![]() FOUR EZ STEPS FOR ESTABLISHING FINANCIAL GOALS Step 1: Identify and take note of your financial goals, whether they are saving to be able to send your kids to university, buying a new car, saving to get a down payment on a residence, going on vacation, paying off personal credit card debt, or planning for retirement. Step 2: Break each financial goal into several short-term (less than 1 year), medium-term (1 - 3 years) and long-term (5 years or more) goals; which is likely to make this process easier. Step 3: Educate yourself and research before you buy. Read finance magazines or any book about investing, or surf the Internet's investment sites. Do not be afraid with the stock or mutual fund markets. Take advantage of employer matching programs. Talk with your Human Resources department. Never be afraid to ask foolish questions if there is something you do not understand! Only fools, never ask! Yes, there can be a potential for loss, but with your research and getting a trustworthy broker, you can make strides toward securing your financial future. Just remember not to put your entire eggs in one basket. Diversify your portfolio. With a little effort it is possible to learn enough to make educated decisions that may increase your net worth over time. Then identify small, measurable actions you can take to achieve these goals, and put this step plan to work. Step 4: Evaluate your progress as needed. Review your development monthly, quarterly, or at any interval you feel comfortable with, but at least semi-annually, to ascertain if your program is functioning properly. Always remember your goals and that you are responsible to make sure your plan of action is set in motion. If you're not making an effective amount of progress on a certain goal, re-evaluate your approach and also make changes as necessary. There are not any ‘cast in stone’ rules for implementing an economic plan. The important thing is to be doing something, rather than nothing, and to start TODAY. Sometimes when people write down their goals, they discover that a number of the goals are too broad in meaning and extremely hard to reach, while others might appear smaller in scope and better to achieve. It is okay to dare to dream about riches, but be realistic about what you can do. Yes, you could become a successful millionaire, if that is your goal. Most of the wealthiest and most successful individuals in the world reached that acclaim by successfully accomplishing set goals. Just realize that realistically, there will be many steps on that ladder to reach that point. A good idea is always to break your goals down into three separate timeframes. One more thing to keep in mind: by placing a time frame on your own goals you are motivating yourself to begin and helping to allow you the chance to succeed. Just remember that you can easily adjust the time frame whenever you would like to. Long-term goals (over 5 years) are those ideas that won't happen overnight, irrespective of how hard you work to accomplish them. They may take quite a while to accomplish (hence the reason they may be called long term goals), so give yourself a reasonable timeframe, estimate based on your experience or knowledge of how long it may take to achieve them. Examples of long-term goals might include college education, having a child, retirement plan or buying a home. Whatever the case, these goals generally require more time commitments and often more money in the long run. Intermediate-term goals (1-5 years) are the sort of goals that can't be executed overnight but may not take many years to attain. Examples might include purchasing/replacing a vehicle, getting an education or qualification, or paying off your debts like bank cards etc. (depending on the amount). Short-term goals (within one year) generally take 12 months or less to achieve, best to date the task, the total estimated cost, as well as the required savings, as necessary. What are the goals? To find out, you should make up a list, determine which timeline your goal matches into, detail the steps required to achieve your goals, then you act toward reaching those goals. It’s that simple or should I phrase it...it is that EZ!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Cynthia A NahinI live in Southwest Michigan and am excited at being able to create and share this blog with you. I hope you return often as I will provide you with many creative concepts that I have learned and put to practice successfully to achieve my end set goals! Believe me, you can do it, too! Blog Archives
March 2012
RSS BLOG FEEDClick on the RSS Feed below to subscribe and not miss out on the newest updates!Categories
All
|