one) so that they're born in 2020 (so we'll never be paying for more than 2 in daycare since my oldest will be in kindergarden by then).2020:
Have baby #3!2021: TBD
. I want to go to Disney with them and go on big bucket list types of adventures like scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef. And enjoy a fall weekend in the mountains, or a skiing trip in the winter. 
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