So How Long Should It Take To Reach My Financial Goals?
Financial Utopia… Who doesn’t like the sound of that? While this may be a worthy goal of anyone who finds themself in the daily grind, it is important to realize that each financial goal we set has a specific timeline. In other words, even when we know what we want, some things don’t happen overnight.
Yahoo’s personal finance section has recently posted an article in which the path to financial utopia is laid out not only in steps and appropriate action but with realistic time frames to give yourself with which to achieve these goals.
For example, the first step is to bring order to financial clutter with a time frame of 35 days. The list is then broken down into weeks:
Week 1: Get Psyched - When you organize your financial paperwork, you’re less likely to miss a bill payment and more likely to know exactly where your money is going, which could help you save.
Week 2: Pay Attention - Jot down in a notebook what you spend for a month. As Bob Goldman, a financial planner in Sausalito, Calif., puts it, the idea is to cut through the “grand amnesia of what happens to your money” after your paycheck lands in your bank account. Can’t bear to record every latte and magazine for four weeks? Do it for one week and multiply each category by four; add in your monthly bills. Then take stock to see where you can cut back.
Week 3: Shred - You don’t need most of the financial paperwork that’s cluttering your life. You can throw out utility bills and credit-card statements within a few months. Hold on to pay stubs only until your W-2 arrives, monthly financial statements until you have year-end ones. Prevent new clutter from forming by opting for online statements from banks or brokerage firms.
The list then continues to reach the 5 week (35 day) point. Bigger goals such as finding a better job are estimated to take some 35 months while even longer-term aspirations (such as saving for retirement) are given periods of 35 years.
I definitely recommend giving the piece a read by clicking here. Sometimes we have goals and we even have an idea of how to set out to achieve them but not giving ourselves proper time to turn them into reality is a definite and often overlooked consideration.
