The last joint account that my ex-husband and I have is a universal life insurance policy. The benefit amount is 300k on him, 130k on me, and 5k riders on each child. We are still splitting the cost and it has a small cash value (I think right around $1900). Our daughter is 20 and married, living in another state with her husband who is in the Army. Our son is 15. As we are no longer married, the chance of us dying together is quite small. I feel we no longer need this policy. I told ex-husband this several months back, but he wanted to keep it.

Additionally, I have a 50k term policy with ex-husband being the beneficiary. I would like to change that to 50% each child. They are already the primary beneficiaries of my retirement funds.

Ex-husband called me today and says he wants to cancel the universal life policy. He needs his half of the cash value and doesn't want to keep paying the premiums. He says he will up the term policy he buys through work. I said that is fine with me.

So, he will be cancelling that soon and I will be receiving my half. I have thought it over today, and I think I will put my half into my Roth.

Also, my life insurance costs will decrease by $28 per month. I plan to send $25 to my emergency fund and allow another $3 for "everything else".

My emergency fund should break the 10k mark in April. I think that is enough of an e-fund for someone with credit card debt, so after breaking 10k, I will direct those dollars to B of A Visa.

My boss just told me that I need to pay more attention to my retirement account. He just discovered that he forgot to send in contributions for Feb and May of last year (including his own). Lol. So that means my Simple IRA is about to get a little boost.

So, after setting aside money for my car insurance, I will have just over 2k in extra income from my income tax refunds. I have tweaked my extra income allocation and plan to do the following:

30% - Emergency Fund
20% - Credit Card Debt
20% - Egypt Fund
20% - Roth
10% - Mortgage

In about 2.5 months, I will have 4 - 5k or so extra income, and will do the same with that.

At the end of the year, I like to look at the current value of my nest egg and make some projections.

In my tax-deferred accounts:

My minimum goal is 600k.

If I stop contributing now and earn 7%, I will have 487k at age 65, 558k at age 67.

If I continue contributing at my current rate and earn 7%, I will have 632k at age 65, 731k at age 67.

In my Roth:

My minimum goal is 150k.

If I stop contributing now and earn 7%, I will have 33k at age 65, 38k at age 67.

If I continue contributing at my current rate and earn 7%, I will have 131k at age 65, 155k at age 67.

I also crunch what I will have if I earn 5%, 6%, 8%, or 9%. Those 8s and 9s sure are pretty! However, I think 7 is a more reasonable assumption.

Something I like to do at the end of each year is look at the current value of my nest egg and make some projections.

In my tax deferred accounts:

If I stop contributing now and earn a little over 8%, I will hit my minimum goal of 600k at age 65. If I earn 7.25%, I will hit it at age 67. I don't want to count on anything higher than 7%, but of course, I wouldn't mind.

If I continue contributing at my current rate and earn 7%, I will have 632k at age 65, 731k at age 67.

So I am glad that I have a good shot at hitting my minimum goal.

In my Roth, if I stop contributing now there is no way I will come close to my minimum goal.

If I continue contributing as I am now and earn 7%, I will have 131k at age 65, 155k at age 67.

So we had our annual Christmas dinner, and it was an enjoyable evening as always. I did get a very nice bonus this year for $1750, which I felt was very generous. Also, it is just nice to feel that your efforts are appreciated!

So, I am considering how to best use it. It will almost pay the remaining balance on my Chase Freedom in full. However, I am leaning towards $1500 to Chase and $250 in my Roth. I do fret that I won't hit my Roth goal of 150k.

I have been thinking I need to have a standard allocation for extra income. I don't mean tiny amounts such as from decoy mail, but the occasional large chunk of extra money. In the past, I have decided on a case by case basis how to best use each cash infusion, but I want to stop doing that.

Here is my extra money allocation:

40% credit card debt
20% Roth IRA
20% regular savings
10% Egypt savings
10% mortgage

Once my credit card debt is gone, I will decide on a new allocation.

There is a reason I have been thinking about this lately. I usually get a Christmas bonus. I hope that will be true this year as well, but of course I can't count on it. Also, it is almost the time of year for seasonal overtime at my place of employment. I will literally be able to work all of the overtime I can stand for several months. The way it is handled is to record the overtime, then pay it all in one sweet check at the end of the high-volume period. In addition, a bonus is traditionally paid.

I have set some specific financial goals which I would like to reach before retirement. Reaching them is possible, though not a slam-dunk. This is another big reason I decided I had to get my over-spending in check. Here they are:

1. Have 600k in traditional IRA. This is for regular monthly income. At a 4% withdrawal rate, 600k would provide 24k annually (2k monthly) of income. Supplemented by SS benefits, this should afford me a modest yet comfortable existence.

2. Have 150k in Roth IRA. This money is for covering large irregular expenses which will come up from time to time. Home repairs, home maintenance, vehicle replacement. The point of having this fund is so I can (hopefully) avoid debt.

3. Be mortgage free. I am uncertain at this point if this will be in my current home, or if I will sell and move elsewhere. Wherever I am living, I would like to not have a mortgage.

I am single, so this nest egg is intended to support only one person.

My retirement nest egg is in three different accounts: a traditional IRA, a Simple IRA (employer's plan), and a Roth IRA.

My plan is to eventually use my tax-deferred monies for regular monthly income, and to use my Roth for big-ticket items such as a new roof or vehicle replacement.

Here is my current situation:

Traditional IRA (held at Wells Fargo):
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF $38,257.36
Vanguard Small Value ETF $7,955.75
Vanguard All World Ex US ETF $29,988.00
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF $20,150.00
iShares Tips Bond Fund ETF $9,985.68
cash $78.58
Total: $106,415.37

Simple IRA:
American Funds Target Ret 2030 $9,625.80

Roth IRA (held at Vanguard):
Vanguard Target Ret 2025 $7,663.43