You have financial goals.
Your spouse has goals. Your neighbor has them. Your co-worker has them.
I know you have them.
But if I put you on the spot, you will probably stutter and say something like, “I want to be rich.”
Does that sounds like you?
But if I ask you what’s for dinner? When’s your next vacation? What are you doing this weekend?
You will probably confidently answer me with full detail.
I am not surprised, you see all of these things come up every day and without you realizing it, they push your financial goals to the back of your brain.
Your real goals, “not I want to be rich” goals, are probably a long ways a way and so many things need your attention TODAY.
So, you think it’s ok to push them off.
You always have “tomorrow” to get to them.
The problem is, the further back they go, and the longer you wait to give them your attention, the odds of achieving them decreases rapidly.
If you are still reading—you understand this problem!
Continue on and go through the exercise below to pull your financial goals to the forefront of your brain, possibly for the one and only time in your life. You owe it to yourself and there is no doubt in my mind that you will be better off because of it.
Before we begin I want to clear up something that coincides with the “I want to be rich” mentality. It’s that people associate high income to high wealth. Your financial goal cannot be to earn a lot of money. Earning money is not the solution, saving and investing money for your future is!
Earnings Fallacy
Earning a lot money does not make you wealthy, keeping the money and allowing it grow is where true wealth is created!
Who is wealthier?
- A) Earn $500,000 a year and spend $500,000 Save $0
- B) Earn $100,000 and spend $75,000 Save $25,000
The answer is person B- but most people would rather be person A.
Spend more! Buy more stuff! –WRONG!
Free 1 Page Financial Plan!
Now we Begin
Accumulating Wealth
There are 5 general areas people accumulate wealth
- Personal property -checking accounts, savings accounts, investment accounts, jewelery, art etc
- Real Estate – primary residence and rental properties
- Retirement Plans – 401k’s, IRA’s, SEP, SIMPLE’S etc.
- Insurance- Whole Life Insurance, Variable Life, Universal Life
- Business Assets – family business, side business, silent partner, etc.
** 6) Inheritance, but it’s not something you can count on so we will ignore it
Along the way of accumulating wealth it’s important to protect yourself against an unforeseen accident/sickness (disability) protect your family against a premature death and reduce your tax liability anywhere possible.
So while accumulating wealth, it’s important to protect against Disability, Death and Taxes.
But for the most part, people are accumulating wealth to accomplish 4 major things. And none of them are to be “Rich” Understand that money does in fact make the world go round, but it’s not the end all, be all.
You have to look at money as the tool or instrument to use to accomplish something bigger, something greater.
In my experience it boils down to 4 major things. And in no specific order they are:
- Pay for a college education for someone else —
- Important – yes/no, What school?_____ How many years away?_____
- Reach financial independence at some realistic point
- Important – yes/no, By what age (be realistic)_______
- Make a larger purchase in the future
- Circle all that apply – House, Business, Vacation Home, When?_______ How much money do you need?____________________
- In case of emergency- How much money do you want in the bank at all times $________
- Other____________________
Do any of these things apply to you?
If so, go back up and answer the questions under each one. Other than to live your daily life, can you think of another reason why you would accumulate wealth? One I might have missed? If so write it down on line #5.
Now the fun part.
Imagine it’s the end of the month, after all your spending, you have one extra dollar. $1 buck! You want to save it but you can only put it into one bucket.
Which do you choose? 1 2 3 4 5 (there is no wrong answer, be true to yourself)
What if you had $2 or even better $3. You have to split it up 2 or 3 ways. You cannot put all the dollars in the same bucket.
What you have just done, is not only identified your financial goals, but have gone even one step further and prioritized them. Well Done. 
Your goals are:
1)___________________
2)____________________
3)____________________
Without knowing your goals, my only commentary is I hope reaching financial independence is at/near the top. For all of the other goals someone will actually lend you money to accomplish, through credit cards, lines of credit, school loans, etc.. But no one is there to lend you money to stop working!
Stop here and reflect on your goals for a few moments.
Visualize accomplishing them!
Step forward
You have made a major accomplishment today. Defining your financial future is a huge step forward. Congratulations! Now that you know what the goals are, figure out a way to fill those buckets! Keep the momentum going!
However, if this was tough for you, I am here to help. As always, you can consult with me to discuss your financial future.
Look for future posts on the best ways to put your financial plan in motion and check out my recent post “25 Ways to Save!”
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Thanks for stopping by and I hope you achieve financial success!
