This is going to be the first post of a series on setting financial goals with your spouse. Most articles on goal setting (including some I’ve written myself on other blogs) go through some basic steps:
- Think about what is important to you
- Define specific goals that are both quantifiable and reachable
- Plan the steps necessary to get there
- Check your progress along the way and make corrections as needed
Walking through this list will get you quite a way down the road toward meeting your goals. In order to keep this post brief, I am going to focus on tips to help you figure out what is important to you.
How Do You Spend Extra Money?
Every time we choose to purchase something, we are putting more value on the item we’re purchasing than something else.
For example, let’s say your after-tax income each month is $3,500. You spend $1,000 on your rent or mortgage, $2,000 on everything else, and save or invest $500.
By paying your rent each month instead of living in your car and putting $1,500 into savings, you are making the (relatively easy) decision that shelter and putting $500 per month into savings is more important than saving $1,500 per month for retirement.
I know this is silly, but it shows that each financial decision we make shows us a little bit about our priorities.
What Do You Talk About?
Those topics you always come back to in conversations may be a hint of what is important to you. Finding patterns in your conversations may help you know your priorities.
Ask Yourself Big-Dream Questions
Ask yourself what you would do if you found out you inherited $1 million from a long-lost relative. Would you pay off debt? Would you buy a home? Would you invest since stocks are at record-low prices right now?
Asking yourself these questions may provide some insight into what you would love to do. If you haven’t started down the path of meeting these dreams, the next blog post will go over how to make your priorities into goals.
Follow this link to the next post in the series (How to Define Specific Financial Goals).
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