What are your realistic 5 year financial goals?

damn...those are some lofty goals for a 26 year old

must not have many expenses

as for mine as a 30 year old

- increase my 401k contribution by 1% each year
- max out Roth IRA
- invest more into my kids college plan
- pay off wife's car

A 50k emergency fund? With your only debt being a mortgage?

No.

I'm 28.

I hope to be making 6 figures. I'm close now.
200k between the 401k and Roth IRA (I'm at 75k now)
Only debt is mortgage
In an emergency I would use my Roth principle.

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At least $50k in an Emergency fund.

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This is too high - unless your monthly expenses are outrageous (in which case, fix that first) - I wouldn't set that higher than 6 months of expenses - now you should have a car replacement fund, too - and $50k, total can fund both of those. You want the car fund to, ultimately, self-generate so that you can pull $18k or so, every 5 or 6 years, to replace a car.

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And I don't know what goal to set for a 401k

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I think 15% of gross, total for your Roth and 401K is a good goal. And start with 401k - IF you're getting a match - say 5% is typical, but your situation may vary. So you buy 10% with 5, but only give yourself credit for 5% (the other 5% is free money) - then I would get to 10% on your Roth and not worry about the "balance" - buy shares for 40 to 50 years and worry about "the balance" in your 50s and 60s.

I'm ridiculously addicted to personal financial planning. I am 36, but what have found in the last few years is that it's pretty pointless to plan more than about 3 years out for me. So many things change, for good and bad, that it's essentially a waste of time, even though I really enjoy it.

32 years old


In 5 years hope to be settling into our forever home, not sure if we will build or buy

Max Roth for wife and I, as long as we are eligible

10% to my 401k
Wife has state retirement

In 5 years my oldest will be 15, and I still haven't really put much thought into college funding, and it scares me.

I'm 29. In 5 years I want to:

Have 150k in 401k, 50k in Roth, 25k in HSA and 25k in dumb savings.

Have the remaining 50k in student loans paid off.

Be making at least 115k/yr.

Purchase 3rd home. (Purchasing my 2nd this year.)

Have enough to keep the 2nd and use that as rental income... may still keep the first, I'm working on the numbers right now, but if I want to keep the 2nd eventually it makes more sense to keep this current home as a rental too. I've heard it's worth the effort after you have 3-4 rentals. I have about 55k in equity though, so selling now with go a long way to knocking off the student loans.

Simple, continue to grow my net worth. Since i started tracking in 2011 my CAGR is 22%. Can't expect to maintain that much growth, but anything over 14% or so will be ok.

I'm 37. At 42 would like to have:

-At least $700k in retirement accounts. At 280k now and have recently ramped up contributions due to increased income.

-No interest bearing debt except house. Really this just means paying off student loans. Have 10k left on private school loans and 50k left on federal school loans (might just continue to pay minimum on these because rate is locked in at 2%).

-Be on track for 2 kids' college funds (3 year old and soon to be born child now and haven't started). Not sure what this looks like but I'm assuming at least a couple hundred dollars per month per child (more for the older child since will be playing catch up).

We recently bought a house that feels too expensive and I hate how much I pay on the mortgage (and it's a 30 year mortgage). I'm hoping my income grows into it to where it doesn't feel like such a stretch. It already feels a little better this year than last. It should be our "forever" house.

23 YO

-When I am 27 have at least $100k in 401k/IRA
-Paid off vehicles for fiance/me (fiance done so far)
-Have emergency fund for 30k
-Have >20% equity in the house fiance will force me to buy that is > than what we need
- >100k income (pretty much guaranteed assuming I get certifications + min average+ annual reviews)



Right now I'm on track for all 5 of those pretty comfortably.

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I'd like to have my first rental property paid off and possibly be involved in my 2nd or 3rd investment.

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I see this all the time when people discuss their investment goals, and I have to admit, I find it somewhat perplexing.

I'm not trying to diminish your goals, and surely there is money to be made in rental properties, but I'm not sure many people appreciate the actual work involved in being a landlord.

Anyway, good luck. Those are rather lofty goals but they are attainable.