Now it’s time to determine what goals, exactly, your timeline is building toward, and what milestones you’ll use to chart your progress along the way.
“Precise timelines, or deadlines, for reaching financial goals will differ by individual and family,” said Sean Fox, president of Freedom Debt Relief and chief revenue officer of its parent company, Freedom Financial Network. “The key is to HAVE goals, and to create a plan for reaching those goals. The trick here is that it’s generally not about setting specific money goals — e.g., save $1 million by the time I’m 40. Rather, it’s about setting goals for what you want to do and have in life, and then figuring out how you’ll achieve those things.”
Remember, goals without strategies and accountability are just dressed-up dreams.
“What gets measured gets managed,” said Mark Chen, founder of Invest Long Term. “For your financial timeline, it’s important to have realistic goals that can be quantified. It’s all well and good to say you want to be a billionaire next year, but how are you going to do it? Everyone gets punched in the face at times. Budgets can be a lot tighter now with $5 gas. You can make your financial timeline flexible and durable by making sure your goals don’t change, but you find new strategies to reach your goals.”
