What are Your Financial Goals?
What do you want to accomplish? – You must begin this process by thinking about, and writing down, specific financial goals. To start, think in the broadest of terms. You may want to relocate to a new city, get married and have children, buy a house, go to college, prepare for retirement, sell it all and travel the earth.
Whatever your life goals may be, they have a cost. The cost of your life is something you can and should plan for. When listing your life goals, try not to limit your thought process with specific topics. Expand your goals for the entire scope of your financial life. You do this because the financial resources you have for one goal will affect your ability to support other goals.
Now get down to specific financial objectives. WRITE YOUR GOALS DOWN. List specific measurable goals such as becoming debt free within 2 years or saving $50,000 for a down payment on a house within 3 years. Be sure to define your goals as to what and by when. In other words, don't just set your goal as saving for retirement but specify how much, how often, and when you will acheive the goal. Only then can you calculate how much money you will need to set aside for these purposes. Your goals should be attainable within your cash flow budget. Be sure your goals are included in your budget or cash flow statement.
The next step is to take action by implementing the small goals. Do the things that you need to do to set aside the money for your goals. Physically put the money for the goals in a separate place. Have a separate savings account for savings related goals. If you are paying down debt, make frequent small payments throughout a month. This will accomplish two things at once: you will create a discipline in reducing the debt and you will save on interest that is being charged throughout the month.
Finally, measure your progress towards these goals. Keep track of where you are and where you need to go. One way to do this is to set benchmarks. Once you have reached a
benchmark you should reward yourself. If you find that the benchmarks are difficult to reach, you can adjust your goals or change
the course of action. Even if you only accomplish part of your goal, you will be better off than not doing anything.
