How To Set Effective SMART Financial Goals

Q1: How to set effective SMART financial goals

A1: Remembering the acronym WEALTH-BUILDING, and following the guidance offered by Bargeld Financial’s WEALTH-BUILDING approach would set you on a course to creating, using, and benefiting from, effective SMART financial goals.

W — Write down your financial aspirations, paying attention to prioritizing most urgent and most important goals:

Clearly identify your goals, and document the things you would like to attain and maintain. For example, clearly state whether your goals entail the following:

i. Saving for retirement

ii. Creating an emergency fun

iii. Paying off debt

iv. Making a large purchase

v. Decreasing your taxes through advanced tax planning and tax optimization, etc.

Remember that… the more defined your goals are… the more attainable these goals become.

E — Establish specific goals relating to your financial aspirations and priorities:

This means defining exactly the things you would like to accomplish. For example, with prioritizing ‘Saving for Retirement,’ be clear on the fact that, I want to maximize my annual ‘Traditional IRA’ contribution.

A — Assign concrete numbers:

Assign concrete values like dollar amounts, percentages and/or contribution levels, so that you can more easily track your progress towards your goals. For example, make clear that you would like to max out your Traditional IRA contribution of $7,000 for someone who does not qualify for the extra $1,000 catch-up contribution.

L — Link the goal to your broader financial plan:

Ensure each goal supports your overall long-term financial strategies and overall financial priorities, such as retiring debt, attaining and maintaining tax optimality and/or maintaining overall financial balance.

T — Time-bound the objective:

Set a clear deadline for every item on your goals list.

Example: Reducing high interest debt by $9,632.19 in a given period.

H — Highlight whether the goal is attainable:

Make sure the goal is realistic based on your current financial position, including your income and your debts. For example, do not set a goal of tax optimality saving you $125,000 a year, if your reportable income is less than $60,000. Such goal, in this context, is a mathematical impossibility.

B — Break each goal into measurable milestones:

Divide each goal into smaller, manageable tasks. Create time-horizons for completing each task. Time horizons can, for example, be broken down as follows:

i. Immediate Run (within the next three months)

ii. Short Run (in 3 to 12 months)

iii. Medium Run (within a year to five years)

iv. Long Run (within a generation, or in approximately 25 to 30 years)

v. Über Long Run (time horizons exceeding a generation)

U — Understand your current financial position:

Periodically review core elements of your financial position, including

i. Income

ii. Savings

iii. Investments

iv. Other tangible and intangible assets

v. Expenses

vi. Debts, etc.

I — Implement an action plan:

Define and refine concrete actions you can take to improve your financial situation. Actions may include automating savings, automating investment account deposits, automating debt-reduction payments, attaining tax optimality through advanced tax planning, engaging specific educational initiatives to support upskilling and expansion of income streams, etc.

L — Log all goals-related activities, and track your progress:

Monitor your progress periodically to visualize your aspired financial balance in relation to your current financial position. Periodic goals monitoring can be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Remember that, the shorter the monitoring period… the more control you have over course-correcting on your journey to financial balance.

D — Determine Required Periodic Contributions:

Determine how much money you must save weekly, biweekly, monthly or annually to attain your goal. And, most importantly, do your best to abide by your determined savings contributions.

I — Identify potential obstacles and risks:

See where your plan is weakest, and take action to build some flexibility into your plan. For example, avoid earmarking an end-of-year non-guaranteed job bonus for your minimum investment and/or debt-repayment contribution(s). Instead, adjust your monthly budget to advance some portions of your minimum contributions, so that failure to receive a promised bonus would not catastrophize your financial plan.

N — Normalize Reviewing and Adjusting Your Goals:

Regularly revisit and review your goals, so that you maintain a heightened sense of awareness, which would allow you schnell reaction to any errors and/or misdirection on your financial journey. Ideally, review your goals at least quarterly.

G — Grow your contributions over time:

Increase your savings and retirement contribution to keep pace with you rising income, so that you can take full advantage of the power of compounding.

Remember that a cardinal goal of financial planning is benefitting from “the power of compounding.” Whichever side of saving and consumption on which you are—vis-à-vis saving and investing or paying-off debt—understanding the effect of compounding would help you manage risk and set you on a path to financial balance.

According to Albert Einstein, “[…Compound interest may be the eighth wonder of the world… He who understands it earns it… he who does not, pays it…].” In a closed economic system, such as that which exists in every society on earth, every member of society is invested in the market. People who reject this premise and, consequently, refuse investing, directly or indirectly pay the gains of those who invest!

WEALTH-BUILDING takes planning, strategy-implementation and time. As a fiduciary adviser, Bargeld Financial’s client-needs-centered financial planning and investment management will give you the tools to help you reach your financial goals. Reach out to Bargeld Financial to start, or continue, the conversation about your journey to financial flexibility and financial balance.