Personal Finance Goals For Your 30s

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In just a few months from now, I will be embarking on the next decade of my life known as my 30s. I feel fortunate to reach this milestone and I am ready to make and aim for new goals.  While we have a good idea of what personal finance goals we want to achieve. We wanted to do some research to discover what personal finance goals we should be aiming for during our 30s. After this research, we were able to identify some key personal finance goals that relate to our age and current families needs.

Today, we want to take some time to go over the personal finance goals we are setting out to achieve in our 30s.  Keep in mind that we continue to work on those goals mentioned in our post “Personal Finance Goals for your 20s“. The next decade of personal finance goals will be in addition to those goals we worked towards and fine-tuned through our 20s!

After reviewing our goals, share your goals or what you achieved in your 30s!

 

Personal Finance Goals For Your 30s

 

Eliminate and Prevent Debt

It has been discovered that 8 out of 10 Americans have some form of debt based on a Pew Charitable Trusts study. In America, debt has become the norm. While considered normal, it can have some negative effects on future goals. Considering that we spent half our 20s getting in debt, we will be working half of our 30s eliminating that debt and working to prevent any further debt. We are currently working on Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball to eliminate our debt. The process of cutting expenses and finding ways to earn extra money to put towards our debt has begun. We plan to continue this strategy until we eliminate all of our debt!

Our Plan

To aid towards preventing debt, we will continue to utilize and fine-tune our monthly budgets to avoid unplanned spending. These strategies will help begin behavioral changes towards preventing the debt. However, it may not be a full proof strategy for avoiding the temptations of using debt.  We will be taking a closer focus on the beliefs and behaviors we have towards debt. Through this personal development and change in behavior, we hope to prevent from incurring more debt in the future.

By eliminating and preventing debt, we will have more money available with each pay period to put towards our future and not our past. This goal also lowers our liabilities tremendously, if something were to negatively impact our income. Accomplishing this goal will move us much closer to some level of financial security!

 

Increase Savings Strategy

Learning different ways to save more money will continue to be another personal finance focus throughout our 30s. Not only saving more money but looking at strategies to saving in various ways. We are aiming for Financial Freedom and part of that means having different securities in place.

Our Plan

Listed below are the four main savings funds that we will be focusing on during our 30s. We plan to use the various type of savings accounts mentioned here to increase our overall savings. You can also gain access to the savings tracker we will be utilizing as we work towards our savings goals.

• Emergency Fund

We were introduced to Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover in which he suggests having a small emergency fund as you work on baby step number 2 which involves the debt snowball. After the debt is eliminated then you can move to step 3. Baby step 3 focuses on beefing up your emergency fund to cover 3 to 6 months worth of expenses. With this in mind, we hope to complete step 3 before our mid-30s, so that we can move on to the next baby step of increasing our retirement funding.

• Retirement Fund

As we complete Baby step 3 of fully funding our emergency fund, we can then focus more on retirement funding. It has been suggested that the earlier you start saving towards your Retirement, the better compound interest will work for you. Not to mention that if you contribute to your employer-sponsored retirement fund it is pre-tax! This ultimately has the possibility to put more money in your pocket which can then be further invested.

We currently contribute a small portion to retirement even while paying off debt. We only contribute to my employer-sponsored retirement fund currently. Due to my SO’s employer not offering a retirement fund, we want to begin investing in private retirement funds.  In the next decade, our goal is to open and contribute to Roth IRA’s for my SO and myself.

Do you already invest in private retirement funds? We would love to hear about the strategies and contributions amounts you are already working towards!

• Housing Fund

As our family has grown, we are running out of comfortable room in our current home. While we are working on downsizing and making it work, we will eventually need to upgrade. Working towards a down payment for a new home is a top focus in increasing our savings. Not only do we want to have a fund for a down payment, but also save for future home repairs and maintenance. This will be an ever-revolving fund as we buy a home and encounter the many home projects needed. Our goal is to focus mainly on obtaining a substantial amount for a down payment. After we reach this goal, we will re-evaluate our needs for home projects.

Have you bought a home recently? Have you saved up for home repairs and projects? How do you save money on home projects?

• College Fund

Our financial responsibility has grown as our family was expanded to two daughters. We now have two other individual’s futures to consider when making financial decisions. Higher education has always been a high value for me. While I will not force my daughters to pursue higher education, I will encourage continued learning.

Our goal is to still provide them with a small financial foundation in the event that they choose higher education. We still have many other personal financial hurdles to overcome, before we can start to contribute to a college fund. However, we have the ability to research and learn as much as possible about investing in college savings.  With this approach, once we have the means to begin contributing we will be able to make those educated and confident decisions.

Do you currently save for your children or grandchildren’s education? What type of accounts have you utilized for this savings goal?

 

Begin or Increase Investments

We have been working towards financial freedom by budgeting, cutting expenses and eliminating debt. However, we are willing to try new things to decrease our liabilities and increase our assets. Our current strategies have involved actively increasing our income. These strategies involve a lot of physical or mental time needed. With our family recently expanding, our time availability has shifted. To combat this change in our lives, we are looking into different strategies for obtaining different passive income streams.

We have heard and read about many recommendations for different passive income streams. We have heard that investing can be a great option for passively growing your money long term. Making more money can be the key to accomplishing your personal finance goals such as investing. Investing in stocks and mutual funds is a great way to increase your retirement and other financial assets.

Our Plan

We must admit that we understand very little about investing in the stock market. However, this is a finance goal we would like to achieve through our 30s. This goal includes learning as much as we can about what type of investments are available. In addition, we want to learn the steps that need to be taken to begin investing in the different types. Our plan is to utilize micro saving apps such as Stash, Acorns, and Robinhood during our learning phase. These apps are great for individuals who have limited funding for investing along with limited knowledge. We believe that by utilizing these apps, we are creating a good foundation for us and our future of investing.

When did you start Investing? What was your first investment? Do you use any apps designed for investing? If so, what has your experience been?

 

Advance Your Insurance Coverage

There are a variety of different insurance coverages available for many different parts of life. You have auto insurance, home insurance, renter’s insurance, life insurance and health insurance just to name a few. Have you experienced life changes recently like marriage, children, divorce, and homeownership? Many of these life events change the amount of coverage needed tremendously.

There can be great financial successes in reviewing your insurance policies from time to time. Reconsidering your insurance needs may help you cultivate your money and offer peace of mind for the future by cutting premium expenses and expanding the amount covered. You can find more about cost savings and coverage expansion by contacting your current insurance agent. Also consider getting quotes from multiple companies, to find the best price and coverage for your needs.

Our Plan

As we approach our 30s, we will need to review the coverage we currently have. Our family has expanded and we need to ensure that our whole family is protected in the event of an emergency. Our goal is to contact our Insurance Agent to discuss different insurance options for our family. In addition, we will work to get more quotes to compare with different Insurance Companies. Before this call takes place we would like to learn more about different insurance coverages such as Life, Long-term, and Short-term Disability. We can be more prepared to ask the necessary questions to our Agent.  This way we can confidently make the best decision for our family.

It may sound expensive at the thought of paying all of these Insurance Premiums, especially while in debt still. It may come at a cost, but the benefits and value in return that you receive are well worth the cost. At this stage in our Financial Freedom Journey, we add Insurance Premiums in our budget or have them automatically deducted. When we can, we will pay the policy annually which can save quite a bit of money depending on your insurance carrier. There are many ways to make extra money to cover the premium increases or to pay for the policy in full.

What insurance coverage do you currently have? How do you pay for your premiums? Tell me about a time your insurance coverage was beneficial!

 

Start Estate Planning

Through the years our families and our assets may expand. Taking action to protect tyour families and assets of ourselves through Insurance Coverages is one step. However, there are other types of protections that can help you and your family when more difficult life experiences happen. It is never too soon to start taking action! At a minimum, establishing a guardian or power of attorney can be beneficial as we age and potentially become ill or disabled.

If you are married or have children, this protection would expand to establishing guardianship for your children and spouse. Ensuring proper beneficiaries for your retirement accounts and other assets can serve your family in the case of a tragic event.  These type of discussions may not always be the easiest, but they are well worth the sense of security and confidence that it provides.

Determine the needs of you and your family. If you need to establish guardianship for your children, make sure all necessary discussions with all intended parties involved are had.  If all are on board for the decision then move forward with creating the necessary documents to solidify the decision. The act of estate planning may come with some expenses. The expenses may incur through attorney or notary fees, but the peace of mind is priceless.

Our Plan

This is a goal that we have discussed but have not quite finalized. We hope to finalize our decisions based on our current needs. We intend to review our estate plan every 5 years or when life events occur.

When did you start estate planning? How often to do you review your estate plans?

 

Related Posts:

• 5 Ways To Take Control Of Your Money With A Tax Refund
• Personal Finance Goals For Your 20s
• 4 Money Concepts To Know To Take Control Of Your Money

 

We hope that you found this helpful in goal making as you approach or live in your 30s.  Expect the priorities of your personal finance goals to differ depending on what stage of your 30s you are in. The best thing you can do is evaluate your current financial goals and determine if you are on the right path to achieving them.

Have you already achieved similar finance goals in your 30s? What has helped you to achieve these goals? We would love to hear your responses in the comment section!