Setting Financial Goals

Setting financial goals is by far the most important part of the planning process! You must establish and clearly define attainable goals that you can feel comfortable with and endorse in a heartfelt way. Vague, overly aggressive estimates of what you would like to achieve, as well as lack of motivation will only lead to procrastination, inactivity, and, ultimately, failure to attain your true goals.

Some examples of common financial goals that many people wish to achieve include funding a college education, estate planning, and financial security/retirement planning.

Finally, in addition to developing clear objectives, it is equally important to prioritise your financial goals by relative importance and time horizon to achieve them.

Are your financial goals achievable?

Whether you have short-term goals like a home deposit, saving for your children's education or long-term goals such as retirement, it pays to have a plan that takes advantage of the latest financial trends. Most experienced financial planners have an extensive range of sophisticated strategies to help you do achieve your goals.

Setting your financial goals

Key factors to consider when constructing your investment goals and objectives are:

time (includes both investment and individual time horizon)

risk (the uncertainty of loss or the possibility of a misfortune occurring)

return (what do you want to receive from each investment - income or capital appreciation or a little of both)

inflation (a dollar today is generally not worth a dollar tomorrow - your returns are positive provided the net return from an investment is greater than the prevailing inflation rate)

tax (what you earn and what you keep is important - the investment and structures you may adopt must be tax efficient)

Reaching your financial goals starts with a thorough understanding of your needs and goals. A financial adviser will work closely with you to develop a financial plan that clearly:

summarises your current financial position

clarifies your future needs

identifies opportunities

sets a realistic investment strategy consistent with your goals

manages risk

monitors your progress

measures success

Establish what your goals are. They may be short or long term. Some common goals are:

Buying a home

Saving and investing for the future

Planning for retirement

Protecting lifestyle

Transferring wealth to future generations

This article is bought to you by Imperator Financial and Reed Financial

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Disclaimer

No investment advice provided to you. This web site is not designed for the purpose of providing personal financial or investment advice. Information provided does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. You should assess whether the information on this web site is appropriate to your particular investment objectives, financial situation and investment needs. You should do this before making an investment decision on the basis of the information on this web site. You can either make this assessment yourself or seek the assistance of any financial adviser.