Step Three: Goals Funding - Base Level

Now you have set up your Emergency Fund, and paid off your "Bad" Debt, including a loan from a family member, a high-rate credit card, and an old debt from college that was really bothering you.

You have a bunch of goals - retirement, paying off your mortgage, buying your next house, launching a new business, and sending the kids to college.

Which comes first? Retirement? The kids? Paying off your debts? How do you decide?

Step 3 of Where to Put Your Next $1 is to fund your goals, in order of priority, at the base levels - the amount of money you need to satisfy the minimum requirement of your goal.

For example, how much money do you need to pay your bills in retirement - not live an extravagant lifestyle, or play golf every day for 20 years, or travel the world - but how much to keep out of a cardboard box and live comfortably?

How much money do you need to save to send the kids to State College, as opposed to Ivy League? How much would it cost for the house you need, as opposed to the house you want?

Then fund the minimum, base level of those goals in order of priority. This may mean you start by contributing to your retirement plan or IRA, then contribute to a 529 Plan for the kid's college education, then set aside money in a CD to start a business in 3 years, and then, finally, invest to raise funds for a bigger house.

How do you decide the order of priority? First, determine if there is another way to pay for the goal, besides your own savings - if so, then it is probably a lower priority than goals for which you have no other alternative. For instance, there are loans easily available for college education, but not for retirement (with the exception of a reverse mortgage). Also, you could obtain investors or take out a loan to fund a new business, and pay them off with the new income stream.

Second, evaluate if you are giving up "free money" by not utilizing pre-tax or matching savings or retirement plans. If you can save pre-tax, the federal government is contributing to your goal (since you don't have to pay those taxes), and if you don't take advantage of this each year, you are leaving money sitting on the table. Similarly, if you are lucky to be employed by a company who matches a 401(k) plan, you may want to contribute at least the match, to "let" your employer help fund your retirement.

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