2005 Goals

One of the things I enjoy about reading other people's financial blogs is the real data that is shown for their financial situation. Also, it is interesting to see their goals and how they are doing. So, I figure I would do the same here. I have to decide the best way to present my financial situation but for today I thought I would at least share my goals. They are very simple for this year.

1. maintain a positive balance in our main chequing account.
   Historically we run up the overdraft protection so when we deposit my husband's cheque, the balance goes to zero. Not very satisfying. I am currently working a full-time job in addition to my business (more on all that later) so I am now getting paid every other week too. Even better, my pays are opposite my husband's so there is a deposit going in every week. Hence, no need to go into overdraft.
   
2. Be up to date on the property taxes by the end of 2005.
   This is one of those things that was easy to avoid paying while building my business but it causes me MAJOR stress. Just got the 2005 final tax bill and the amount for this year is $4136.20. This plus the arrears amount of $7187.17 makes for a whopping total owing of $9345.00 YIKES!!!! And the interest rate they charge on the outstanding amount is 16% which is ridiculous. I don't want to just pay it off with the credit card/line of credit since that will blend it with all the other money we owe. So I need to put together a specific plan of action.
   
3. Pay off my personal income tax amount for 2004.
   This is a classic case of "do as I say, not as I do". I always advise my clients to set aside a percentage of their business income to cover the taxes, but I didn't do that myself. I did pay my GST in full (they are a nasty bunch to owe money to) but I still owe about $4000 in income taxes. The rate charged by the government for interest is 7% which isn't too bad.
   
4. Put $100 per month in RRSP account. More on this later.
   
5. Set up a separate bank account for hockey for my son and determine an amount to go into it each month. Again, more on this later.

So that is it for now. Let's see how I do.

AKG

I have a secret!

I am a professional accountant but...

my personal finances are a mess!

I am a classic case of do what I say, not what I do. When I look back in hindsight, I can see where I went wrong. I am 39 years old and I grew up in a world that suddenly became available for instant gratification through the whole concept of play now, pay later. No money down, instant credit, home equity loans, credit card offers in the mail, and on and on it goes. Gone is the world of my parents where everything was paid for by cash and if you didn't have the money, you didn't (no, couldn't) buy it. The concept of saving for something has vanished. Mike over at the Wealthy Blogger wrote about that today with the concept of stealing from your future self. So my job is to teach my children how to manage themselves in this crazy world and get the family finances under control. And maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes.

AKG