We have started to formulate our 2012 savings goals but still a work in progress since we are spending quite a bit of time revisiting each number on our annual spending plan (our form of a budget). More details on my blog.

But this is what we are working on so far for 2012:
(1) Max out 401ks - $34,000 ($17,000 each)
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000 ($5,000 each).

(1) Max out 401ks - $34,000 ($17,000 for each)
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000 ($5,000 for each)
(3) Add to our emergency fund - $10,000
(4) Principal prepayment for mortgage - $5,000
(5) House project fund - $5,000
(6) Trading account fund - $5,000

Total: $69,000

We finally finalized our goals for 2012, two months into the new year.

$69,000 is a stretch, $9000 more than we saved last year. I also spent quite a bit
of time working on our 2012 annual spending plan. Reworked it, checked the numbers, etc. I'm still tweaking, and plotting and planning how we can save more, but the plan is generally done. I'm thinking that the extra $9000 is going to come from our reduction in eating out and order in. I've been making progress on that front, but we could do better. I'd rather eat out less, save our eating out money for special meals out and save the rest. Eating out/order in has gotten to be such a habit for me.

Nice job with your goals Sam. You are really on a roll.
I'm curious about you maxing out your 2012 401ks already. Does your company let you contribute as much as you want at one time, or you guys have separate 401ks through some other source besides your job? Or...you just make a ton of $$, and that's cool. I wish I could max out a 401k so quickly.

Peachy - those are just our goals for 2012. This is where we are at thus far in 2012. I wish we were as far along as you thought.

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $6123 (18%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $0 (0%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $ 1600 (16%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $830 (17%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $0 (0%) (goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $0 (0%(goal is $5,000)

Total - $8,553 (12%)

Sam ,

Just curious , to save $69K in a year , what is your household income ? And what do you do for a living ?

Exploring ,

Marcopolo

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $10,705 (31%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $1500 (15%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $ 2800 (28%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $1245 (25%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $350 (7%) (goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $0 (0%(goal is $5,000)

Total - $16,600 (24%)

At present, we are about $3300 behind on our 2012 goals.

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $13,492 (40%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $1600 (16%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $ 3600 (36%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $1600 (33%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $450 (9%) (goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $0 (0%(goal is $5,000)

Total - $20,802 (30%)

We are about $4,400 behind on our goals.

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $16,879 (50%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $3502 (35%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $4800 (48%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $2075 (42%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $600 (12%)(goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $50 (1%)(goal is $5,000)

Total - $27,906 (40%)

At present, we are about $2600 behind on our 2012 goals. We caught up a little bit last month.

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $18,079 (53%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $4102 (41%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $4800 (48%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $2490 (50%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $600 (12%)(goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $50 (1%)(goal is $5,000)

Total - $30,121 (44%)

Posting mid-month because its good news, we have caught up a bit more on our 2012 savings goals. At present, we are $1725 behind on our goals.

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $19,230 (57%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $4105 (41%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $5200 (52%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $2490 (50%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $650 (13%)(goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $50 (1%)(goal is $5,000)

Total - $31,725 (46%)

We are half way through the year and accordingly, we should be 50% of the way done on our savings goals. At present, we are about $4102 behind on our goals.

Not part of our 2012 goals but we just, today, applied for a mortgage refinance for our primary home. Looking to go from a 25 year term mortgage (we are 4 years into it) at 4.8% to a 15 year term mortgage at 2.75%. If we are able to qualify and at this point that is dependent on the appraisal (its tough out there in So Fla), we will take 6 years of our mortgage term and save $181,000 versus our current loan.

Just spent an hour on the phone doing the application and we have a tone of work over the next few days to provide all the documentation (its much more document intensive than the last time around).

Happy to report that our initial appraisal, for our Refi, came back at $395,000. You can read more at our blog.

Sam, all I can say is "wow!", you are slamming those goals. Great work.

Karen

(1) Max out 401k(s) - $22,617 (67%)(goal is $34,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) - $4705 (47%)(goal is $10,000)
(3) Add to e/r fund - $6000 (60%)(goal is $10,000)
(4) Pay down mortgage - $2490 (50%)(goal is $5,000)
(5) House projects - $750 (15%)(goal is $5,000)
(6) Trading account fund - $50 (1%)(goal is $5,000)

Total - $36,612 (53%)

More details on the blog.

Your goals for savings is amazing....hope I can reach your level someday.