As noted here, I’m trying to save (in retirement and non-retirement accounts) 60% of my gross income in 2007.  I’ve been tracking my progress towards my first goal (of saving $4000 in my daughter’s ESA) over at the NCN Network site. 20% of my gross income is about $16,000.  This amount will be automatically withheld from our paychecks and deposited into our retirement accounts.  Basically, the other 40% (or $32,000) will be money that I have to “manage” throughout the year.  If you divide $32,000 by 12 months, you get $2,666.66.  I was able to deposit $4,000 into an ESA for my daughter, which means that I’m nearly $1,350 dollars “behind” for 2007.  $4,000 represents 5% of my annual gross income.  If you add $4,000 to $16,000, the MINIMUM amount of money that I will have “saved” in 2007 will be 25% of my gross income.  YES!  So, while I’m bummed by the fact that I’m not saving at (quite) the rate that I wanted to be saving, I’m super-excited by the fact that I’ve already saved a SIGNIFICANT portion of my income.  I’m trying to determine what my next “specific” goal will be.  (I THINK that I’m going to open an ESA for my son, but I MIGHT open a Roth IRA for myself.  I’ll let you know.)