Properly designed, your financial goals should provide motivation to help you control spending. Keep these tips in mind when developing financial goals:
- Set exciting goals. Your goals should keep you motivated to reduce spending and save for the future. Whenever you're tempted to abandon that goal, visualize what you're saving for.
- State your goals in measurable terms. Quantify your ultimate goals as well as interim goals so you can track your progress. If you need $500,000 in 20 years, how much should you have accumulated after one year, five years, or 10 years?
- Prioritize your goals. If you have more than one goal, you may not have the resources to pursue them all at the same time. Prioritize your goals so you can work toward those most important to you.
- Reward yourself when you make progress toward your goals. To maintain your commitment to goals that can take years to achieve, reward yourself when you reach interim goals.