Complete our online tool for your Short Term And Long Term financial goals. Email Article Print Article Bookmark RSS Related Content:   Artist Finances   How to Sell Your Art Online   Quit Job for Art?   Create Your Blog

Setting goals is an important part of achieving financial success. Without them, you have no idea where you're going. Goals should be short term and long term. Be specific when writing out your goals. Vague statements like, "I want to be rich", are no better, and sometimes worse, than having no goal at all.

Some examples of short term goals might be:

"I want to start putting away $10 a month for the next six months into a savings plan. After six months, I want to increase it to $20 a month. By the end of 12 months, I want to increase it to $30, with a ten dollar increment every six months until I reach my goal of $100 a month."

"I want to start doing a monthly budget to track my spending and get it under control. After I get it under control, I want to put X number of dollars into a savings plan."

"I am currently in debt X number of dollars, and I want to pay it off. To do so, I need to allocate X number of dollars for the next X months."

Some examples of long term goals might be:

"I want to retire at age 65 with $50,000 a year (today's dollars). I expect to live another twenty years, so I need $1,000,000 in my retirement account($50,000 x 20 = $1,000,000). To reach this goal I need to put away X number of dollars with an overall average rate of return at X %."

"I don't plan on ever retiring, however, at age 65 I want to have enough in my savings plan to work because I want to, not because I have to. For me to be comfortable, I need X number of dollars in my savings, just in case, for X number of years."

CLICK HERE to fill in your Short Term And Long Term financial goals.

To assist you in defining your goals and objectives, see our Career Planning Guide for more information.

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