Have You Set Your Financial Goals for the New Year?

A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. (Wikipedia) See the words in italics. It all sounds formidable and somewhat negative. Reform my habits and change my lifestyle? The magnitude of that gives grave pause before embarking on that course of action.

The low success statistics associated with resolution fulfillment confirm that we don’t react well to negatively oriented, major changes in our lives. 

Resolutions vs. Goals

A resolution is a statement of intent to change or correct an activity.

A goal, by contrast, is the visualization and statement of how you want to be. 

They are quite different in the framing and thus impact the way in which you react to a goal vs. a resolution.

A resolution is often negative in nature, e.g., quit smoking, lose weight or to the point of this article, get better control over your finances.  It involves painful change and sacrifice.

By contrast a goal is aspirational and leads you forward in a spirit of positive accomplishment.  The actions necessary to achieve your desired goal seem worth the effort.

Consider, for example, the health benefits associated with quitting cigarette smoking. Only a minority of those who try to quit are successful when based on the negative motivation of avoiding disease. But the odds of success go up dramatically when the focus becomes a positive goal.

Decades ago, when the adverse health effects of cigarettes became part of our national consciousness, I decided to quit smoking. Like Mark Twain, I was able to quit many times but for only a few days, and I eventually recognized that I was acting on the wrong motivation and imagery. The specter of future diseases paled in comparison to the current pain of withdrawal symptoms – and they are very real.

It was only when I switched to positive motivation that I successfully and permanently quit cigarettes. I saw myself playing with my small children without becoming tired. I saw myself attending their weddings and their children’s school graduations. I saw myself physically fit. I felt empowered to overcome the current pain for that visualized gain.

So, we can’t move away from habits, but we do inexorably gravitate toward the benefits associated with positive change. Goals work and resolutions do not.

This applies to all areas of our life.  Let’s look now to our finances where we may forsake resolutions and instead set goals for ourselves that are positive in nature and thusly motivating rather than inhibiting.

Examples:

It is not just wordplay. The reframing from painful and disruptive change to positive expectation allows for possibility thinking. It acknowledges our natural human tendency toward the positive and acts as a powerful motivator.

Your goals are unique to you

Now what are your lifegoals and what are your financial goals that will enable your lifegoals? Develop them clearly in your mind as positive achievements. We do become what we think about.

The most shared goals are education of children and retirement security.  But there are as many goals as there are people and often more, as many of us have several life goals. All are valid, but until you treat them as attainable goals, complete with action steps toward achievement, it is simply wishful thinking.

So, first settle on your life’s goals. Adopt them in concert with those who share your life. Then set them up as the result of your concrete efforts. That goal attraction will pull you through the short-term pain associated with change and toward that sense of your desired state of being.

The next step is to quantify them into concrete objectives that can be achieved in bite-sized portions. Work with your financial advisor at Fragasso to create evaluative schedules and investment management strategies that will demonstrate the achievement of those life goals as actionable steps moving toward your unique goals. Together we will measure your progress and celebrate your victories.

Once you willingly change the behaviors and take the positive steps toward the achievement of your unique goals, you will be surprised that it will cause little or no pain because you desire the result.

So, this January, skip the resolutions and create the goals and imagery that put you in possession of the life that you want. Your actions will naturally follow. Then get with your financial advisor at Fragasso to create the schedules, outline the action steps and structure your personal, retirement plan and education funding portfolios to conform.

As the ancient admonition goes, If not now, when? Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Make it the life you envision.