Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Economy...again

Last month saw the loss of 598,000 more jobs. The official unemployment rate is 7.6% but if you add in those who are in part-time work because they are unable to find full-time work, the rate goes up to 13%. So far we are all fully employed. However, if these increases continue, the chances increase that one of us could lose our job because of the ripple effect. We could manage on one salary but it would take over 1/2 of that salary to pay the mortgage leaving very little for irregular expenses such as car repairs or pet expenses. So I continue to hold my breath while pouring money into paying off the mortgage and increasing our emergency fund.

If we do manage to remain employed, I have been thinking about goals for 2010:
1. $12,000 for yearly house expenses which include property taxes, homeowners insurance, and POA fees.
2. $20,000 new vehicle fund
3. Increase the emergency fund by another $1,000
4. I continue to debate with myself about food storage but it is a possibility.
5. I want to resume the CD ladder that I began several years ago and I want to resume 403b contributions.
These goals are achieveable only if we remain healthy and fully employed.

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