Long term goals are often the hardest goals to follow through on. Saving for a long term financial goal is possible but often associated with stress. Financial disasters can strike unexpectedly and throw off progress. Knowing how to stay on track for your long term financial goals can help you ultimately achieve them. However, if a financial disaster has led you to bankruptcy, talk to a Chattanooga bankruptcy attorney for guidance.
HOW TO SET LONG TERM FINANCIAL GOALS
To set long term financial goals, you need to know what makes these different from short and mid-term goals. Short-term goals take less than a year to complete. Mid-term goals take 1 to 5 years. Long term goals can take over five years to achieve.
Now that you know what a long term financial goal looks like, you need to know how to create one. The best way to create any goal is to make sure the goal is practical. Setting a long term financial goal to become rich may not be as effective as setting a long term goal to build wealth to live comfortably later in life.
You can make your goals practical by following the SMART goals technique. Make your goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. This means you want your goal to be detailed enough to let you know:
- What practical steps will lead to your goal
- When your goal will be accomplished
- What it will take to achieve your goal
- A timeline for accomplishing this goal
When it comes to achieving long term goals, the more time you have the better. Unless you are required to have a certain amount of money by a certain time period, there is no rush. There are several examples of long term financial goals that could take over ten years to build up to:
- Retirement
- Life insurance
- Building wealth
- Paying off all debt
- Investing in real estate or stocks
SAVING MONEY FOR LONG TERM GOALS
When it comes to saving money for financial goals, this might be the most daunting part for many people. Saving money is not something everyone looks forward to. This is why having a strong motivation for your long term goals is so vital. Ask yourself why you want these financial goals to come true and list the benefits of their completion.
You can build your motivation by visualizing the accomplishment of your long term financial goals. Place time stamps on each step that builds on your long term goal. Check off each timestamp as you accomplish each step to maintain motivation. Create a vision board of what these goals will look like as a reminder.
The more you can automate these steps, the better. Set up automatic monetary transactions with your bank or job.
BANKRUPTCY LAWYER IN CHATTANOOGA, TN
You may not have to deal with bankruptcy alone. Feel free to contact us at Tom Bible Law by dialing (423) 690-7712 for a consultation today about your financial situation. Our legal team of Tennessee bankruptcy lawyers can work with you to figure out your bankruptcy options. We serve clients in the Tennessee cities of Chattanooga and Tullahoma.