Financial Goals Assignment
This assignment has made me really give critical thought on my financial goals. Through this, I have had a more definitive experience on where I stand financially. It is needless to say that our financial lives pretty much dictate various aspects of our lives. This situation is made even more significant if one has dependents as then one’s financial goals are then developed with the dependents lives and welfare in mind. Therefore, this assignment has challenged me to really define what exactly my short-term, intermediate and long-term financial goals are. A detailed description of where my financial life stands with respect to the above time-frames is contained in the subsequent paragraphs below.
Short-Term Financial Goals
These are the financial goals that I intend to accomplish within a period of the next 12 months are explained as follows;
1. Finish house repairs in two months;
The house I currently live in, and have for a considerable amount of time now has various issues to deal with its plumbing system. In addition, a section of my house occasionally has a leaking roof. I have received professional advice to completely overhaul the plumbing system in my house as well as replace my roof with a new one. This does not come cheap. However, after saving for some months now, I intend to continue saving according to my plan so that I can have these repairs done in my house by the June this year. These living conditions are a small sacrifice that I am making so that I could invest in the real estate that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I realize that to be successful you have to be willing to make sacrifices.
2. Finish student loan payments by the end of one year from now;
For quite a while now, I have been bugged with the financial nightmares of huge student loans repayments. However, all is in the clear now and if I just faithfully and dutifully make my monthly payments towards clearing my student loan, I might just have it all cleared 12 months from now.
3. Set-up a personal emergency fund by the end of one-year;
I am not one of the best ‘savers’ alive. However, I do realize that I have to set-up an emergency fund to take care of unanticipated incidents that tend to require significant amount of cash to finance. I shall set aside some monthly payments to this fund and after every 3 months, make an Assessment of how-well my emergency fund is coming up. This will also be mandatory, considering the fact that I am a rental property owner.
Intermediate Financial Goals
These are the financial goals I intend to achieve in the next 5 years;
1. Take more control of my clothes’ spending habits by the end of two years;
I am a huge lover of nice coats. I love them exotic, stylish and unique. However, over the past, I have come to the realization that sometimes I spend more than I should on coats and shoes that I like. Therefore, I have to strike a balance between satisfying my love for nice coats, and shoes and abiding by my financial reality. As such, I intend to restrict myself to buying not more than one coat in one month, and later on, allow myself only one new-coat, and a pair of shoes every three months.
2. Save for a car-down payment to buy a Tesla Model S two years from now;
I have always wanted to drive a state-of-the art electric car. Specifically, I have given great thought on getting myself a Tesla Model S. This means that I will have to ensure that I begin saving enough money to allow me to make a car-down payment by the end of two years from now.
3. Clear all my debt in three years
In the spirit of taking better control of my spending habits, I intend to clear all my credit card debt within three years from now. At this time, credit rating score would have improved and I would have developed the will to reduce dependency on credit for personal purchases.
Long-Term Financial Goals
These are my ultimate financial goals;
1. Buy a larger house in 8 years from now;
I envision myself living in a better larger house, large enough to accommodate a larger family. This will require lots of savings and a suitable mortgage, or investment plan. By the sixth year, I should have confidently started looking around for my dream house.
2. Have my own business 10 years from now;
I intend to continue being an employer, running my own real estate business in the future. This business will have a touch on an interest of mine. To get enough investment capital, I shall partly have to make sacrificial devotions of my salary income. In the 10th year, I should have had a physical place to set the ball rolling.
3. Retiring according to my schedule
If all goes according to plan, I intend to retire from active business at the age of 55. This would require that I have a sound pension plan. Also, hopefully, my business would be functional and running by this time so as to guarantee my financial security as I wedge deeper into old age.
