Yahoo Finance Money goals for 2024: 4 Aussies share plans for the year ahead
A new year means new money goals.
Another year is drawing to a close, but what will 2024 hold for you and your finances?
A new year is a great time to think big, set ambitious money goals, and start aligning your life and your habits to the things you really want. If you’re looking for inspiration, I spoke to four everyday Aussies about their money goals for 2024, from paying down a mortgage to hustling extra money for travel. Here’s what they’re aspiring to.
'We want to get to 20 per cent equity on our mortgage'
Kitch, 28, from Victoria, and her partner have a goal of getting their mortgage equity up to 20 per cent in order to be able to refinance. Consistent interest rate rises have seen the couple forced to pay more and more in interest as part of their monthly repayments, but getting to an 80 per cent loan-to-value ratio would allow them to refinance to a better rate.
In February, Kitch experienced a traumatic brain injury. A turbulent year in recovery forced her to take stock of their life priorities. “I was like, ‘I need to travel and see the world',” she said. “We need to refinance our house so we aren’t wasting money [that could be used for travel] in interest.”
Following her injury, Kitch experienced amnesia and had to take time off from her job in media to recover. She took up art as part of her recovery and now sells her paintings online for extra income.
In pursuit of their mortgage goal, the couple have been tracking their spending on food.
"Whenever we don’t order takeaway or don’t go out when we want to, we save that money into our offset account.”
'I want to buy a brand new car'
Candice, 39, from Victoria, has a goal of buying her first-ever car. She’s after a bright-yellow, small-ish SUV in time for her 40th birthday in September. Candice will be taking on a car loan, but plans to “save up and chip in as much cash myself as I can, both to prove to myself I can do it and to slightly reduce the debt I’m due to take on”.
“The percentage I’m putting towards savings each month is slightly higher than my anticipated car payments so, by the time I’m making them for real, I‘m both financially and mentally used to [it],” she said.
But achieving this goal is about more than just new wheels. “It’s going to be a symbol to me of how hard I’ve worked to break the cycle of poverty and lack I grew up in.
“I’ve been homeless a few times as a teen and in my 20s, and it hasn’t been uncommon to need to go without food for days at a time. To finally be in a position where I can even consider buying a car, let alone actively strategizing and choosing one? I never thought I’d get here.
“Psychologically, I’d taken on such an intense burden of shame about living in poverty and, combined with the impacts of growing up with extreme neglect, I’ve internalised it into ‘I don’t deserve nice things’, and a belief that just because everyone else gets to have x, y, and z, doesn’t mean I do too.”
To turbocharge her savings progress, Candice tells me she “banned [herself] from ordering delivery, with the exception of once on payday” and instead turned to batch-cooking lunches at the start of the week.
She also plans to get crafty by making handmade jumpers for her greyhounds that can otherwise be pretty expensive. As well as being a money-saving exercise, Candice is also excited at the prospect of a new hobby, so she can’t “get bored and spend when I don’t absolutely need to”.
'We want to travel with our kids'
Mother of two Rashimi, from Western Australia, has a goal of campervan travel with their family. “Our daughters are now 10 and seven years old and we want to travel with them and make some beautiful memories," she said.
“We had promised a camper van trip when our eldest turns 10, [but] we have fallen short on our promise.”
Rashmi and her husband went from bringing in a double income to a single income during the Covid-19 pandemic, and have since felt the pressure of the rising cost of living, experiencing “several rate increases on our home loan and cost of everything rising”.
Extra income is the name of the game for Rashmi and her family in 2024, with the aim of making their travel dreams a reality. “Our goal is to earn an additional $10,000 every month!” Rashmi is a public speaking coach for non-native English speakers.
'I want to travel to Iceland'
Demi, 28, has a goal of travelling to Iceland on her own. “I’ve always wanted to go [to Iceland] and look at the geology … and the puffins,” she said
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and put off to prioritise the goals of others. It’s kind of a bad habit of mine.”
Demi’s goal comes after a year of big changes, including the breakdown of her five-year relationship. “It’s very expensive, but 2023 has been a year of reckoning for me. New house, new city, new job, new life in general.”
Navigating this big goal while recovering from a breakup – financially and emotionally – has been one of Demi’s biggest challenges. She explains that she's been privileged enough to have good financial independence and a civil break-up, but has still seen her financial safety net plummet as a result.
“I watched my emergency fund crash from $8,000 to $2,000.”
Demi described saving for Iceland while recovering from the financial impact of a break-up as “daunting". Her goal has also signified a shift in her values, and she will be changing up her spending habits to save faster. She has a housemate to share living costs, explaining that she'd been paying $700 per week to live alone, although she “valued being able to have that time to myself and land on my feet”.
“Now, I value travelling and living my life more fully, so I am switching gears,” she said. In terms of approaching her savings goal, Demi explains that she’s saving in smaller blocks to pay for each aspect of the trip as she goes, rather than saving one big total for the trip as a whole.
“I want to achieve $10,000 overall, but in $3,000 blocks.”
This approach has required a mindset shift for Demi, who is used to saving up the full amount before starting to spend. “The most challenging part was learning to actually use [the money].”
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