It’s a new year which means it’s time to start thinking about the things you want to accomplish. It’s also the time to set financial goals that will help you to build wealth and reach new heights with your money.
Setting goals can be hard and you want to ensure that you are in a good place to actually make them a reality. You also want to look back at the end of the year and feel proud about how far you’ve come.
In this blog post, you will learn the steps that will allow you to set financial goals you actually will achieve.
Spend Some Time Thinking About Where You Want to Go Financially
It’s important that you spend some serious time thinking about what you actually want in life. Find some time in your busy schedule and figure out your plans for the future.
Ask yourself: Where do I want to be financially next year? What financial plans do I need to accomplish? Do I want to buy a house? Do I want to do more traveling?
These are some questions that will help you figure out where you want to go and put your ideas, dreams, and plans into perspective.
Write Down Your Financial Goals
Writing down your goals can change your life. In fact, when I write down where I want to go, they always seem to come through.
When you write down your goals, two things happen:
- You get to organize your thoughts and articulate them in a way that allows you to see what you really want.
- Seeing your goals on paper will help you to actually want to achieve them because they become closer to reality.
So get a pen and notebook and write down your financial goals right now and get those ideas whether they are big or small out of your head and on paper.
Prioritize Your Financial Goals for this Year
Once you have your goals written down, your next step is to prioritize your goals based on what you want to accomplish and within a particular timeframe.
You may have a lot of goals but are not sure where to begin. Look at the goals that have an immediate impact and start working on those ones right away.
For example, two of your goals may be to buy a house and start an emergency fund. These are bold financial goals which can be done simultaneously but may not be achievable right away.
In this case, you may need to start working on the emergency fund first as your initial step – as this is very important for a rainy day. Then you can start the house fund after your emergency fund is being funded.
This is one example of how you can prioritize your goals for efficiency.
Set and Track Your Milestones
Setting milestones around your financial goals is critical to actually achieving them.
Milestones help you to set parameters and time limits around your goals giving you a framework from which to measure your progress.
You can set milestones that are centered around your lifestyle and schedule. This gives you wiggle room to adjust your plans but helps you to reach your goals one step at a time.
Meet with a Financial Professional to Help You With Your Financial Goals
Once you have your financial goals ready, your next step is start taking action.
Reach out to a Financial Professional, whether it’s a trusted money coach, a financial advisor at a financial institution, or an investment advisor, and work on your vision to meet your financial goals.
Ensure that this person is a fiduciary as you want to get the best advice on how to achieve your financial goals the right way without products being pushed on you.
Keep Going
This last piece of advice is critical. Your financial goals will be a test of your patience, endurance and resilience.
You may not achieve all of your goals at once and some may be a long-term play but once you start, you will find that you will get encouragement, motivation and zest to keep going.
If you mess up along the way or forget about your goals, know that it’s okay.
Just brush off yourself and keep going – that’s where you will see success and you will be able to actually achieve your financial goals.
Awesome post.