Find Prosperity Through Financial Goals

There is a quote by an anonymous writer that says, “Goals are as essential to success as air is to life.” This statement is especially relevant to financial success and how it relates to financial goals. The way to succeed financially is to frequently set and accomplish personal finance goals. The problem is when most people hear or read the words ‘personal finance’, their eyes glaze over and they immediately begin to think about something more interesting…like what’s the function of their keyboard’s scroll lock button? But, the reality is that learning how to make the most of your finances is really pretty easy and that just a little bit of attention can go a long way. Where Are You Financially? It is hard to get somewhere if you don’t know where you are in the first place. And with personal finance, it’s just as difficult to set financial goals for the future, if you don’t know where your finances are currently. The best way to measure your financial standing is to figure out your personal net worth. Personal net worth is basically your personal finance bottom line. After taking into account all of your assets and all of your liabilities, what you end up with is considered your personal net worth. The Four Types of Personal Finance Goals As you figure out your personal net worth, ideas for goals will begin to develop, write any of these down on a piece paper and then refer to them later when you are goal setting. There are four classifications for financial goalsâ€"the time limit you set to accomplish the goal will determine what type of goal it is. Short-Term Personal Finance Goals These goals typically take less than one year to complete. These goals are usually extremely important, as many of your bigger goals will depend on your success with these short-term goals. These goals are also important because they build moral and increase your financial confidenceâ€"suddenly the larger goals don’t seem so impossible. Short-term goals might include reading a finance book, beginning to track your finances with personal finance software or even paying off a credit card. Mid-Term Personal Finance Goals These goals should take less than five years to complete. These goals can relate to your short-term goals (i.e. a short-term goal may be paying off your Visa card and a mid-term goal is to have all of your credit cards paid off). Mid-term goals, as well as your larger goals, need to be tracked closely as procrastination can often make mid-term personal finance goals very hard to accomplish. Mid-long-Term Personal Finance Goals These goals should take anywhere from five to 15 years to accomplish. There are people who have become totally debt-free from perusing a mid-long term goal. These goals sometimes evolve or change completely depending on life’s priorities. Long-Term Personal Finance Goals Long-tem personal finance goals may take sixteen years to a lifetime to accomplish. These are goals that deal with your retirement and leaving an inheritance for your children. Many people set long-term personal finance goals to have a personal net worth of ‘X’ amount of dollars by a certain age. Long-term goals also change and evolve as people grow and their priorities in life change. You should review and evaluate your long-term financial goals at least once a yearâ€"maybe when you do your taxes. Reward yourself for completing financial goalsâ€"smaller goals may be associated with smaller awards, while the completion of larger goals may be rewarded with a family vacation. Speaking of family, involve your spouse and your kids (if applicable) in your financial goals. They will provide motivation and some financial goals will involve the entire family’s help to obtain. Personal Finance Prosperity Prosperity is a word that is defined by the person who is uses it. One person may not consider themself prosperous until they reach millionaire status, while another person may prosper because they provide their family with simple home that’s completely paid for. While making financial goals, it’s a good idea to take some time and think about what you want in lifeâ€"what will make you prosperous. Once this has been determined, set goals that will help you achieve prosperityâ€"best of luck. Cristopher Fowers Cristopher Fowers is a Writer/Reviewer for TopTenREVIEWS.com. TopTenREVIEWS features expert reviews for technology and entertainment products and services. For more information and an in-depth review on personal finance software, see the TopTenREVIEWS Personal Finance Software Review . We do the research so you don’t have toâ„¢.