“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
– Lewis Carroll
I’m sure you’ve heard that one before, but it’s possible it didn’t fully sink in.
If you don’t know what you want out of your career, any rudderless job will get you there.
If you don’t know what you want your money to do for you, any expense will get you there.
If you don’t know what your financial goals are, any investment will get you there.
I see it all the time.
People zoom in to “fix the problem” before zooming out to determine what they want the ultimate result to be.
I need to pay for college, so I’ll save as much as I can because I know it will be a lot.
That’s not a financial goal and it will be impossible to calculate how much you need and therefore how much to save.
“Retire early” is a great goal, but is that 45 or 55? Each of those will look very different.
The first step in any goal, but ESPECIALLY with financial goals is to quantify them as best you can.
You don’t need to nail it to the penny, but you need to know things like “45 or 55?” and “state school or Stanford?”
Thankfully, despite being unique little snowflakes, there are only a handful of financial goals we all have.
– Buy a house
– Renovate a house
– Pay for college
– Retire
Figure out the goals WITHIN those goals and you’ll know which road will get you there.
