Goal: Save for retirement
Who: Kristy Short, 42
Where: Ypsilanti, Mich.
Job: Small-business owner
When Kristy Short left her corporate job in 2008, she was putting away 25%-30% of her salary toward retirement. She started her own communications firm -- Sass Communications360 -- but she didn't want to give up on her future.
So for 2011, "I want to continue to stock at least 30% away," Short says.
But she also wants to take care of her parents. They live in Michigan, after all, and the real estate and job markets have not been kind.
"I want to take care of my parents by securing a place for them to live," she says. "My plan is trying to pay off my mortgage and put enough money away that when I buy my next home I can build them a house on my property."
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Last updated November 19 2010: 10:43 AM ET
