Our Founder, David Chehade, created REIF with the purpose of helping others on their pursuit to wealth creation. Recently, we sat with him to discuss the important steps for financial goal setting.
This is a topic that he's passionate about and we cannot wait to share his biggest steps to creating financial goals. So here they are.
Step One - Envision what your future goals look like
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in, exhale.
Now just imagine what you can achieve with money. Once you see it, get it down on paper. Because, let's face it, if you get it down on paper you're more likely to achieve it.
Understanding what you want to achieve is probably the most imperative step to understanding your future goals. It sets the foundations as to where you're headed. Furthermore, once you've established your goals, you can start applying time frames and importance to them.
Step Two - Categorise your financial goals
The next step that David recommends is that you start categorising your goals by short-, medium-, and long term. By doing this, it adds a level of specificity to them so you can get a little more realistic around when you aim to achieve them.
Here's a guide to understanding the time frames around short-, medium-, and long term goals.
Short-term: these usually take six to 12 months to achieve
Medium-term: medium term goals generally take 12 months to five years to achieve
Long-term: long terms goals are generally achieved over five years from when you establish them.
Step Three - Set targets
Now that you've categorised your short-, medium-. and long term goals, the next step is to set targets. This is something that David suggests that you get specific with. For each of your categorised goals, apply deadlines to them. Your deadlines are based on when you want them to be achieved by. It's important that you're being realistic when undertaking this step. This ensures you don't overestimate or underestimate them.
Step Four - Prioritise your financial goals
Now that your goals have been categorised and targets have been applied, the next step in David's steps to setting financial goals is to prioritise them.
Goals should be prioritised into levels of importance. These are; needs, wants, and critical.
When you identify which goal belongs to which level of priority, you'll be able to make more informed decisions, especially if money becomes tight at any stage. For instance, if money is short one month for a matter that is critical, the money you spared for a want can be applied to that critical goal.
Step Five - Measure your goals
The final important step with financial goal setting is to track your progress. You should measure whether or not you're hitting your specified benchmarks. If not, you can evaluate where you're going on and implement actions to help you achieve your goals.
For More Information
If you're after more information about how you can acquire finance or property, please reach out to our friendly team of finance and property specialists. We're always happy to help. Reach out on the details listed below.
Ph: 1300 130 932
Email: clientservices@reif.com.au
