Loanio

What are your goals?

Setting goals is an important part of your personal finance plan. Goals can be divided into four unique categories that are relatively general in nature. These categories are short term goals, intermediate term goals, long term goals and life goals.

Short Term Personal Finance Goals –

These short term goals are most commonly the things that you want to have accomplished within a single year. These things may include taking a family vacation, beginning to invest money into your retirement plan, donating money to a charity, putting savings into your emergency fund, moving from a smaller apartment into a larger one, purchasing a sought after piece of jewelry o a new wardrobe, joining a local sports club, paring down your debt, or a number of other small, short term goals that relate in one way or another to your personal financial future.

Intermediate Term Personal Finance Goals –

The intermediate term goals in your life are the things that will take between one and five years for you to accomplish. These goals may include saving enough money to allow you to buy a brand new car, beginning a family, or paying all of your debt off completely.

Long Term Personal Finance Goals –

Long term personal finance goals are the goals that you will be accomplishing at least five years or more down the road. Some of the goals that fall into this category may include saving for your child’s education, starting up your own business, purchasing a home, purchasing a boat, or going into retirement, though there are a number of other goals that fit into this category as well.

Life Goals –

Life goals are personal finance focused goals that do not have a timeframe, primarily because you will probably never completely or fully achieve them. These are not always specifically money driven goals, but they are certainly life altering goals and relate to striving for something better. Some money driven life goals may include “Make more money” Or “grow my savings”, since these goals have no specific end or time frame.

As you begin to think about your own personal finance goals, you should try to put consideration into which of these categories each of the goals fits into. Fit all of your goals into the short term, intermediate term and long term categories, and then look at how your goals are categorized. You want to have an even number of goals in each category, rather than focusing too heavily on the now, or too heavily on the future. You should also make sure to have goals that do not require money, because not everything has to be material. But when it comes to planning for the future, having clear cut goals for your personal finances is a smart move and can help to ensure that you have your needs met financially throughout your life, no matter what obstacles are thrown at you, or how your needs change over time.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2009-01-12 05:17:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Do You Need a Money Manager? /caption] If your idea of organizing your finances is throwing a receipt in a big pile, you may want to consider the benefits of hiring a money manager. There is a new trend in the financial world where daily money managers are becoming very popular, and for many consumers, they......
• How Much Money Do You Really Spend? Overspending is an enormous problem for Americans right now and the sad truth is, many of us do not even know we are doing it. If you are finding it hard to make ends meet at the end of the month, or you are desperately waiting for that next paycheck......
• Is Some Debt Good For Your Credit? /caption] There is no doubt about this, first of all: Getting into debt is more than capable of getting you into trouble. Although there is definitely a large downside to debt, borrowing money can also do you some good. Some debt is actually good for your credit, but only if......
• Child Savings and Investment /caption] Having children is not a cheap proposition these days, especially when you consider long term costs. The older your children become, the more they are going to end up costing in the long run. High education prices, for example, continue to soar making it nearly impossible for you to......
• Personal Budget Planning /caption] The key to your financial success in life is your own personal money management skills. Your personal money management practices make up your own personal method of reaching both your goals and your dreams. No one likes the idea of personal budget planning, but you will never know if......

• Personal Finance Fantasy Baseball League 2009 The regular baseball season is over.  It's a sure sign that summer has come to an end.  It's also a period of time I go into fantasy sports withdrawal as my fantasy baseball leagues finish.  This year I was fortunate enough to take part in a rotisserie league made up......
• Five Personal Finance Books to Read in 2009 Let’s assume that you’ve decided to get your finances in order in 2009. However, you may need some guidance to decide exactly what that means. Where should you start? What do you need to accomplish before your finances are officially “in order?” Reading personal finance books is a great way......
• Personal Finance Resource Links 04-12-09 I'm so loving the longer days now that it's Spring! I come home from work and it's still light out so I can play with the kids outside for a bit.  When I wake up in the morning it's not pitch black (many a morning I had to wonder......
• Educate yourself on personal finance and money A survey done in 2006 by Entrepreneur magazine revealed that "70% of Americans say they are good or excellent at managing their finances."  Did that statistic shock you?  It did me.   Statistics from a 2006 government survey show that "96% of all Americans will retire financially dependent on the......
• Review: The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance: Basic concepts in personal finance that every teen should know. Time is a resource that many teenagers don't realize is their greatest resource for finacial independence. "The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance" is a tome that will provide teenagers with important financial lessons, in a manner which will pull their interest and convey itself effectively in its intended task. The......