Resolutions / Goals for 2007

I guess I will write down some goals, as it seems to be the "in" thing to do. Keep in mind that this is a "personal finance blog with an emphasis on credit scoring," so I will sometimes cover topics that are not related to credit scoring.

Unfortunately, I do not know how long I can keep up the information-dense credit gaming posts. I am trying to pump them out now, and I have had a number of ideas for posts related to things that I have already posted, but it looks like I've covered a lot of the major ideas already. I don't want to get too repetitive either. There are still many topics left to be covered, but they are limited. Anyway, I don't want to be too negative so early, but fair warning: I'm going to try to pace myself on the credit gaming posts.

Finance-related Goals:

1) Attain a positive net worth. I am currently down about $30k due to student loans and my car ($8k). At the very least, I will pay off my car this year and hopefully save up about $15k in various investments. I will not pay off my student loans early, as the interest rate is very favorable.

2) Start investing in rental properties. I believe this year will be a good time to do this. You can count me among the "housing bust" believers; with the rising interest rates, the foreclosure rate is going to skyrocket over the next 12-24 months, and that means the market will be flooded with houses, most people won't be able to buy them, and many people will move back to the rental market. I am aiming for duplexes, triplexes, and quads. Fortunately, the housing boom never quite exploded here like it did in most of the country. Appreciation rates have been mostly reasonable, so I am already comfortable with buying many of the local properties at their current prices. But the glut due to foreclosures will mean that I can pick and choose and wait for good deals. I won't go for any deal where the cash flow is negative. With that kind of plan, it seems hard to go wrong. This goal kind of interferes with goal #1, as mortgages are a big hard negative on the net worth, while property equity is kind of a fuzzy positive.

3) Maintain this blog with at least 3 posts per week, and grow readership and revenue. This blog is mostly for my own gratification and to satiate my verbal diarrhea, but I've never seen the point in writing without an audience, and the money can't hurt. Already I've made nearly $4! Woo hoo!

4) Raise my current "day job" pay by 33%. This is entirely do-able, and I did at least as well in the first year of my job. I'm now well into the 2nd year, and I've found myself slacking (and the raises haven't been coming as fast). If I get back in gear and impress my boss some more, the 33% goal will be no problem.

5) Finish up the web site that I've been working on (in my last job, I was a web programmer) and get it to generate money. I've just started marketing the free "beta" version with AdWords. The final version should easily take in $20 to $50 a month per user, for a very niche user market (but still in the tens of thousands in the US, and easily marketed to). I think a reasonable long-term goal (3-5 years) would be $100k a year from the site. In 2007, I simply hope to have "some" subscribers (meaning I have to get the bulk of the programming done before I can start charging people). Breaking even (revenue >= advertising costs) would be even better. Sorry, not gonna mention the site here, as it's pretty much a lock that nobody in this audience would have a use for it, and it would reveal my identity.

6) Incorporate my business and take advantage of the tax benefits of doing so. Set up a Flexible Spending Account, a "profit sharing plan," and other (legal) tax shelters.

7) Speaking of taxes, I need to get on the ball this year. The past two years, I have taken extensions and ended up owing penalties and interest on unpaid taxes. The penalties and interest have been almost laughably small and certainly not enough punishment to make me very scared to let it happen again (I will owe some back taxes + penalty + interest this year too), but I do want to get my financial house in order, taxes included.

Ok, I think that covered everything. It has been interesting reading various goals and resolutions on other blogs, PF and otherwise. And it felt good to actually write these out. So, pardon the interruption... the next post will be credit-related!