One of the main aspects of a financial planner’s job is to help clients set goals and work towards achieving them. However, goal setting is very difficult for many people. Whether they’ve never taken the time to do so, have never actually discussed their goals with their significant other, or simply have a ‘live for today’ mindset rather than a ‘think about the future’ mindset, many people struggle with questions like, “What are your goals for your money?”
If this is something that you’ve never thought about and you’re not sure how you want your money to work for you, I urge you to take the time to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals for your money just as you would for anything else. I get it, most people hate the idea of goal setting and think it’s a waste of time. I used to be that person, too. But, I’ve seen how effective setting goals and proactively monitoring and tracking your progress towards reaching them can really be. There’s a reason that so many successful individuals, organizations, and motivational speakers preach this process. It’s not only because they’re getting paid for it.
What Financial Goals Should You Set?
Young professionals have many goals for their money that can sometimes be overwhelming – save for retirement, save for a new home, save for a new car, save for a child’s college education. That’s a lot of savings, right?
What about living for today? Things such as traveling, doing fun things with friends, and being able to enjoy your life today are also important. What about supporting your favorite charities or church? Trying to make a difference in the lives of others is certainly an admirable objective.
These are all common goals that young professionals have and require a delicate balance of making sure that we live today while preparing for the future. Of course, you may have some even loftier aspirations such as quitting your job to start a business or taking a year off of work to travel the world that could require even more financial discipline than those listed above.
I can’t tell you what goals you should set, but I can tell you that you should take the time to figure out what you want your money to do for you. The preceding paragraphs full of potential goals show why it’s so important to take the time to sit down and identify your personal objectives and prioritize them.
Do you want to retire as early as possible? You’re probably going to have to make saving as much as possible a priority. Do you want to travel the world before you’re “too old”? Make it a priority for your money by finding ways to save money elsewhere, traveling as much as you’d like, and still being able to fund your savings goals. We’ve seen time and time again that saving at an early age is very important to young professionals’ financial futures, but we shouldn’t let being worried about saving every single penny keep us from doing the things that make us happy today. Balance is key and it’s easier accomplished when we’re clear with what we want our money to do for us.
Having lofty goals for your money likely means living a life that looks different than those around you. And that’s okay. Your objectives are your own and you shouldn’t compare them to others’ or even care what others’ goals are. It’s okay to gain inspiration from the aspirations that others have for their money, but it’s not okay to let them distract you and keep you from reaching your own. The important thing is to make sure that the goals you identify are yours and that you’re not letting outside factors influence you to set targets that you don’t actually want to hit.
Stay Motivated
Hopefully, you’ve been able to identify some of the things that you want to make sure that your money does for you. However, identifying financial objectives isn’t enough. You now need to create a plan to reach them. Staying motivated and continuing to make consistent progress towards long-term goals can sometimes be hard to do. That’s why I think it’s important to consistently track your progress. Seeing the progress that you’re making towards reaching your goals can keep you motivated to do the things that you know you need to do on a consistent basis.
So, how do you track your progress towards your financial objectives and make sure that your money is actually doing what you want it to? Write down the aspirations that you’ve identified for your money and revisit them frequently. You can reconcile your spending with your budget on a weekly basis, track your balances towards your savings goals each time you’re paid, and track your net worth on a monthly basis. Making smaller, short-term goals that allow you some easy wins and lead you to achieving a long-term objective can also be a way to help you maintain motivation and stay on track.
Money is a tool and it’s our responsibility to use it wisely to achieve our goals. It’s easy for us to be careless with our money without having a plan in place for what we really want it to accomplish for us. We may not be able to achieve every single one of the hopes and dreams that we have for our money, but I’m willing to be that we’ll be able to achieve more of our financial aspirations by taking the time to identify them, create a long-term strategy to reach them, and track our progress towards accomplish on a consistent basis.
