Building Net Worth: Set Your Goal(s)

So you are tired of living hand-to-mouth. Or you just got an awesome surprise: you’re pregnant! Or you just lost your job! Or your kid needs speech therapy. Or you just got a NSF notice and your bank is charging you $35 for breathing. Or your job just doesn’t pay enough to live on. No matter what the situation is, all these events point to one thing: It’s time to get serious about your finances.

But how serious are we talking about? Are we talking about eating rice and beans every day for months? Permanently modifying your diet to subsist on lentils and eggs? Shopping in thrift stores only and no NEW stuff? Well, the only way to know how tightly to gird your loins is to pin down your end game.

For some people, it’s having zero debt. For others, it’s making more money, owning their home outright, starting their own business, or even changing careers. For most of the population (read baby-boomers), it means having enough for retirement in 5 years or less, and so on. To figure out your dream financial situation (and no, we refuse to think in terms of Hollywood or Trump, although they are both largely the same), you have to figure out your pain point.

What keeps you up at night? What makes you nervous or worry? What do you think about when you tell yourself: If I only had the money, I would…(insert dream here)? It is really that simple. Forget what the experts tell you and what your friends say. Forget what your parents say. Just listen to me (within reason, of course). You can make those dreams come true. All you need is time and effort. Now if you don’t have either. No one, not even the experts can help you. Only YOU can make your life different. I’m just along for the ride (metaphorically). I’m in my cushy chair typing this right now. But the Force (of my words) are with you.

When I started taking better care of my finances, my goal was to be out of credit card debt. I had quite a bit (I’m not giving numbers, or else my mother will give me a lecture), and I had no other means of paying it off other than myself. Although I dreamed of the day when I could own my own home, have a fat bank account and take my Yacht on a cruise around the world, my credit card bills were what kept me up at night, so that’s where I started: Get out of credit card debt.

Looking back, putting that dream in writing was the first step for me. I had put a pin in the map, programmed my destination into my financial GPS. Now I just had to figure out how I could get there. Once I determined where exactly I was standing in the financial mine-field that is!

So, What are your financial goals?