Last week I analyzed my 2008 financial plans in spending and saving. This week I want to look at the rest of the categories: debt, credit and career.

Debt

As I’ve discussed before, my only debt is my massive student loans. One of the most interesting things about the comments to my original post was the suggestions for really intense and creative ways to deal with this debt… and though it was good advice it was also a little overwhelming, and requires more discipline than I have or want to develop.

After I get some of it paid off, I might be able to realistically hope to create a plan to deal with the whole thing in a year or two. For now, though, the best plan for me is to come up with a way to just incorporate the debt into my life. I’ve set up automatic debit on both my private and federal loans, and my biggest goal is just to make all my payments for the year on time to get the incentives.

Also, though, the best way to increase my cash flow will be to reduce the large minimum payments. So, my second goal is to make at least one prepayment of at least ten percent of my private loan next year.

Credit

I have one credit card, a somewhat recent development, and I think it’s actually the dumbest thing alive. Still, I use it to buy gas and pay off the balance in full to build my credit score. I’d like to stick to this system for a year and then, next fall, assess the relative merits of getting a rewards card, or putting a large-ish purchase on it to pay off over a few months, or just sticking to my system… I’m sure when the time comes I’ll propose my options and thoughts to our commenters.

I don’t want to go any deeper into debt until I have my student loans under control–so, while a car loan might happen in 2008 or 2009 I really, really don’t want to amass any additional consumer debt. I’ve been thinking about keeping my credit card out of my wallet except for when I’m going to the gas station, but I’m sort of afraid I’d forget it or lose it.

Career

My job has, in the past, been a position that people kept for about a year. In my first few months, as I was settling in and deciding whether I liked it, I told myself to stick to it until next fall and then reassess, and that’s still the plan. As I continue here, though, I like it more and more, and feel increasingly inclined to stay longer. Instead of looking for a new day job, I’d like to focus my career-building energies on finding freelance writing and design opportunities. Building my freelance resume is my biggest career goal for the first part of 2008.

So, for now, that’s the plan. As I tick things off and make changes I’ll let you know. Happy New Year!