Are you looking to rewrite your financial future? If so, there is
It truly doesn’t matter where you are in your financial journey. If your journey is just beginning, that’s fabulous! If you’ve been trying to pay off debt but aren’t getting anywhere, it’s okay.
If you’ve paid off all of your debt but don’t know what’s next, guess what, you’re already ahead of the game!
Examples Of Financial Goals
What is a financial goal and why should you have one?
Financial goals are expectations you set for yourself that will improve your financial situation. Everyone has different financial goals and that is totally OKAY.
Having “set”
Short term financial goals
A short term financial goal is something you can accomplish in a timely manner. It would be a goal you could reach in the next year!
A short term financial goal could be as simple as finding a personal finance advisor.
Having short term goals, and accomplishing them, will keep you motivated to meet your long term financial goals!
Long term financial goals
A long term financial goal is a goal that would take you 5+ years to meet, or it could take 30.
One long term goal I know a lot of us think about is retirement. I plan to retire before 60, how about you?
Here is our favorite list of financial goals YOU should look into adopting this year!
The Best List Of Financial Goals You Need To Conquer This Year
- Establish a budget every pay period
- Use your budget and stick to it
- Minimize your debt
- Don’t accumulate more debt
- Find a side hustle that pays you while you sleep
- Have a no spend month
- Contribute to your emergency fund
- Sign up for life insurance
- Save for retirement
- Start investing
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- Create A Better Budget To Achieve Financial Freedom Today
- 50 Genius Frugal Living Tips You Should Adopt To Save Money
1| Establish A Budget
Establishing a budget is extremely important if you’re looking to conquer any type of financial goal!! Budgeting enabled us to save over $100,000 in 5 years in our 20’s. I know that YOU can have the same financial success that we experienced when you start budgeting!
There are several different budgeting methods that you can try. I highly recommend researching them and choosing the one that fits your lifestyle.
Different budgeting techniques:
- Envelope method – (This is what we use) Each paycheck you divide your money up into categories and then pull the cash out of the bank. For example every 2 weeks we put $250 dollars into our grocery envelope. Once the envelope is empty we are done spending money on groceries for those 2 weeks. We always pay with cash, this way we always know where our money goes!
- 50/30/20 – Break your expenses into 3 categories needs, wants, and savings. Then 50% of your income should go to needs, 30% wants, and 20% savings.
- Zero-based budget – Every month you tell every dollar where to go until your budget equals 0. Say you have $200 left after you pay all of your expenses you still need to tell the $200 where to go. If you just let it sit in your account you will spend it, so give it a job.
Do your research and maybe a little trial and error to see which budgeting method works best for you and your family!
If you are new to budgeting and would like to get
2| Stick To Your Budget
If you don’t use your budget what good is it??
Have you budgeted before? If you have, then you know it’s not going to be perfect. There are months when you’ll fall off the bandwagon and you will spend too much money
YES, I too have fallen off the budgeting bandwagon. Budgeting around the holidays can be downright awful. So I have called it quits before for a month or two.
The key is to always start again!
How to stick to your budget:
- Have your financial goals in place – List out your goals and stick them somewhere you’ll see every day. Use this as motivation to stick to your budget.
- Set up auto draft – Use auto-draft to send money directly to where you need it to
go.. This won’t give you a chance to spend it. Every month we send money to our retirement accounts and savings. I don’t even count that as income when doing my budget. I just pretend that money doesn’t exist. - Find an accountability partner – Find someone who has similar financial goals as yourself. It can be your significant other, family member, friend, or whoever you see fit.
- Track your success – Don’t forget to celebrate your victories! Paying off debt takes years. So make sure to celebrate the victories inbetween.
Grab Your FREE 2019 Printable Budget Binder
3| Minimize Your Debt
What I love most about this financial goal is that anyone can start
I suggest picking your smallest debt first and work towards paying it off. Then continue that momentum to pay down your next debt.
The excitement you’ll get from paying off that first debt will hopefully push you to continue to pay off more and more.
How to get out of debt quick:
- Live below your means
- Pick up a side hustle
- Pay more money down on your current debts each month
- Sell things around the house that you don’t use
- Negotiate lower utility bills
- Find ways to free up cash
If you haven’t ever tried living below your means, I highly encourage you to give it a try. Aside from budgeting, living on less has brought us huge financial success. We saved $20,000 in one year just by changing our
4| Don’t Accumulate More Debt
If you’re trying to pay off debt, don’t accrue more debt.
Just don’t DO IT!
I’ve been there, most of us have. It’s like a never-ending hamster wheel. You just can’t WIN that game! SO don’t try.
Here are a few great ways to avoid accruing more debt:
1| Only spend money you already have. I know this is common sense but yet so many of us don’t do it. I prefer to use cash when buying things. This way I know I’m not spending money I don’t have.
2| Don’t use credit cards. When using credit cards it’s so easy to spend more than you have. A lot of us might tell ourselves we are going to pay our credit cards off and then end up only paying off the interest each month. That is not a good situation to be in.
3| Stick to your budget! If you sit down and write out a new budget every month (we do ours every pay period) you will be able to avoid additional debt.
Related article: How to pay off debt and actually start saving money
5| Start A Side Hustle From Home
Y’all, having a side hustle that pays me while I sleep has been life changing! AND I recommend it to EVERYBODY!!
This lovely little blog where I get to share my financial journey and help others struggling, the way we did, the way we are, has been life-changing. I absolutely love sharing our journey and helping others along the way.
I’ve poured blood, sweat, and tears into this “side hustle.” Now it effortlessly pays for all of our bills each month!!
SO how can you start a side hustle that makes money while you sleep?
There are so many different ways to make extra money. If you are looking to make quick money online, I highly suggest you check out these legit companies that will help you do just that.
Here are a few of my favorite side hustles you should
- Blogging
- Freelance writing
- Publish a
kindle e-book - Babysitting
- Rent your extra space
- Take surveys for quick cash
Related article: The Best Stay At Home Mom Job That Makes Money While You Sleep
6| Have A No Spend Challenge
Have you ever taken part in a no spend challenge? A no spend challenge can be any length of your choosing. Most people tend to do no spend weekends or no spend months.
I personally do
Either
What is a no spend month?
A no spend month is when you don’t spend ANY money outside of necessities. You don’t go out to eat and you
Necessities include:
- Food
- Gas
- Bills
- Must have household items
Make it a financial goal of yours to regularly schedule no spend weekends or months throughout the year.
A majority of people spend a lot of money over the weekend.
Having a no spend weekend once a month, could easily put $200+ back in your pocket every month!
Related article: 30 Free Things To Do On A No Spend Weekend
7| HELLO Emergency Fund
Do you have an emergency fund? If not, there is no better time then now to start one! If you do have one, how much do you have set aside? Do you contribute to it monthly?
What is an emergency fund and what do you use it for?
An emergency fund is money you set aside for a rainy day! Then if an unexpected emergency arises you have money to pay for it.
What’s considered an emergency:
- Loss of job
- Vehicle breaks down
- Appliances break in your house
Health related emergency
What you might consider an emergency might be different from what someone else considers an emergency. However, all that matters is that you have the MONEY SET ASIDE when an emergency does arise, because like it or not at some point something will happen.
You have to be prepared!
How to start an emergency fund?
Its super simple to get started! Add all of your expenses for a month. Now multiply it by 5! That is the number you want to
Yes, its a lot of money but it should be! If you were to lose your job you would want to have enough money to pay all of your expenses for the next 5 months. Especially, if you are a one income family.
Next, put your money in an account you know you won’t touch. Make sure it is a high-interest rate account! We recommend looking into online banks as they usually have the highest interest rate.
Don’t let it sit in an ordinary savings account! This will not make you money unlike the above option that will.
Don’t wait any longer to take action with this financial goal!
8| Sign up for Life Insurance
I can’t stress enough the importance of life insurance. Three years ago we went ahead and applied, and I’m so thankful we did!
This is extremely important to do if you are a single income household family.
My husband and I love to travel together. We originally signed up for life insurance before we left for a vacation without the kids. It is such a great feeling knowing that if anything was to happen to us, our kids would be set for life, financially.
Having life insurance is probably the best $50 we spend every month!
9| Plan For Early Retirement
My husband and I started planning for retirement when we were 21!!
Crazy right!
We might be a little abnormal but I’m so glad we started when we did. At the time we didn’t have a clue what we were doing, heck I don’t think we even had a clue about life.
Almost 9 years later, we have a six-figure retirement nest egg, and awesome plans for our future. In other words, I’m so glad we started when we did!
Have you started planning for retirement? It’s NEVER too early to start. If you want to learn more about retiring early check out these money management tips!
10|Begin Investing With Little Money
This is your year to start investing! The best part about investing is it really doesn’t take much money to start. If you already invest, this is your year to bump up your contributions.
I can’t even begin to explain the importance of investing, and the beautiful power compounding interest can have on your money.
Sadly, according to
How to invest money to make money!
Just saving money isn’t going to make you rich, you need compounding interest investment accounts to get you there.
Let me give you an example. I’m 29 years old. With our current retirement accounts, if I were to add $100 per month to our accounts for the next 26 years and get a 9% return (3% less than we are currently averaging over the life of the funds) I will retire at 55 with almost 1.3 million dollars!
That’s crazy right! Compounding interest is your friend when it comes to investing. For that example, my contributions to the 1.3 million dollars would be less than $200k, most of that money would be from the interest.
Start investing early and often if you want to retire rich!
Enroll in your employers 401k- If your employer offers a 401k, start contributing! The sooner the better. Some companies offer a company match (to a certain percent), meaning they will match a percentage of your base pay of what you put into your 401k every month.
IRA/ Roth IRA- An IRA is a great alternative if you work doesn’t offer a 401k. I opened my Roth IRA when I was in my early 20’s with no real career path. A Roth IRA is a great choice if you aren’t close to retirement. A Roth IRA offers tax-free withdrawals at retirement. Traditional IRA contributions are tax deductible the year you make the contribution.
Mutual Funds- These are great ways to diversify your investing without doing any of the work yourself. Mutual funds are essentially a big account that you put money into. Once your money is in it, a profile manager moves the money around and distributes it through different funds and investment styles to try and give you the best returns.
We have money in mutual funds and they do quite well with returns. You do pay a little more in fees than other investing methods because you’re paying someone to manage your money.
Index Funds- Much like a mutual fund, index funds are a great way to put your money somewhere and get good returns over time. Unlike a mutual fund, index funds are not actively managed. The investing portfolio is generally set up to match one of the major stock market indexes. They get good returns with very low management fees.
Stocks- If you’re looking for an investment type that you have to actively manage, the stock market might be for you. With stock investments, you have to do a lot of research in the company before you buy stock. Pick stocks that you believe to be undervalued and will increase in price over time.
Some companies offer stock options to employees. You can usually get the companies stock at a really great discount.
Be careful with the stock market if you choose to go this route. The market can be very volatile and swing wildly depending on many different factors.
If you aren’t sure investing is right for you make sure to take advantage of money markets, which is essentially a savings account with a
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