Adulting 101: Set Financial Goals
Goal setting is probably one of the most annoying thing that I encountered in adulting. I hate thinking about the future since there are a lot of factors that is out of my control.
However, I have to admit that having a general goal in mind has helped me out in my life more time than I care to count. So for today's article, I want to talk about setting financial goals an what are the things you might want to consider.
Just a reminder that none of the things I write on this series should be taken as a financial advice. I am not a professional financial advisor. All the things I share are from my own research and my own understanding. I highly suggest you do your own research as well before making any decisions.
With that disclaimer out of the way, let us start.
Why should you set financial goals?
I want you to think of where you are right now. Maybe you are not in a place where you want to be that is why you are working nonstop to have more money. You see people who earn more than you, probably twice your annual income, do you think they are satisfied with their money or are they also aiming for more?
The answer is most probably they are still aiming for more. In this world, someone else will always have more than you and if you do not know what you truly want, then you will always want more and more as you climb to the top.
Just look at the top 1% of the 1%, even though they already accumulated more money and assets than normal people could ever imagine, they still crave for more. They still look for more avenues in which they can grow their wealth.
If you do not have a clear end goal in mind, then you will be stuck in the endless cycle of wsnting more and more until one day you will be in you deathbed wondering what have you done all your life.
So before you start accumulating a huge amount of money, ask yourself first- what am I saving for?
Are you saving for a future house? For your education or your children's education? Do you want to retire with a life of luxury? Or retire with a place to call your own and never have to worry about leaving debts to youe children?
You have to be honest with yourself as you answer this question because it will be your guide in your financial decisions. You don't have to aim for what other people are aiming for because at the end of the day, it is your life and no one else's.
Things to consider when setting financial goals
There are a lot of factors to consider when setting financial goals but I want to share 5 personal questions that I asked myself when I set my financial goals.
Will it be a long-term or short-term goal?
This is my first question before I set any goals I want to work toward to. Will it be a goal that will take a long time or short time? This makes it easier to give myself a room for adjustment and it gives me opportunities to break down how my system will work with these goals.
What are your priorities?
Do you have financial obligations that take the front seat for your life? Then you have to consider that before making a financial goal. Do not set a goal that will put your priorities at risk. Not just eith financial priorities but also in general. Do you prioritize spending time with loved ones or doing your passion? Make sure to remember your priorities so that you will not lose sight of why you are trying to learn financial literacy.
What use would having a mountain of gold will do if you have not given any attention to your priorities? So make sure to give time to your priorities instead of setting them aside in the future because by then it might be too late.
When will it be enough?
This is connected to the last question since this makes you think about when will you be satisfied. If you do not set this while starting out, you might find yourself stuck in a never ending loop of wanting more and more things. So ask yourself, what will make me satisfied? The things outside of the endless trends nowadays, the things that will keep you relatively happy and free of the thoughts of comparing your life to others. Think about that long and hard.
Remember that this along with you list of priorities will keep you focused on what you truly want instead of getting swept up by external things. This will make your life more authentic and probably much more satisfying too than just chasing the best nee thing time after time.
Closing words
Financial goal setting is an important step to take before diving into the big world of financial literacy. Think of it as a map to an unknown world, it will keep you from straying too far from your path. The most important thing is to get to where you want to be without sacrificing the things that you love and value.
This is a part of the Adulting 101 series that I am writing. You can read the earlier articles of this series here:
I know that today is Wednesday so this is supposedly Manju's time to publish but she could not think of a topic today so she asked me to step in. I was planning to publish this tomorrow but change of plans now.
Anyway, I just wanted to share that in case some of you might wonder about it.
Thank you for reading this article!
If you want to read some more articles of mine, I have monthly summaries here:
December 2021 Articles Summary
November 2021 Articles Summary
Everyone should have financial goal in their life. It will help us to save our money and it will motivate us to earn more money.