Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

• Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
• Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
• Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – what if we fall into a double dip recession?  Or worse, a depression?  Or inflation?  What if you lose your job? What are you doing to prepare for any economic scenario?
• Be specific about certain financial goals you might have
• Include your age and your age-specific concerns & goals
• A minimum of 500 words is required – again, more detail improves your chances of winning the contest!
• Send your contest submission to kevin (at) 20smoney (dot) com with “Writing Contest” in the subject line

You still have time to submit your entry to the contest!  Be sure to enter soon!

I want to be financially stable by 2020.

That, though, is probably the aim of everyone who is taking the time out to write in to this competition or for those reading 20smoney on a regular basis. The questions I have been asking myself for almost a year now is how I want to go about achieving this goal. The journey for me is just as important as the destination. If it wasn’t, I would have gone straight into trading at a large investment bank as soon as I graduated (and I graduated with a Maths degree so this was an entirely plausible choice).

I am a Londoner born and bred although my parents are Turkish. They moved to England in the 70s to study and never returned. Being based in London sometimes makes Kevins articles in 20smoney irrelevant for me but I try where I can to transfer the message of what he is writing about to make it relevant to my situation. I am 23 years old and as I mentioned before, I graduated from university with a mathematics degree in 2007. I have been working full time for about 2 ½ years now in what I can only describe as an ‘ok’ job. In fact, I think this is one of the first things I would like to change- having a career that I enjoy and get a decent salary out of is a priority of mine. At the moment, I have a ‘job’ not a ‘career’ and in order to increase my salary, I need to work in a company that will allow me to grow. I am currently on £31k but hope to have at least doubled this within the next 5-7 years.

I feel a little young to be even talking about pensions but seeing as my company put in 5% of my salary towards my pension, I match that sum. I also have a student loan which I pay about £100 a month towards. In terms of savings, I currently hold an ISA account (holding £10k) and a savings account (holding £15k) (neither of which are earning much interest, for obvious reasons). I have been able to save so much money in the last couple of years solely because I moved back home after I graduated and so don’t have any outgoings except for my student loan, pension and ‘fun’ money. I try on average to save about £1500 a month.

So now you know where I am financially today, let me explain how I plan to be financially stable by 2020. With most of the money that I have saved, I plan to buy my first property (I just put an offer on a small 2-bed flat, wish me luck!) which will hopefully make me a small profit of about £300 every month once I rent it out. The flat is in a good location so it should always be rentable but in case for some reason, it is empty for a couple of months I will be able to use my salary to pay off the mortgage. I will still have some savings for the (hopefully) unlikely event that I am without a job and the flat isn’t rented out.

I then plan on putting the money I will be making from this flat and from my normal work salary into shares in a construction company in Turkey. My parents have very good ties with Turkey still and so it would be very easy for me to invest my money in Turkeys growing economy. This will be a mid-term savings plan (3-5 years) in which time I hope to have saved enough money to be able to put down a deposit for another flat (with a buy-to-let mortgage) once I’ve sold the shares. If I see that the shares are making more money that I could make from rent from a flat, then I’ll leave them where they are.

I have honestly only looked forward to the next five years- but I know that my money-making initiatives are mostly going to be from property, shares invested in Turkey and my salary. I know that some people will think I have missed the boat when it comes to property, which I don’t disagree with, but if I go into it with the mindset that I want to buy property to make a secondary income by renting them out rather than by selling them at a profit then I believe I will be ok. I plan to hold on to the property I buy for at least 20 years, and by then property prices will definitely have increased anyway (I live in London, remember!). And now is an ideal time to buy if you can as prices are slightly lower than they were a couple of years ago and mortgage rates are favourable.

Submitted by Peri

Popularity: 3% [?]

1766Comments (0)http://20smoney.com/2010/03/03/peris-10-year-financial-plan/Peri%27s+10+Year+Financial+Plan2010-03-03+09%3A59%3A15Kevin

Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

• Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
• Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
• Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – what if we fall into a double dip recession?  Or worse, a depression?  Or inflation?  What if you lose your job? What are you doing to prepare for any economic scenario?
• Be specific about certain financial goals you might have
• Include your age and your age-specific concerns & goals
• A minimum of 500 words is required – again, more detail improves your chances of winning the contest!
• Send your contest submission to kevin (at) 20smoney (dot) com with “Writing Contest” in the subject line

You still have time to submit your entry to the contest!  Be sure to enter soon!

My ten year financial plan is primarily based on three goals.

1. Boost my income
2. Pay off my debts
3. Invest in other assets

I will explain each of these goals and how I’m going about accomplishing them.

Boosting My Income

My wife and I are both working and have fairly secure jobs.  We make pretty good money for our ages (27, 28) and are able to contribute to 401(k) plans and also towards other savings accounts.  Since my job is in the computer science field, I also use my skills to earn a few hundred bucks a month on the side doing graphic design and other web design stuff.

By being fairly frugal and having modest living expenses, we’re able to put a good deal of money away each month (anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500) – this doesn’t include the 401(k) contributions also.

Our goals for income are to continue to grow in our careers and hopefully receive some promotions and raises.  Additioanlly, I’m hoping to continue to develop my web design business to something more sustainable and consistent.  I believe in a year or so, it will bring in at least $1,000 each month with minimal additional hours of work added.

As you can tell, if we keep our living expenses consistent which we will definitely do, unless we have children soon (we’re planning to wait a several more years), in a year or so we should be able to stash away $2,000 to $2,500 each month in addition to the 401(k) contributions toward our retirement.  So, what do we do with that money each month?

Pay Off My Debts

I’ve already paid off my student loans.  We’ve also paid off our cars, so the only thing left is our mortgage.  We currently owe about $160,000 on our home.  With our current income plan, we believe we can pay off our mortgage within 7 to 8 years.  Since our 401(k) will continue to fund retirement, and we have a decent emergency fund, we decided to start focusing on getting rid of our mortgage.

By killing off our mortgage, we will be completely debt free and we will also significantly decrease our monthly living expenses. In 8 years or so, when we are mortgage free, we will be able to invest several thousand dollars every month into another asset as well as other things we will consider such as our future children’s education funds.

While we could speculate on other investments and higher returns, we have chosen to go the route of paying off our mortgage for several reasons.  First, it’s a guaranteed return.  Second, we want to be debt free.  Third, we want to have very low living expenses in the future.  And, lastly, it will just feel great to not have to write checks to a bank!

Invest In Other Assets

With zero debt and an above average income, we will be in great shape to generate significant wealth for our future.  We will be able to accumulate cash quickly without a mortgage payment every month.   As we get closer to this time in our lives, we will begin to research potential investment opportunities.  For example, we might invest in another piece of real estate (and then do the payoff process again), or we might spread it out over a couple areas.  The goal though will be to generate nice returns with low to medium risk.

Long Term Plans

With this plan, we should be on track to be financially independent well ahead of the typical person.  Whether we officially “retire” early or just move towards more meaningful work or goals of ours, we plan to have much more flexibility and freedom in the future.

Other Considerations

A few risks to our plan might be a major depression or major inflation.  While most of these major challenges are things we can’t prevent, we think our strategy will allow us to weather such storms fairly well as we are focused on modest expenses, paying off debt, and saving money for our future.  If any major macro economic changes occur, we will modify our plan as necessary.  No plan is set in stone, but we feel like we have a good starting point with what I’ve outlined above!

Thanks and I hope your readers have good feedback!

Submitted by Jim

Popularity: 3% [?]

1759Comments (0)http://20smoney.com/2010/02/26/jims-10-year-financial-plan/Jim%27s+10+Year+Financial+Plan2010-02-26+10%3A55%3A18Kevin

Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

• Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
• Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
• Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – what if we fall into a double dip recession?  Or worse, a depression?  Or inflation?  What if you lose your job? What are you doing to prepare for any economic scenario?
• Be specific about certain financial goals you might have
• Include your age and your age-specific concerns & goals
• A minimum of 500 words is required – again, more detail improves your chances of winning the contest!
• Send your contest submission to kevin (at) 20smoney (dot) com with “Writing Contest” in the subject line

You still have time to submit your entry to the contest!  Be sure to enter soon!

First off – my bio – I’m a 26 year old Canadian. I’ve been married for almost 2 years, and we are expecting our first child in the middle of March. We currently have no debt other than our mortgage (we both worked multiple jobs to eliminate the small amount of student debt my husband had, and establish a down payment for our house).

I want to establish a small side income. My husband and I both work for the same company – a government funded non-profit. It’s a great place to work, however, our situation has some draw backs. First, it is a unionized environment, and my husband is a part of the union (I’m a non-unionized management employee). Don’t get me wrong about unions – they serve their purpose and can contribute effectively to the organization as a whole, however, if there is a strike, we lose one income during the duration, and strike pay is hardly anything; we have a contract renewal in 2011, so there is a possibility that a decrease in come could be coming for a little while (last time, negotiations were close – the contract was accepted by 1 vote.. and with the current economy and budget cut backs the company has had to make, not meeting the financial demands of the union is a possibility). Second, there is the possibility of a merger with similar corporations, which would most likely result in my job being lost, and possibly my husband’s as well, as he has the lowest seniority in his department. A side income with some consistent pay would help to buffer us financial against the negative situations that could happen, and if nothing bad happens, then it would provide us with move money to reach out financial goals sooner.

Finish my degree/get a promotion – with the succession planning that was done, I’m currently in line for a promotion in about 5 year, which would basically double my current salary. There is currently no where for my husband to move up within the company, our salaries are standard based on job classifications & experience (therefore, no getting a raise by asking or through performance), so any major pay increase is coming through me. My current degree is in a field not related to my current work, so I’m working on a second degree in the field I work. The promotion is dependent on me getting this degree (among other things).

Plan better for my next maternity leave. When I take my year off for maternity leave, my pay will be cut in about 1/2 (I get 50 weeks of maternity benefits through the government Employment Insurance). When we started trying for a baby (right after our wedding in 2008), I was told I should be able to get pregnant very fast… and I didn’t. They said that if it took more than a year, I need to come in for testing because something was most likely wrong. I had been very good, putting away money for buffer myself against the loss of income that comes with maternity leave, but after 11 months of trying, I figured something was wrong, and I spent it the money I had been saving (and by spent – I mean I used it as a prepayment for our mortgage, and spent a bit on our honeymoon, which we took around our 1 year anniversary). While on our honeymoon, I found out I was pregnant.. and my savings were gone. We plan on having a second child within about 2 years, and I’m going to start planning for it now, that way I have time to save the money (and I won’t be tempted to spend it this time since I know what can happen!)

Get my savings organized and automated. Currently, I’m not the saver I want to be. I save as much as I can that’s left over after the bills are paid – it’s a bad way to too things. I want to have my RRSP fully funded every year, as well as my TFSA, – same goes for my husband. Also, we want to get up educational savings for our children. My parents fully funded 4 years of post-secondary education, as my father really wanted to go to school, but couldn’t because of financial reasons, and didn’t want us to suffer the same way he did, or start our adult life out with piles of debt. My husband has to fully fund his education, and he sees the benefits of not having the debt load, and being able to give your child a helping hand to start. I want to increase the size of my emergency fund to $15000 (we live in a small town, so cost of living is pretty low). We need will need to get a second vehicle (one with 4×4 for the winters, as well as to provide room to our expanding family), and our currently vehicle will most likely need replacement, or have to have major repairs on a more regular basis (it’s a 2001, and the rough roads and winters can do a number on it). I want to have about 1/2 of the money ready for the purchase of a second vehicle. I want to set up a schedule and have a certain amount set aside from each pay for my various savings goals, so that it’s steady and predictable. I want to be able to think less about my finances..

Get rid of our mortgage. Currently, with our increased rate of payment, we have less than 6 years left on the mortgage.. I’m hoping to have it gone by the time I turn 30 (I hate it, and I want it gone). I haven’t actually allowed myself to keep any raise I have received in since I finished school in 2006. I have either increase my retirement plan contributions, or increased the amount I pay on the mortgage, and I do this right after my first increased pay check. That way, I never get “lifestyle inflation” because my automatic bills increase to leave me with the exact same amount of spending money that I had before. No mortgage will make the $15000 emergency fund very substantial for our household, as well as allow us to contribute more to reach our savings goals faster.

To summarize – my 10 year financial plan is to eliminate the mortgage, finish my degree, get a promotion to increase my income, set up various savings goals and automate my savings plan, as well as establish a back up income in case my husband or I (or both) lose our jobs.

Submitted by Kim

Popularity: 2% [?]

1763Comments (0)http://20smoney.com/2010/02/23/kims-10-year-financial-plan/Kim%27s+10+Year+Financial+Plan2010-02-23+18%3A55%3A21Kevin

Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

• Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
• Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
• Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – what if we fall into a double dip recession?  Or worse, a depression?  Or inflation?  What if you lose your job? What are you doing to prepare for any economic scenario?
• Be specific about certain financial goals you might have
• Include your age and your age-specific concerns & goals
• A minimum of 500 words is required – again, more detail improves your chances of winning the contest!
• Send your contest submission to kevin (at) 20smoney (dot) com with “Writing Contest” in the subject line

Faced with the prospect of emerging from the protective “bubble” of collegiate life, my 10 year (and longer term too!) financial plan is something that I’ve given some thought to. For now, I’m remaining in Academia by heading off to graduate school in Materials Science and Engineering for at least the next 5 years, but a major difference between my graduate and undergraduate educations is going to be not only the lack of tuition but the receipt of a yearly stipend to cover living expenses while I pursue a Ph.D. I’m intending on using this buffer period to shore up my finances and get a handle on my financial future so that I emerge from the bubble on solid footing.

A bit about my situation: I’ve been extremely lucky to pursue a BS in Chemistry at an R1 research university mostly on scholarship with my grandparents covering the small portion not covered by the scholarship. This will enable me to graduate in May with $0 in student loans. From there I’m off to grad school at another top-tier research university where I’ll have a yearly stipend of approximately $27000. Further, for the foreseeable future I’ll be working at internships for the Navy for at least the next 3 summers for 12 weeks at $1000 a week. So on the whole I’m looking to net $39k before taxes, rent, and living expenses.

In addition to this, I’m recently engaged to a the most amazing girl, a dental student who just joined the DDS/PhD program at her school. This program will eliminate her tuition for the next 6 years and pay her an annual stipend of $25k. She’s coming into the relationship with about $40k of student loans, and she’s the only one with a car (which she payed off earlier this year! Great job!).

In the short term, we’re going to be saving up to pay for our own wedding, expecting the final cost to be approximately $10k. While we’ll gladly welcome any amount of support from our parents, we think its a better idea to save enough to cover the entire thing ourselves and stash any money we don’t spend in some Roth IRAs for retirement savings. So over the next 2 semesters (since the wedding is going to take place Summer 2010) we’ll be looking to save $5k each towards the wedding. After that, we won’t be paying separate rents and our combined living expenses will decrease simply because of that. Each semester, we’ll be starting by filling an emergency savings account with $3k to cover any emergencies and at the end of each semester, we’ll move the emergency fund to a 60/40 split of long-term/retirement savings. Further, each year we’ll try to pay at least $6k down on the student loans so that by the end of grad school we’ll hopefully have 14.5k in retirement savings and 21.5 in long term savings, with only about $4-6k of student debt left.

That takes our financial plan to about the six-year point. Looking past that, we’ll hopefully settle down in Tennessee (my home and a state my fiance thinks is super-cute!).  My job prospects put my salary at approx. $60-80k while my finance’s look better with an entry salary of approx. $80-90k. By the end of our first year out of school, the student loans should be eliminated and we can up our savings goals and start looking to put our long-term savings to use as a down payment on a house to start building some equity. From this standpoint, we’re on solid financial footing and the lessons learned in grad school about being frugal and living on a budget should serve us well as we look forward to the future together!

In terms of our job security and the economy, we’re extremely lucky that at least in the short term, we’ll have stable jobs and be (relatively) sheltered from the economic climate. For our retirement planning goals, we’ll be doing our best to max out our Roth IRAs as much as we can early on and be sure to contribute a portion of our income each semester to retirement savings. Long-term savings will be saved in laddered CDs bought in 3 month intervals (so 4 “rungs”). Further, I’ll likely be putting a bit of my discretionary spending money into trading on the Forex market using automated trading systems I’ve been developing for the past two years which have shown themselves to be pretty reliable at garnishing returns. So hopefully those investments will pay off and help supplement our savings as well.

That’s pretty much it! We’re looking forward to a financially healthy life together and we’re excited to start our journey together! I hope that the 20smoney community will not only evaluate my plan but maybe help me perfect it. And if you found this plan inspirational let me know and tell me how you’re managing your money because we can all learn something from each other!

Submitted by Patrick

Popularity: 4% [?]

1699Comments (0)http://20smoney.com/2010/02/18/patricks-10-year-financial-plan/Patrick%27s+10+Year+Financial+Plan2010-02-18+09%3A55%3A31Kevin

Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

• Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
• Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
• Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – what if we fall into a double dip recession?  Or worse, a depression?  Or inflation?  What if you lose your job? What are you doing to prepare for any economic scenario?
• Be specific about certain financial goals you might have
• Include your age and your age-specific concerns & goals
• A minimum of 500 words is required – again, more detail improves your chances of winning the contest!
• Send your contest submission to kevin (at) 20smoney (dot) com with “Writing Contest” in the subject line

I am 32 years old and currently employed as a chemical engineer at a industrial chemical plant. I am married with a 5 year old daughter. My wife is employed part time at my daughters school and her paycheck is spent on household needs, groceries, and her discretionary spending. It is not included in our over all budget. We own a modest home with a low 5% mortgage rate. Property values have remained stable in our area due to the near by university and military base. My job is fairly stable and I have been spending my spare time preparing to start my own internet blog to hopefully provide extra income.

At a glance my 10 year plan seems overly complicated and all over the place. It is far simpler than it appears as everything other than a few household bills is completely automated. I have automatic deposit with my paycheck and automatic draft on all my savings, investments, debt, and bills. I wrote out a plan over a year ago when I began to
worry about the economy and realized I wasn’t prepared. I set up everything to be automatic and haven’t thought about it since. It runs itself.

Retirement

I only consider pre-tax dollars when planning retirement. Currently 6% of my gross income is invested in a 401k plan with my employer. My company matches 50% on the dollar up to 6% of your income, meaning my actual contribution is 9% of my gross. I further allocate 1% of my gross income to a Roth IRA for some tax free income in my retirement.

Retirement Investment Strategies

401k
Due to lack of options in my 401k I follow John Bogle’s advice and keep 96% allocated to a simple S&P 500 Index fund and 4% in a broad bond fund. My bond allocation is determined by subtracting 30 from my age and doubling that number. I am currently 32 years old, so 32 – 30 = 2 x 2 = 4% in bonds.

Roth IRA
My other retirement account I follow a value investing, buy and hold strategy. I screen stocks and do not consider ones that do not have a dividend. Further narrowing my list I look for stocks that have over 10% return on assets, return on capital, and equity growth rates over the last 5 years. Then look at free cash flow compared to debt. If they can pay off their debt in 3 years or less then I consider them low debt and acceptable for investment. To determine fair value I use an over simplistic formula of dividing the companies current EPS by the going rate of 10-Year Treasury Bonds, then discount that price by 25% to find my buy point.

It sounds complicated but is really not. Everything is plugged into a spreadsheet that generates the numbers for me. After that it is a simple matter to put limit orders for if and when the stock you want hits your buy point. I pay no attention to it to stay unemotional and only update everything when the new earnings come out adjusting my buy point.

Budget

My budget is only considered with my actual take home income. Variable bonuses I may receive are not considered in my budget or plans as they may change at anytime or even disappear in the current economic climate. My tax withdrawals are setup that I owe no taxes in April, nor receive any refund, to maximize my take home pay and avoid an end of the year tax surprise.

Charity – 1%
Off the top I give one percent of my income to a charity that fights childhood cancer. I realize that 1% is pathetic, but is currently within my budget.

Bills and Lifestyle – 69%
This includes mortgage, utilities, food, and entertainment budget. I consider this a bit high and ideally would like to reduce this to 60% but have found the hard way that squeezing the budget too tightly usually causes too much stress. I feel you should have some fat in your budget or you start to feel like someone who is always on a diet. Things go good for awhile then you can’t stand it anymore and eat everything. I’d rather plan for it ahead of time rather than over spend later.

Also a good portion of this is non-essential spending, such as telephone, cable TV, or the Bug Man. If a catastrophe happened or sudden job loss almost half could be cut immediately.

Debt Repayment – 20%
My wife and I sadly have a good amount of debt, mostly left over from our college days. Not counting my mortgage I have four student loans at low fixed rates and one credit card. I am allocating 20% of my income to debt repayment. I use a debt snowball approach. I add $5 – $10 to four of the minimums then the remaining allocation is put toward the lowest debt. On current track, all debts will be paid off in 5 years.

Savings & Investment – 10%
I actually keep four different accounts for various needs. I do not believe in spending all excess cash on debt repayment as Dave Ramsey and others suggest. The economy is too fragile and the future murky. Savings should also be taken into account and you should pay yourself first before Visa.

1. Short Term Liquidity - I keep $1,000 in a bank savings account attached to my checking account. This is a quick cash emergency fund that is used if we have an unexpected medical bill, home, or car repair. If used it is immediately replaced in a minimum of two paychecks.

2. Emergency Fund - Two thirds of the 10% is sent to a Treasury Direct account. I have automated withdrawals and purchases setting up a ladder of 4-Week Treasury Bills. My goal is to have one year’s take home pay saved in ten years time.

I used to consider my stock investments as part of my savings but the past year has taught me there is a difference between savings and investments. Investments are meant to grow and have risk. Savings are supposed to be safe, growth should not be a consideration.

3. Investment Income – The remaining one-third of my 10% allocation goes to a brokerage account. I invest in six diverse closed-end funds that generate monthly income. They are market neutral, generally oscillating 1% up or down mostly ignoring the larger stock market. The range from zero tax home state muni fund to high yield corporate bond fund to real estate and utilities. They are low tax, passive income that in ten years time will provide $500 month extra income. In thirty years time at retirement age, they should provide $3,000 – $4,000 a month income.

4. Mad Money – I kick $20 a month to a ING online savings account. This is my mad money account that if we suddenly want to go on vacation or buy something big, shiny, and unneeded we use this account. It can be spent completely guilt free on anything.

Future Adjustments

In 5 years when my debt repayment is complete the 20% will be reallocated for the next 5 years as the following:

20% – Savings
70% – Bills and Lifestyle
5% – Charity
5% – Roth IRA

At the end of the ten years I will be 42 years old. My retirement and brokerage account allocation will remain fixed till I reach retirement. My emergency fund will be complete at one year’s pay and at that time will continue to save that money but look for other type of investments such as businesses or real estate.

Submitted by Josh

Popularity: 4% [?]

1671Comments (0)http://20smoney.com/2010/02/11/joshs-10-year-financial-plan/Josh%27s+10+Year+Financial+Plan2010-02-11+09%3A47%3A23Kevin

Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

• Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
• Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
• Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – what if we fall into a double dip recession?  Or worse, a depression?  Or inflation?  What if you lose your job? What are you doing to prepare for any economic scenario?
• Be specific about certain financial goals you might have
• Include your age and your age-specific concerns & goals
• A minimum of 500 words is required – again, more detail improves your chances of winning the contest!
• Send your contest submission to kevin (at) 20smoney (dot) com with “Writing Contest” in the subject line

My financial plan for the next 10 years is a question I’m always asking myself. Being 25 years old I look at the last 5 years and see how much better off I am financially. I am a single mom of a 4 year old child and before I got my RN degree we were struggling. When I had a steady income I created a budget for myself. After all the apartment living, I was able to purchase my first home. Again, I rethought the budget. Now, I have a boyfriend. He is paying off his debt while I still maintain our budget. We do well. I am a big coupon clipper and use them wisely. I work night shift to accommodate my son and get a couple extra incentives.

In the future we have decided to pay for our own wedding. I would like to start a wedding fund within the next year for us to fund the wedding. I also contribute $422/mo to my ROTH IRA. My jobs, yes jobs, provide a good retirement, but I like to fund my own retirement. I have an age aggressive option. I also fund my sons college. I don’t give him as much to his account because as selfish as it sounds, I want to make sure i’m taken care of. He will be fine when he goes to college because there are loan options. And like me, he will have to pay for his education.

My big expenses with having a child is of course daycare. I pay $400/mo in that alone. I can see why couples choose to be stay at home moms or dads.

My financial goals for myself in 2010 are to fund my Roth to its max again, keep my 2 jobs and thrive at them by obtaining certificates and continuing to teach. I also will be funding my son’s kindergarten in full of $2000. For fun, I would like to take a vacation. Not sure where yet, but it’s on the list. We also have cut back on our grocery bill. Attempting to pay only $100/month for the 3 of us. I always cook meals which helps that a lot.

The next 10 years, I hope to be married (funding my own wedding), have another child or two (which means finish the basement which is a financial cost), and just enjoy my family without having to worry about money because we will have our budget to follow.

The recession hasn’t really affected me because I have started my financial life/journey when I was in my own recession. Struggling to give my son what he needed without child support, working 2 minimum wage jobs, and going to school. I am financially flourishing considering where I came from. Sometimes when I do wonder how were going to afford something, I think back to where I was. If I lost my job, I have another to fall back on. If I lost that, I have about $18,000 in an emergency fund. Luckily, with my career I wouldn’t have to worry too long because nursing has a shortage. If inflation became a bigger issue, budgeting would have to change. If a depression happened, we would definitely get rid of luxuries (cell phone, TV etc).

Advice I would give those in their 20s is budget budget budget!! Don’t spend more than you make. Be creative with things to do that doesn’t cost money. Think about your future, not just the moment in time. Get RID of credit cards. SAVE SAVE SAVE. Become computer savvy. Use websites and blogs to give you new goals and ideas for financial success. Oh and PLAN PLAN PLAN for the future and for now. If you need to finish your degree, go back to school, NOW, not in 10 more years.

Submitted By Janine

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