Join us for Day #3 of the 20 Day Budget Challenge – How To Easily Create Long Term Budget Goals!

*This is a sponsored post with Mason Finance*

Today we are going to hone in on long term budgeting goals, rather than just looking at our current spending habits.

Aside from our basic month to month expenses – there are other financial long term goals to consider.

• Do you have consumer debt that needs to be paid off?
• Do you have a plan for retirement savings?
• Do you have a college fund you want to contribute to for your kids?
• Do you want to save money for an annual vacation?
• Do you have life insurance in place?  (quick tip – here is the insurable interest definition that I had no clue about when we applied for life insurance.)
• For home owners, do you want to tackle paying off your mortgage early – even if it is as little as an additional $25 per month?
• Do you have a home improvement project that you want to allocate money for?
• Is there anything you can do that will help you pay less taxes?

I know this is a long list, but these are all items to consider and if any of these that apply to you are not in your budget, be sure to add them in there today!

One tip I want to emphasize is thinking about how many years you think you have until you replace your next car.

My dad always taught me that you will always have a car payment for the rest of your life.  BUT, you choose who you pay.  Do you pay yourself in the form of a car savings account (where you can the earn interest) or do you pay the bank for a car loan (and fork out thousands extra in interest?)

If you are diligent to pay yourself, then you can save up and pay for cash on a car – which could even mean a better deal at the dealership if they know you can pay it all up front!

Just a month ago, my husband hit a deer and it ended up totaling our car.  Our insurance company gave us a few thousand for it, but not enough to replace a car as good as that one (it was a Honda Accord.)  Because we save money each year for our next car, we had enough in our savings to get a 2 year old SUV!  (and man, do I love driving it!)  That could have been a killer for us financially, but if you are willing to be diciplined about not touching that car savings account, getting an upgrade is just that easy.  Plus we don’t have any interest to pay.

Discuss these short long term goals with your financial partner, and then go ahead and make any changes you need to your original budget.

What long terms goals are you working toward and saving for?  Come and tell us about it in our Facebook Group!

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Check out more of our budget challenge topics:

Day #2 How To EASILY Set Up a Basic Budget

Day #1 Why Having A Budget Gives Me Freedom!