I'm happy to say I've reached step 2 of my financial plan.

Step one was paying off student loan debt, which I was able to do within a year. 70% of my income went to pay off the loan.

Literally the week I made my last payment, Covid happened and all fedloans were put into deferment lol perfect timing.

I know people will make the argument that I should have just taken my income and invested it because the growth would exceed the debt on the loan accrued.

And they would be right! But I personally wanted to be debt free, and it feels amazing.

After paying off my loan, I went a little crazy celebrating and splurged on new clothes, some books, and subscription to babble to learn Spanish (I really enjoy it). Ate a bunch of junk food.

I realized I need to have a financial goal to keep me grounded

So step two was savings of 10k (this is the emergency fund)

I made sure that half my paycheck went into my ally savings account.

Step 3 has 4 parts: I) max out Roth 2) contribute 401k up to the match of my employer 3) 20% paycheck ally savings.

Part 4) is having a winning trading strategy.

I'm still trying to define what I want part 4 to be, but I mostly want to start trading very small amounts. It's not about the money, it's about putting in the time to get a feel for the markets.

Right now, I have $200 in my Robinhood account. I've made $6.50 this week.

Here's the rules:

  1. strict trading strategy
  2. record what happens (does this strategy work 51% of the time?)
  3. transfer out anything above $200 ($6.50 sent to ally)
  4. Refine strategy monthly

End goal: make $100 in profit then start all over except with $300 to play with.

Then make $150 in profit, then start playing with $400. And so on...

Having a set goal will keep me on track. Yes making $6 is peanuts but I'm not throwing 10k into something I vaguely understand.

Maybe someday I'll be ok trading 10k but not right now.

Putting step 3 in motion is keeping me grounded.

If I get good enough at trading I can use it as another source of income.

Where ever I am in life, I need to have a goal. If I don't have a goal I will lapse into hedonistic apathy.

Does anyone else have some financial goals you want to share?