Do you have financial goals?
You do, then well done. You are taking the right steps towards finding your financial freedom.
If you don’t, then don’t worry it is the perfect time to start.
I am a big fan of goals setting. Setting goals helps me to stop and think about the life that I want to design for myself and my family in the future. I can visualise things clearly, figure out the action steps I need to take to get there and create a flexible plan to reach those goals.
That is why it just makes sense to me to make financial goals too. That way I can gain clarity, create action steps and make plan to manage my money. I don’t want my family’s lives to revolve around work and making money. But to instead make our money work for us for a life we want build together and will make a reality.
It is never to early or to late in life to create financial goals. All you really have to do is start.
Write Down Your Ideal Day
The best way to start building some financial goals or goals of any kind is to start with your ideal day. Grab a piece of paper or open the notes section on your phone and just imagine your life five years from now. Do you own your own home? What does your morning routine look like? How many kids you have? How you spend your morning? Get it all out from start to finish. It doesn’t have to be an essay and there is not right or wrong answer. Just let your words flow and you will see the vision form in your mind. All your long term financial goals will appear without you really having to think about them.
Create Specific Goals
Now that you have your ideal day and vision of your future life. It is time to write down the financial goals you need to achieve to get there. But don’t be to vague like saying I want a brand new car. That is not helpful at all in setting financial goals you can actually achieve. Instead say I want to buy a certain year and model care to the value of $x amount. Being specific will make it easier to do the following steps in setting financial goals.
Understand Your Financial Situation
Before you can set achievable financial goals you must first understand your current financial situation. Do you have debt, how much money do you have to put towards your financial goals. Understanding your financial situation is like laying down a good foundation for a building. If it is strong then you can build amazing things without things going wrong. But if you have a flimsy have mixed foundation, you just many find the walls come crashing down around you. So know what you can contribute to your financial goals each week, fortnight or month.
Create A Timeline
One you have specific goals and a solid understanding of your financial situation your can start creating a timeline. Timelines will help you have reason to take action and gain traction in your financial goals. Whether your financial goals are short term or long term goals, they still need a timeline on how long you want to achieve the goals. This will give you motivations to take the step forward instead of putting your goals aside and forgetting about them.
Break down Your Financial Goals Into Action Steps
Now that you have the goals, financial understanding and a timeline of when you want to complete your goals. You can now come up with the actionable steps that will help you to achieve those goals. You may want a house deposit in three years, so you need to set aside $600 per month if your financial situation allows you to. So the $600 per month is your actions step. Maybe you want to go on a vacation but don’t want to put yourself into debt, you need to create a sinking fund where you can put $50 per week into for six months, which allows you to $1200 to go on your vacation. Creating those important financial action steps is what is going to make your goals reality. A majority of the time, once your create a plan your will be able to set it up on auto pilot and just forget about it. Doesn’t that sound nice?
Evaluate and Celebrate
The difference between successful financial goals setters and those who fall short is this. The ones who are successful evaluate their progress often, while those who are unsuccessful don’t bother and then loss motivations. If you want to be successful the put your goals somewhere where you can see them so they are always on your mind. Sit down every couple of months and check on their progress you are making in achieveing those goals. Reevaluate your financial situation, just in case there has been some changes and rework those changes into you action steps. But most importantly celebrate the milestones on your financial journey. Have you cleared a credit card debt or maybe saved more money then you had planned. Celebrate those little milestones will help you motivated in achieving your goals.
Financial Goals can help you to achieve amazing things in your life. You have to dare to dream and dare to change your financial mindsets first. Simple goals setting can be the beginning of great things to some. It is never to late to start to change your financial standing. The only thing that is stopping you is you. So are you ready to make positive financial changes for a better tomorrow?
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