New Year’s resolutions might be cheesy, but in 2019 they helped me write a will, get life insurance, buy a new home, and become a landlord

Goal 2: Get a will

While I was in the mindset of protecting my family, I realized I needed a will. I wanted to formally write down the informal decisions my husband and I had made about how to deal with our assets, debt, and children if either of us died.

I found the process of thinking about a will very emotionally draining. These are hard decisions to make, and even though we had done most of the talking ahead of time, there was something scary about formalizing them. Getting a third-party professional involved seemed overwhelming.

So, I was very happy when I found Fabric, which made the process of creating a will incredibly easy. Honestly, I did it during a car ride, and getting my printer to work was the hardest part. Now, I know my wishes are in writing, even if I’m not able to express them.

Goal 3: Buy a bigger home

This goal was a wildcard, the kind of goal that you’d love to achieve, but know would be a stretch. This time last year my family was living in a 900-square foot home that was getting a bit too small for us, with two kids and a full-time work-from-home parent. I wanted to move by the time my older daughter started kindergarten in September, which would allow us to ditch private school tuition by relocating to a better school district.

Still, I wasn’t sure this was possible. Since my husband was home with the kids, mine was the only income in our house. I had seen in the past how hard it is to get financing as a self-employed person, so I was wary.

However, this time I was able to connect with a lender experienced in working with self-employed people. He made getting a loan much easier than anticipated. Then, after some shopping my husband and I found a foreclosure in our budget, in the school district we wanted. It needed some major repairs (there was no running water when we moved in), but we were able to DIY most of them and have everything up and running by August, just before the start of the school year.

Goal 4: Become a landlord

This was the part B to my big goal. If we bought a bigger house, we wanted to keep our first home as a rental. Our financer was able to make this happen, and we found great tenants to move into our home. We’re still learning about being landlords, but we’re making a small profit and are happy with our decision.

For 2020, I have 3 new financial goals

Needless to say, 2019 was a fairly successful year financially. Still, there’s a lot more work to be done to get my finances to where I want them. Here are the goals I’ll be working toward in 2020:

• Contribute regularly to retirement: Since I’m self-employed, I’m solely responsible for my retirement savings. Until now I’ve been making sporadic contributions to my Roth IRA, but in 2020 I’m going to get serious about contributing a percentage to retirement every time I get paid.
• Refinance to save: Lending rates are super low right now, and my credit had increased a lot since I got my mortgages. In 2020, I want to refinance my mortgages and a home equity loan in order to save money. Recently, refinancing my car loan saved me $50 a month, so I’m excited to see what refinancing the home loans can do.
• Nix credit card debt once and for all: I’ve been focused for years on paying down credit card debt. Now, I have about $5,000 left to pay off, and I’m determined to have it all gone by the end of 2020.

There’s definitely something cheesy about New Year’s resolutions, but if you’re able to stick with them they’re a great tool for moving forward financially.

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