It
can be very challenging to achieve financial goals today, even for the most financially
responsible people.
Good
intentions don’t get you very far if you are not careful to avoid the pitfalls
and distractions that can easily derail your financial plan.
If
you are serious about achieving your financial goals it is more important than
ever to take proactive measures in pursuing your strategy.
It
doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it should be fairly straightforward if
you apply some basic tactics.
1. Prioritize
Keith Turner QuickSilver Funding Solutions finally take the time to seriously consider what we want to accomplish
financially, it’s easy to let the mind run wild, and suddenly we’re swimming in
financial goals.
It
can be very inspiring and exciting to envision an ideal financial future, but
there is a price attached to everything and, in many cases not everything is
attainable.
Goals
need to be prioritized as essential, important or desirable and they need to be
categorized by time-frame – long term, intermediate term and short term.
Available
resources must first be applied to essential short term goals, then essential
long term goals and so on.
2. Determine Your Costs
If
you don’t know where your target is, you’ll never hit it. In financial planning
parlance that means knowing what your goals will cost in the future.
Goals
such as retirement must be thoroughly analyzed to come up with realistic
numbers that don’t over or understate the cost.
The
easiest way to do this is to determine the cost of the goal or event if it were
to occur today and then factor in the rate of inflation for the time-frame.
3. Calculate Your Savings
While
financial planning is not an exact science, it must be more than a hypothetical
exercise.
The
numbers have to be realistic in order to take them seriously.
For
each of your goals, Keith Turner QuickSilver Funding Solutions essential goals need to
determine an amount of savings to which you can commit.
The
total savings commitment must be fit comfortably within your budget to the
extent that, each month, it is the very first expenditure you make –
automatically if possible.
Saving
calculators are available for free online which will enable you to calculate a
present savings rate for a future goal with consideration for inflation and
taxes.
4. Manage Your Finances
It’s
time to start managing your personal finances as if you were running a
business.
Strict
budgeting, attentive cash flow management, focused debt reduction and risk
management are essential to maintaining control over your finances and
minimizing the impact of any unforeseen circumstances that may arise.
It
is strongly recommended that you invest in personal finance software such as
Quicken which will automate much of this.
5. Track Your Progress
With
financial goals, you can’t just set them and forget it.
It
is important to establish short term benchmarks which will be your indicators
to tell you if you are on track to achieving your goals.
Once
you get off track the gap can widen quickly and it’s much easier and less
costly to make smaller, more frequent adjustments.


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