It’s hard to believe, but 2010 is just around the corner. 2009 was a tough year for most, with unemployment rates nearing 10%, and home prices continuing to suffer. Yet, for many of us we have stayed focused and continued to reach our financial goals despite the weak economy. For those who came up short of achieving your goals, no problem. It’s time to put 2009 behind us and get refocused and re-energized for a new decade.

In order to create effective goals you should focus on making them measurable, meaningful, and realistic. For 2009 I failed to make my goals measurable by not writing them down! Despite this blunder, I still managed to achieve many of the goals I set for myself for 2009 including: building an emergency fund (after depleting it for our house purchase in December of 2008), having a great wedding without taking on too much debt, improving my technical skills and advancing my career into a Business Intelligence position at a new company. What were your Financial Goals for 2009? Were you able to achieve your goals?

Pay 10% extra on each Mortgage Payment – Last Year I read The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner by David Bach. In this book Bach explains that paying an extra 10% each month or 1 extra payment at the end of the year will cut your 30 year mortgage by 7 years! I couldn’t believe this, and decided I would try and make one extra payment at the end of the year, despite Bach’s warning that it is “Easier said than done.” I failed! So this year, I am making it automatic. Each month I will add an extra 10% to the principle of my mortgage. As an added bonus, we will be able to re-appraise our home sooner, and drop our $80 a month Private Mortgage Insurance.

Pay off wedding Debt – My wife Sarah and I had an awesome July 4^th wedding this year. Since we were responsible for paying for the entire wedding, our goal was to keep the costs below 30k and incur as little debt as possible. We managed to keep the wedding costs to about 30k, but still ended up with 10k in wedding debt. Luckily, it is an interest free loan from my parents, but I still want to clear this one off the books ASAP!

Boost Emergency Fund – With all of the expenses of being a first time home owner, I thought this would be next to impossible, but we managed to sock away 50% of our EF goal. In 2010 I would like to boost this to a full 6 months of living expenses.

Go Green – Since buying our house I have: replaced 90% of our light bulbs with energy efficient CFL light bulbs, purchased the Black & Decker Cordless Battery Powered Lawn Mower, Hedge Trimmer, and Toro Electric Blower/Vacuum, Started a compost bin, recycle cans, and take public transportation to work. In 2010, I want to continue to purchase electric powered appliances with a future goal of charging them off of solar power. I also want to recycle more, compost more, and start saving for a Hybrid Vehicle.

Home Renovations – Your home is an investment and sometimes you have to spend money to make money. This year we will pull up our carpet and expose the great hardwood floors that are hidden underneath. This will require refinishing, which I expect will set us back $1,500 dollars. We will also continue painting, and various other low cost, high return projects.

Improve Budgeting – I still have not mastered the skill of budgeting for irregular expenses such as oil, car repairs, quarterly water bills, birthdays, holidays, and more. This year I am going to make a conscious effort to calculate how much I should set aside each month for these irregular expenses. That way I will have no excuse when I mess up my budget. I plan to review all of the past years bills and come up with a monthly allocation for each of these type of expenses.

Create Target Savings Funds – I have been opposed to target savings funds for a while, but am starting to see the value in having a few (less the 3 or 4) funds. I know some personal finance folks get carried away with this concept and in the process of trying to simplify their lives, they end up making things more complicated and difficult to manage. I would like to setup funds for A New Car and a Vacation.

Get the word out about The Broken Penny – This blog is already helping me improve my financial IQ. The Broken Penny is pushing me to read more books, research more topics, and get more involved in the personal finance community. In 2010, I want to focus on getting as many readers as possible to be involved in discussions. Statistics show that only 10% of readers are actively involved in blog discussions, but I want to change that. I hope that my reader will feel comfortable getting involved in the topics discussed on The Broken Penny.

Enjoy Life – Sometimes in the chaos of life, we forget to stop and be grateful for what we have. On the surface The Broken Penny is about money, but at its core it is about friends, family, and happiness. The Irish Novelist Jonathan Swift explains it best by saying “A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.”

Give to Charity – I am frustrated that this goal eluded me this year, but it won’t happen again. In addition to donating financially, I also want to donate my time and energy to a great causes. I plan to research various charities and find one I feel strongly about and commit to the cause.