Assessment of financial goals of 2021 and new goals for 2022

Last year, I assessed our goals and made new ones. It is time to face the truth and see how it went for us :-)

Image: Media by Wix

Goals for 2021:

- House: to continue putting 50 euros aside per month and to make one extra payment of the mortgage.

Achieved! We put 50 euros aside by default and made three extra payments of the mortgage (2500 euros in total). We now pay 24 euros less per month than at the beginning of 2021.

- Child's future: to transfer 20 euros per month and the child's benefit per quarter to her saving account.

Almost achieved. We have an automatic payment for the 20 euros and I transfer the benefit shortly after it reaches our bank account. Of 4 benefits, I transfered 3, as I used one of them for the costs for her second car seat for Estonia.

- Car: to buy a car in Feb-March and inform us about the costs relating to the purchase and up-keeping of it. Try to limit the costs within reason.

Achieved. We are car owners since February. It is a little Kia Picanto from 2017 with very reasonable mileage. Makes me happy every time I drive it (except for the times we try to fit 5 people in it incl one in a car seat, not really made for that!).

Regarding regular costs for the car: I paid 58 euros for insurance (dropped down to 52 euros for 2022) and 21 euros for car tax per month. Add 300 euros for a yearly maintenance and gas (average of 90 euros per month).

- Child's monthly costs: to stay within my set limit (20 euros + the money I get from selling her used things) regarding the non-essential items of hers. When I do purchase things for her, I try to pick items with good quality, that are made in good working conditions and suitable for reselling.

Totally did not achieve it... Including big purchases (e.g. 2 car seats), we spend about 300 euros on her plus the daycare fee. I did pick good-quality items and resold a lot of her things.

- Food: I would like to order groceries regularly to save time and not set ourselves in danger of contracting corona.

Achieved. Weekly grocery order is a tradition now. We spend about 350 euros on groceries per month, which could be less, but also more (average Dutch spending on that category for a family of three with a young child is 380 euros per month).

- To assess our spendings and income every month and be honest with ourselves. It doesn't make you happy if you limit all your costs but it doesn't work if you spend too much either.

Achieved. I do the assessment alone but it makes me happy.

- I will try to think of things in terms of Need and Want. The latter category can wait :-)

Not achieved. I have not really categorized things like that.

New goals, there we go!

- Mortgage: try to update our mortgage based on the new value of the house and extra payments. I think we are under 60% of the value now and drop to a lower risk category. I would like to see if it is possible to fix the new interest rate again. We are fixed for 10 years now, but the more I think, 20 years might be better with the rates as low as they are now.

- Child costs: try to spend less on her clothes and toys. In total, try to stay under 300 euros per month.

- House: we will have our floor replaced due to a problem falling under warranty and will need to pay the difference in price (500 euros). We would like to have our third floor built out (which costs around 11000 euros), so I would like us to start setting money aside for that. The original goal was to do that in the summer, but we will see.

- Travel: if all goes well, we would like to visit Canada this summer. The budget needs to be made still, but I can assume that it will cost us around 5000 euros.

- Changing income: again, if all goes well, our income will double this year. Regarding this, I want to look into building a good rainy day fund and maybe even start investing carefully. For the first months of the year, I want to focus on reading more about these topics (including the misery of figuring out taxes across different countries). Moreover, I want to donate a larger amount of money for charity when this doubling of the income happens.

- Pension: I have started putting 50 euros into my Estonian third pillar and 20 euros for a regular saving account for retirement, and this all to compensate the years I have not worked full time. I need to read more about this and figure out in which way I can bridge the gap in the best way.

- Savings: with the interest rate which has dropped to 0% for our regular savings accounts and to 1,5% for M's savings, it doesn't really make sense to keep a lot of money there. I need to orient and see if putting a certain sum of money on a fixed interest rate saving account in Estonia makes sense (and if yes, how to do the taxes for it...).