Goals are dreams or wishes that could come true – if you work really hard at them. If your goals are specific enough, they will motivate you to balance your spending and savings in order to reach your objectives. If you don’t set financial goals, you will find yourself saying “I wish I had…”
The idea of goal setting is to decide specifically what you want. Goals should be set and monitored or tracked periodically because they can change.
Goals can be short-term or long-term. Every family member should have a part or a say in deciding which goals are selected, if it’s going to affect them in any way.
Once you’ve determined what your goals are, estimate their total cost and decide when you want to accomplish them by setting a deadline date. Divide the total cost by the number of months until your deadline date to figure out how much to save toward your goals each month.
Here’s a great tip to help you save more money towards your goals: Avoid Impulse Spending! It’s the #1 all-time budget buster and most people don’t even realize they do it. To control your impulse spending, try these suggestions: keep your financial goals in mind at all times, shop less often, create a shopping list and always stick to it, and leave your credit cards at home and just use cash.
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Some other great suggestions are to use payroll withholding or direct deposit from your paycheck each month, if your employer offers it. Save any additional income such as raises and tax refunds in a separate interest-bearing savings account. After you pay off an installment loan such as a car loan, mortgage, or student loan, continue to pay that same monthly amount but add it to your savings account instead. Save all of your loose change in one spot. It’s a surprisingly easy way to save and those pennies really start to add up.
We hope that you start saving towards your goals today. There’s nothing stopping you from achieving everything you want! If you’d like to learn more about saving money, creating goals, managing debt or creating a budget, give us a call at 866-699-2227 (it’s a free call and no hassle or obligations). You can also visit us online at www.advantageccs.org.
