Financial Goals - Foundation for Individual's Financial Plan - English

Saving money to buy something is a tale as obsolete as time. If your focus is only on savings, it will not help you achieve your financial goals – be it short-term or long-term. Proper goal setting, planning and managing personal finances is significant to achieve big and small goals. Besides, investment is also necessary, along with savings to fulfil your dreams and aspirations.

The story illustrates the importance of personal financial planning by making smaller achievable goals as a priority, and these goals can be stepping stone for long-term goals.

• Short term goals are something you want to fulfil in the near future. It can be in a month, a year or a maximum of two years. Examples include increasing your income, eliminating debt, building up savings, buying a new gadget etc.

• Long-term goals are the ones that you want to achieve in the future. Such aspirations require time and proper financial planning. It usually takes more than two or five years, for instance, buying a house, starting a business or setting aside a corpus for the golden years.

Prioritising is crucial to determine what is important for you now. It’s impossible to accomplish all the goals at once. Choose a goal based on priority and work towards it. You can include additional goals as you become comfortable with your efforts. Change your focus as life changes.