Developing Your Plan II

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
Confucius

Financial Goals

Goal setting is a standard methodology used by business-people, top-level athletes, and achievers in all fields. It gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. Goals will focus you on your acquisition of knowledge and help you organize your resources.

• Goals help you decide what is important for you to achieve in life / as well as in your
  
  investments.
  
  
• Goals separate what is important from what is not. Goals once crystallized in your mind, motivate you to achieve them. • Goals help build self-confidence based on measured achievement.
  
  
• Goals need to be complete and focused, much like a road map. Remember the difference between a dream and a goal is the written word, the map to get there
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• Make sure the goals you are working for are things that you really want, not just something that sounds good.
  
  
• Develop goals in all areas of life. Be precise; set precise goals, that you can measure your achievement against. • State each goal as a positive statement.
  
  
• Set priorities: where you have several goals, give each a priority.
  
  
• Write your goals down; this crystallizes them and gives them more meaning and force.
  
  Without financial goals and specific plans for meeting them, you will drift along, leaving your future to chance. The first step in determining financial goals is to determine your long term goals first.
  
  Identify and write down your longer term financial goals, these goals could be such things as saving to send your kids to college, buying a new car, saving for a down payment on a house, going on vacation, paying off credit card debt, planning for retirement or anything else that will probably take years to accomplish. 


Most people have fewer long-term goals but they are lofty in size and require disciplined commitment. These goals are often achieved by:

• Adopting a practical lifestyle that stays within your means
  
  
• Investing cash from your earnings each month, quarter, or year • Investment
  education to instill the confidence
  
  
• The discipline to continue investing regularly 

Break each financial goal down into several short-term (less than 1 year), medium-term (1 to 3 years) and long-term (5 years or more) goals. Work on formulating these goals (for you...not what someone else may think).