The Goals

I don’t earn a lot of money, but considering the cost of living where I am, I can certainly save. My short-term goal is to open a one-year CD in August with a minimum deposit of $10,000. This is a fairly attainable goal, given that I already have $4,000 in savings and another $3,000 in my checking waiting to be transferred to savings. If I’m really optimistic, I might be able to open it by June 1^st, but I would rather play it safe with my first goal. My longer term goal is to have at least $20,000 by the end of May 2008, when I plan on quitting my current job.

In addition to the monetary goals, I'm also working on keeping track of my spending and setting a budget. I've managed to do this pretty well for the last few months, so I just need to keep it up and pare back the categories, like food, where most of the spending happens. I should raise my credit score, but it will have to wait until I've had my current credit card for a few more months. Lastly, I'm going to educate myself on debt, savings and finance. I'm going to have to go into debt, but I can at least be smart about it.