Financial goal planning can seem complicated to some, especially if you need help figuring out where to start. It’s almost a cultural norm these days to set New Year’s resolutions, so why not take advantage of that by setting financial goals for yourself?
With 2023 coming, it’s a great time to sit down and take a look at your finances and begin developing your financial goals for 2023.
Take A Look At Your Short-Term Goals
It’s important not to make your 2023 financial goals complicated or hard to achieve. This will only discourage you from starting and sticking to your financial plan.
Short-term financial goals, to begin with, are more manageable and will give you the confidence you need to reach your long-term financial goals.
Short-Term Financial Goals To Start With
There are a variety of different short-term financial goals. Of course, those choices would apply to your current financial status. Here are some short-term financial goal examples. They are:
1. Identifying Your Current Financial Situation
Sit down and take a look at your current financial situation. Determine where you would like to be in five, ten, or fifteen years. This is a critical step in your financial goal planning. Make a list of all of your financial debt obligations and their balances.
2. Create a Budget As Part of Your Financial Goals For 2023
I realize that when you hear the word “budget,” you automatically stress out! But trust me, it’s not as hard as it seems to create a budget that works for you. Without a budget, you will not be successful when trying to reach your financial goals.
Do not feel that your first budget attempt must be successful. You will make mistakes, and that’s okay. If you learn from those mistakes, it will make your next budget creation attempt successful.
And to help you create your budget, I have a free Budget Starter Kit that is simple to use and will help guide you through the budgeting process. You can download it at the end of this post!
3. Paying Off One Debt At A Time
Choose the credit card with the smallest balance if you have more than one credit card. Create a goal by making an extra monthly payment or even five to ten dollars. Work until you have paid off the credit card, and then begin working on another. Once your credit cards are paid off, start on another debt.
In order to help you create a plan for paying off your debt, you can download my free Debt Snowball Worksheet which will help you get started!
4. Create A Savings Plan
Creating a savings plan is another way to build your financial security. An excellent way to start saving is by trimming unnecessary spending habits. Eating out, buying a coffee daily, or even shopping with a list can save you money every month! Take the money you would spend on these unnecessary spending habits and put it into a savings account or a jar. You can read 14 Steps To Trim Unnecessary Spending for more ways to stop overspending.
5. Listen To A Financial/Budget Podcast
Listening to other people’s experiences when creating their financial goals is imperative. It gives you a sense of hope and lets you know that you are not alone. From tips to help you reach your financial goals to struggles, others have experienced trying to achieve them. You could hear just one tidbit of information that could change your life!
In my podcast, The Money Mindset Podcast, we have guest speakers who share life-changing stories that can motivate you to reach those goals! We also have episodes that give tips on budgeting, saving, and advice to help you pay off debt fast and live the life you have always wanted.
What to Focus On in 2023
The simple answer is to focus on what financial goals will benefit you and your family. But there are a few things that might be more universal. Let’s cover a few of those now:
- Focus on where you are now and where you would like to be regarding your finances.
- Keep an eye on the significant financial goal or picture (where you want to be in ten years).
- Look at what you need to do to get there and do it!
- Take the steps and actions needed to reach your financial goals.
Stay Focused and Positive
Focus on the positive vibes that come from any of the financial goals you have achieved! Don’t let your mistakes cause you to stop trying to achieve financial success, but learn from them. Every goal you reach will help you get to the next goal and the next.
Don’t let someone else negatively impact the financial goals that you have set. This can cause stress and can divert your attention away from your primary financial goals for the future.
Staying Positive To Help Reach Your Financial Goals For 2023
Remember to stay positive. Approach your financial goals with positivity, and you will start to feel empowered and confident. This will allow you to be more active and engaged when reaching goals.
Your positive mindset will give you the confidence to want to do more and be more involved with how things are going after you achieve a goal. You are likely also to strive to take action and do something. Positive mindsets lead you to want to be motivated.
Focus on the things that you can control and that you have control over. Often, we focus on things that we can’t control.
Concentrating on the things that we can control can improve our mindsets drastically. And this can also shift our focus to things we can do to change or improve the situations we may experience.
Don’t stress if something unexpected happens and causes you to go off track; this is to be expected.
Most importantly, don’t forget what is important to you and your future financial goals. Keep your goal a priority. Write your goals on a sticky note and hang them in places you are likely to see regularly, your bathroom mirror, the fridge door, etc.
These reminders will keep you focused on the thing that you would like to achieve and helps to serve as a reminder. A reminder is critical when trying to achieve your financial goals.
It’s imperative to know that financial goal planning is not as simple as sitting down and creating a goal; it works as an entire system. It is a system that involves reminding yourself of what your goals are and the plans you have to achieve them and taking the necessary action to work towards them.
What financial goals do you have set for yourself in 2023?
