Here are my after-tax retirement and education savings goals for 2008/2009/2010. Contributions to Roth IRAs and ESAs can be made from December of one year until April of the next year. I have three children, and I have five months to fully-fund 2008 ESAs for each of them. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to afford to do this, but I’m going to try. Also, my wife needs to fully-fund her Roth IRA for 2008. Once those accounts have been funded, we’ll get to work funding 2009 accounts. The chart should clarify. (Chart corrected.)

To be frank, I would love to fully-fund all 2009 accounts during the 2009 calendar year, but that might not be a realistic goal. Remember, while I’m working to fund these after-tax accounts, I’m also trying to fund my before-tax 403(b) and save for a future home purchase.

As I sat down with my wife to talk about our financial goals for 2009, I realized that I needed to know if the contribution limits for our retirement and education savings accounts were going up in 2009.  After some searching, of both the Internet in general and the IRS website in particular, here’s what I found.  (By the way, if anyone from the IRS is reading this, it would be VERY helpful if you could create a single, easy-to-find page where all of these limits, and the limits for other types of accounts, could be listed.  Also, if such a page already exists, hook me up with a link, please.)

2009 Contribution Limits for 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) Accounts:

$16,500 – Elective Deferrals (employee contributions)

$5,500 – Catch-Up Contributions (over 50 years of age)

$49,000 – Total Contributions Limit (employee + employer)

For more information and details, please see the following resources -

IRS 401(k) Resource Guide

401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) Contribution Limits For 2009

2009 Contribution Limits for Roth IRAs and Traditional IRAs:

$5000 – under 50 years of age

$6000 – over 50 years of age

Roth and Traditional contribution limits were unchanged from their 2008 limits.

2009 Contribution Limit for ESAs (Education Savings Accounts):

$2000

ESA contribution limit was unchanged from 2008 limit.

I’ll keep these limits in mind as I think about my 2009 goals.  As it looks now, more than 50% of our gross income will be allocated for retirement and education savings.  I’ll let you know, in just a bit, what we decide to do.

It’s hard to believe, but in just 15 days, it will be 2009.  I have started thinking about my financial goals for the coming year.

Last year, I set some pretty aggressive goals, and I managed to accomplish most of them.  I fully-funded my 403(b) retirement account, my 2008 Roth IRA, and my wife fully-funded her pension plan.  We are still working to fund my wife’s 2008 Roth IRA and ESAs for our kids.

In April, my wife gave birth to our third child, a beautiful baby girl.  My wife is an educator, and she did not work during the months of April, May, or June.  Her income for 2008 was much lower than it was in 2007, due to the time off, so it was much harder to meet out 2008 goals than I had at first anticipated.  Of course, having the new baby also means that we’ll be able to claim an additional dependent, so our tax bill for 2008 should be lower than it was in 2007.

Due to the different timetables for when contributions can be made, it’s hard to create financial goals based on a calendar year.  For instance, all contributions to my 403(b), which are made pre-tax by my employer, must be made between January and December.  Contributions to a Roth IRA or Education Savings Account, on the other hand, can be made from January 1st of one year until April 15th of the next year.  Some of my 2008 goals will be rolled-over into 2009.  Those goals, including funding ESAs for our kids and my wife’s 2008 Roth IRA must be accomplished by April 15th, 2009.

I haven’t created my official goals for 2009, but here’s a preliminary list of things about which I’m thinking.

Retirement -

I know that I want to fully-fund my 403(b) and it’s mandatory that my wife fully-fund her pension plan.

I need to fully-fund my 2009 Roth IRA.

My wife needs to fully-fund her 2008 Roth IRA and her 2009 Roth IRA.

I also have a SEP-IRA, for income earned from blogging.  I’ll make contributions to it, so that I can reduce our taxable income.

Education -

I have three kids, ages 9, 4, and eight months.

I would love to be able to fully-fund ESAs for all three of them, for the years 2008 and 2009.  At $2000 per child, per year, that’s $12,000.

Savings -

One of my long term goals is to pay cash for a new house.  I’m not sure how this goal will fit in with my other goals, but it’s something I’m definitely thinking about.  In fact, I have given some thought to reducing my retirement contributions, for a brief time, in order to bolster my long term non-retirement savings.  We shall see.

I’m going to sit down with my wife, and we’ll discuss our plans for 2009.  Once we have decided what we want to do, I’ll let you know.  When I right my “official” Goals for 2009 post, I’ll include contribution limits and some specific figures.