How Do You Set Goals When Everything Is Up In The Air?

It's that magical time of the year when snow is falling, wind is gusting, lights are twinkling, when all I want to do is curl up with a mug of cocoa and rum in front of a toasty fire... and work on my 2009 financial goals. I'm working on a post looking back on my 2008 financial and non-financial goals, but I won't have the final bean count until the end of the month when bonuses are paid (or, let's be honest, are not paid). However, bonus or no bonus, the prognosis is good, and since I'm projecting that I'll meet or surpass the goals I set for 2008, I'm juiced to look ahead to 2009. I've done this every year since graduating from law school and it is a really valuable exercise, probably the single most useful habit I've created for myself in terms of keeping my financial life from skipping the rails.

Here's the thing, I don't really know how to do that this year because so much is up in the air right now.

There are a lot of changes afoot for us in 2009.

(1) Shiner and I are getting married, which will change our household accouting in ways that we have fleshed out only conceptually. We do know we're moving farther into the Yours-Mine-Our scheme we've been flirting with since we began living together, but exactly what expenses and savings will be individual versus joint has yet to be determined.

(2) We'll probably get presents. I don't count my chickens before they're hatched, but experience tells me to expect some cash windfall in the form of wedding presents. Without having any idea how much that amount will be we can't really take it into account in setting our goals, but it may very well be a gamechanging amount--we may go through the whole goal setting process in December just to have to do it again in February when the thank you notes go out and the checks are deposited. This is by no means a problem, but it does make me feel like setting specific goals right now may be pretty futile.

(3) I am changing jobs in the second half of 2009 to a lower-paying job with a different benefits structure that I don't know much about.

(4) I am not 401(k) eligible in that new job because it is a temporary position. Do I crowd my contributions into the first half of 2009 and trytrytry to max out the account? Or do I continue on at the same pace I'm at now so I can keep more cash on hand?

(5) The economy sucks. This has two effects: first, it will probably influece the goals we set (for example, paying down revolving debt is still huge, but paying down fixed debt maybe not so much--it's probably better to keep those funds liquid for now in case we need to fall back on them). And second, job instability and crappy markets may present a bigger obstacle to acheiving the goals you settle on than they ordinarily would. So do you keep your goals low? High, with the understanding that you could fall short? This goal stuff is all about psychology, after all. As well-heeled has noted, setting realistic but challenging goals in this economy is a real tightrope walk.

How do you account for big changes and uncertainty in your life when setting your goals, financial or otherwise?