How to set personal finance goals for next year
Last Modified 16th of February 2021
Setting yourself something to aim for financially is incredibly important. Having a set of objectives that then lead to an overall goal helps to keep you motivated, in what can be a long drawn out process. But setting financial goals isn’t easy, as your goals should always follow a certain structure.
Back to the good old days
We were always taught that objectives should be SMART. SMART is an acronym for what you objectives should be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Constraint.So how do you use each of them when setting yourself objectives?
Specific
A specific objective is one that identifies exactly what it wants to achieve
Measurable
Having a measurable objective is making sure that you can measure whether or not your are meeting your target
Achievable
The objective that you set yourself should always be achievable and attainable
Realistic
You should always be able to realistically meet the objectives you set, can you achieve what you want to achieve with the resources you have?
Time constraint
You should always set yourself a time limit on when you want to achieve your objectives, otherwise they could go on and on without any real progress being made.
Examples of SMART financial objectives
- I want to increase my net worth by 10% over the next year
- To reduce my debt by 10% over the next 6 months
- To cut down my spending over the next 6 months
