Setting Financial Goals – Personal Financial Goals and Objectives Examples
The first thing when setting financial goals automatically should be an emergency savings plan fund designed to cover six months’ worth of living expenses. Make sure it’s enough to cover any emergencies—like a job loss, car repair, medical or dental expense, or natural disaster. This way, you won’t have to tap those high-cost credit cards crisis! Plus, if you have any investments, you won’t be forced to cash them out when they’re down in value. Other goals might include saving for major purchases and expenses, such as buying a new car or funding your child’s education.
Draw up a list of all your important financial goals, and indicate on that list when you want to achieve each financial goals and objectives and what it will cost. Table below shows an example of how your list of goals should look.
| Item Desired | When ( Years to Save) | What It Costs |
| Emergency fund | 3 years | $15,000 |
| An LCD TV | 1 year | $1,000 |
| Living room furniture | 1 1/2 to 2 years | $3,000 |
| Car down payment | 3 years | $2,200 |
| A dream vacation | 4 years | $2,500 |
| Retirement | 30 years | $612,500 |
Use an online search engine, such as Google, to help you nail down financial costs. Online calculators that also can help calculate costs are available at the following websites:
• www.collegeboard.com (click Pay for College after initially entering the site as either a parent or a student)
• www.practicalmoneyskills.com
Websites with calculators that can help you manage your goals and determine how much you’ll need to save money each month to reach each goal include the following:
• alaskaadvantage.state.ak.us/calc/savings.html
• www.choosetosave.org
• www.bankrate.com
• www.myfico.com
• www.finance.cch.com
Don’t have access to a computer? No problem. Just turn to old-fashioned pencil and paper.