Happy New Year!   The beginning of a new year brings the opportunity to set new financial goals. We had good success reaching most of our 2014 goals and hope to reach the five goals below by the end of 2015.

1) Pass our 2016 Net Worth Goal 1 year early Since we already passed our 2015 net worth goal of $296K (1 year early), we will shoot for hitting our 2016 net worth goal of $343K. I am not currently working this might a tough one.

2) Pay off credit card balance of $5,767.31 We charged a new HVAC system (~$6,400) to a 0% credit card in September and the remaining balance is $5,767.31. The 0% offer is good for 2 years, but we would like to get eliminate this debt in 2015.

3) Pay $3,000 extra towards mortgage principal We paid $1,200 total in extra mortgage principal payments in 2014 and would like to try to more than double that to a total of $3,000 in 2015. That is an average of $250/month in extra payments.

4) Contribute $4,000 to 529 Plans ($2,000 for each child) I feel like we have gotten off to a good start with saving for our kid’s college and want to keep up the pace. Our kids are young, so the more we can contribute now, the longer it will have time to grow. Our 3-year-old currently has a balance of $11,349.23 and 7-month-old has a balance of $3,673.32. In 2014, we contributed $3,365 to our daughter’s 529 and $965 to our son’s 529. We would like to contribute $2,000 to each of their 529 Plans in 2015.

5) Building savings account balance to $15,000 In previous years, I set a goal of reaching $20K in savings, but we repeatedly fail to get there. I hate lowering the bar, but I think we need a target that is more doable. I’m hoping that by reaching $15K in savings in 2015, we can get to $20K in 2016.