# Any 2015 Goals/Resolutions Specific to Personal finance?



## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

Hi Everyone.. interested to hear if anyone is taking on any major resolutions/challenges in 2015 this year around the financial topic world? 

I did also want to share my own, that I am going to take a run at living off of 50% of my income or one cheque per month.. and Save 100% of the other one. I have had a good year in 2014 overall and really want to shift my focus in 2015 to simplify my portfolio and focus harder on saving money/living off less/ and earning more. I definitely realized that I was spending far too much time analyzing/reading/re-reading/re-analyzing the market/stocks/funds/etfs and everything under the sun the last three years.. and I want to spend my energy on growing my income vs trying to pick the right stocks at the right times etc. 


Anyone else?


Cheers..


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

My wife and I talked about our financial goals for 2015 recently....here they are....freshly posted:
http://www.myownadvisor.ca/2015-financial-goals/

I think the goals are realistic but we're going to have to ramp up our savings rate to realize all these. It will not be easy but I think it's good to have a couple of stretch assignments...

Time will tell if we hit the mark or miss it.

I'd be curious to read others' goals. TFSA-focused? RRSP-focused? Debt-focused? All three?

Then there could the retirees in here, a goal is to spend some hard-earned money and travel to a few exotic places.


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## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

My goals for 2015 are - 

Already maxed out TFSA....will max out RSP in March and try to save as much as possible to take my net worth to 300K.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Well done Scorpion.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

My three goals are the same each year: retirement investments, paying off the mortgage, and charitable donations. Altogether those three account for a little over 60% of my net income. The end of our mortgage is in sight: we have about 2.5 years left to go. So my goal this year is to bring it down to less than 2 years. I should be able to max my RRSP contributions. I'm a dual US-Canadian citizen, so TFSA is out for me, unfortunately. I took a paycut last year and am now working less than fulltime, but my goal is to continue my charitable contributions at the same level as last year, which was $20,000. My contributions go to charities working to save lives in developing countries (it's the financially optimal solution for charity: you do the most good per dollar donated), and I helped an estimated 30,000 people last year and probably saved at least several thousand lives. Numbers like that keep me motivated to keep giving, and the tax refund helps me give more each year.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

My goal is to short the SPX come hell or high water on a wave 2 rally after an initial 5 waves down with out of the money put leaps.


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

My Own Advisor said:


> My wife and I talked about our financial goals for 2015 recently....here they are....freshly posted:
> http://www.myownadvisor.ca/2015-financial-goals/
> 
> I think the goals are realistic but we're going to have to ramp up our savings rate to realize all these. It will not be easy but I think it's good to have a couple of stretch assignments...
> ...



That's great to hear you are pushing for the stretch targets.. I think everyone need's those challenging goals to shoot for that are just out of reach! Thanks for sharing


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

scorpion_ca said:


> My goals for 2015 are -
> 
> Already maxed out TFSA....will max out RSP in March and try to save as much as possible to take my net worth to 300K.




That is fantastic news.. what are you investing in RSP wise? Congratulations on already maxing these out!


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

brad said:


> My three goals are the same each year: retirement investments, paying off the mortgage, and charitable donations. Altogether those three account for a little over 60% of my net income. The end of our mortgage is in sight: we have about 2.5 years left to go. So my goal this year is to bring it down to less than 2 years. I should be able to max my RRSP contributions. I'm a dual US-Canadian citizen, so TFSA is out for me, unfortunately. I took a paycut last year and am now working less than fulltime, but my goal is to continue my charitable contributions at the same level as last year, which was $20,000. My contributions go to charities working to save lives in developing countries (it's the financially optimal solution for charity: you do the most good per dollar donated), and I helped an estimated 30,000 people last year and probably saved at least several thousand lives. Numbers like that keep me motivated to keep giving, and the tax refund helps me give more each year.


Brad

That is very admirable to give back so much! This is something I definitely need to do better at.. great work


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## Underworld (Aug 26, 2009)

Good point regarding over analyzing stuff and spending the time growing your income. You can double or triple your income within a few years with focus and watching what is in demand.
Thats one of my goals for this year. Focus on earning more money and being more frugal.


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## CPA Candidate (Dec 15, 2013)

The plan for 2015 is put cash under mattress or in very safe investments.


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## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

TFSA = will buy ZRE; praying to drop the price but it's been increasing last two days.
RSP = sell TDB900, TDB902 & TDB911 and buy VUN but haven't decided yet for international equity ETF....will have to compare between TDB911 & XEF.
Non - Registered = last week opened the account and will buy VCN.



Westerncanada said:


> That is fantastic news.. what are you investing in RSP wise? Congratulations on already maxing these out!


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

My goal is to improve in my career and work as much overtime as I can. I want to focus less on the trifling nic-nacs of frugality that take up so much time and mental energy and more on the big important things.

Something in my home is bothering me or a possession isn't working right? Just go buy a damn new one and get on with life. Don't spend weeks hemming and hawing over whether you should spend 100 bucks or make due or fix it yourself. Just pay the man, stop thinking about it, and focus your mind on what's important: improving your career and working harder. There will be plenty of time to be frugal when I'm old and/or retired.


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

Max tfsa done 
Max rrsp to date done
Finish second house still about 20% to go will start in april 2015
Will add 1 km per day to running,now at about 7 km on average
Only drive 4000 km down from 5000 km per year
Sell car and purchase all oil appox 20k(1980 z28)
Take vacation in sept,first vacation in over 7 years
Hope last son moves out( not a good probability)got it to easy at home
Hoping net worth will go another 20% up


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Westerncanada said:


> Brad
> 
> That is very admirable to give back so much! This is something I definitely need to do better at.. great work


Agreed. Nice goals Brad.


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## Michel (Mar 7, 2014)

Start really budgeting. I've always had too much money and never really took care of my spending, now I look back at previous years and I'm horrified. So I:

- Cut my auto insurance bill by 25% by taking higher franchises and asking every insurance company
- Cut my cell phone bill by at least 60% by going pre-paid 15$ a month
- Start making my own food for lunch rather than dining at the cafeteria (potential savings of 1000$+ a year)
- Stop impulse-buying so many books that I don't read and games that I don't play
- Repair my old clothes rather than buy new ones

Also, I'll start contributing 18% of my gross pay to my group RRSP so I'll have less money on hand and start investing that saved tax money immediately.


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

scorpion_ca said:


> TFSA = will buy ZRE; praying to drop the price but it's been increasing last two days.
> RSP = sell TDB900, TDB902 & TDB911 and buy VUN but haven't decided yet for international equity ETF....will have to compare between TDB911 & XEF.
> Non - Registered = last week opened the account and will buy VCN.
> 
> ...



Out of curiosity why are you getting rid of TDB900 and 902? I am a fan and holder of E series products and just curious as to why you are dumping these now?


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## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

I also like e-series but I will have to reduce the cost (MER).



Westerncanada said:


> Out of curiosity why are you getting rid of TDB900 and 902? I am a fan and holder of E series products and just curious as to why you are dumping these now?


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

CPA Candidate said:


> The plan for 2015 is put cash under mattress or in very safe investments.


Any reason for this? Feeling Bearish?


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

1980z28 said:


> Max tfsa done
> Max rrsp to date done
> Finish second house still about 20% to go will start in april 2015
> Will add 1 km per day to running,now at about 7 km on average
> ...


Why did you go 7 years without a vacation? Small business?


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