Our financial goals become more clear as the year comes to a close and as a new one begins.
Each year seems to fly by and as a result it can be hard to recognize how we may have slipped up on our financial goals, or gym routines, and diets.
It happens.
Good thing we have a few more months to get everything back on track.
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Why is it so Important to Set Financial Goals?
There is almost always room for improvement when it comes to our spending, saving, and investing.
Setting financial goals allows us to make the most of what we work so hard for. It allows us to progress toward a sense of financial freedom we may have never had without setting goals or being disciplined.
Here are a few things I am doing as someone on a mission to meet all of my financial goals by the end of the year:
1. Portioning Savings for the Holidays
The end of the year is SUCH a busy time for all of us.
I have birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, and more. It has only served me well to just save ahead of time so I am not allocating full paychecks at the last minute for everyones gifts.
Having money put aside for everyones gifts and celebrations has made the holidays much less stressful for me.
2. Achieving Financial Goals = Budgeting
Budgeting is such an ugly word.
It sounds so restricting and difficult.
However, it’s really it’s just as simple as writing down your goals.
It is difficult to assess where we could have done better throughout the year and where we can improve going forward if we don’t write a budget for ourselves.
Something that has worked for me is writing down my transactions and basing my budgets off of that foundation.
This gives you an opportunity to review the year and move forward with confidence.
Find the areas you lost sight of your goals then set a goal for the remainder of the year on how you can do better in that area.
In addition to assessing our spending habits, here are more items I consider useful budgeting:
- Calculating your debt
- Calculating your savings and investments
- Allocating parts of your income to paying debts, increasing savings, paying your bills, and extra spending.
I have posted the budgeting template I personally use on Etsy if anyone ever needs inspiration on where to start.
3. Student Loans
*sigh*
Student loans are coming out of forbearance this fall and it is important we figure out our next steps now!
Whether it is talking to a financial advisor, picking out a new payment plan, aggressively saving to put towards it, or however you see fit, it is important to be aware of how student loan repayment will look for you this and next year.
Knowing where to start with student loans is important, so finding your resources and seeking out help is useful.
Lastly, Give Yourself Grace.
We live in a time where finances are communicated online so frequently. We are seeing our old classmates by homes, exceed our financial goals, buy new cars, and more.
Again, give yourself grace.
Never compare your financial journey to someone else’s, especially someone you don’t know on the internet.
The internet can be an incredible tool for research, advice, tips, and more, but do not allow yourself to begin comparing!
We all start somewhere and even coming across this blog post is somewhere.
You got this! Let’s finish this year how we want to! Let’s accomplish our financial goals, and go into the new year feeling relieved.
Finally, you can review my other finance related blogs here!
