How to Ensure you Reach Your Finanical Goals

By Andrea Travillian

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Every January I spend some quality time evaluating my finances. Why? Because if I don’t then our plans become out of date. Our financial plans will have been set for a life that was based on who we were and what we wanted a year ago not today’s reality. A lot changes in a year, and even more changes in five years or more. If we were still following our financial plans for what we wanted five years ago we would be way off track!

Have you ever stopped one day and realized that the career you worked so hard for was the wrong one or that you had gotten way off track on your way to the top? If you’re lucky enough this has not happened, but I bet you know someone who has had this happen. If it has happened to you, you know that you work hard on a career that you wanted when you were 18. Over the years you got married, had kids, and lived through many other life changing events. The once 18 year old is a completely different person today, and might not want the same thing. By then it is harder to make major changes and start over.

Our financial plans can have the same thing happen to them. If we have a plan, we tend to set it in place and then don’t look at them again. Overtime they become the wrong plans for what we want out of life and we wake up one day and wonder why we did not get to where we wanted to go. We did not get there because we were following the map from 15 years ago.

You can stop this from happening. Here are three easy steps to help you get your financial tune up started.

1. Pick a time for you to do your review every year. I do mine beginning the last two weeks of December and into January, because it is the end of the calendar year. This allows me to see the full income for the year which I use to do some tax and investment planning. You might do it on your birthday or graduation from college anniversary. It really does not matter as long as you are looking at it once a year. Pick your time and add it to your calendar.
2. Set aside small chunks of time to accomplish your review. To do this right you want to give yourself plenty of time to review everything. I spend at least 8 hours a year on this and breaking it into small time blocks makes it much easier to stay on track. Plus then your numbers and ideas do not run all together.
3. Determine what you want to review. I recommend that at a minimum your review all the investments that you currently have to make sure you still want them, ensure that you have the right allocations on your investments, and make adjustments to get them in line. You should also make sure you still want the goals you are trying to achieve and that you are saving the right amount to reach your goal.
4. I realize this might be overwhelming at first, so allow yourself the time and space to figure out what you are doing. We are all still learning everyday and allowing ourselves the time for this will make each year easier and easier. If in doubt ask for help.

By taking the time to make sure you are on the right track you will end up where you want and maybe someplace even better. I promise your future self will thank you.