A fresh new year is a good time to set some big goals for yourself.By starting the year with compelling goals, you create a picture in your head of where you want to head and why. And there’s a lot of energy in that.But just as important to your success is your ‘how’.Say (for example) your goal is to lose 5 kilos. Your motivation (or your ‘why’) might be to feel healthier so you can run around easily with the kids (or grandkids), or so you can look your best at an upcoming event.How you achieve this might be by doing 30 minutes of exercise every day and limiting your kilojoule intake to 6,000 per day. Or if you wear a step-counter, maybe it will be by walking at least 15,000 steps a day and cutting out that muffin at morning tea.These actions are your ‘process’ that if followed consistently, become the surest path to bringing your goal to life.And what’s good about a process is that it breaks a goal into smaller steps. Your goal becomes less formidable and frankly, far more doable. It’s also more likely to become embedded as a habit, so its effect can be felt much longer.Finally, a process also creates a basis for accountability. It’s easy to objectively assess whether you did what you had to do – or not.In short, without action, your goal simply remains a wish. Or in other words, your ‘why’ is not much use without its ‘how’.With a sound process in place for how you will achieve your goal – and the willingness to stick to it – your success can become inevitable.
It’s fair to say that many goals in life have a financial aspect to them.Perhaps you want to travel to Europe for a month-long holiday next year? This goal may require you to grow your savings by $24,000 to comfortably provide for this.One way you could get there is by setting up an automatic debit to transfer $2,000 per month into an account that’s specifically set aside for this purpose – and that you don’t touch for anything else.Having a process to make the savings happen automatically gives you less ‘wriggle room’ to waiver. And month by month, your goal becomes closer to reality.This is a simple example, and if you meet with one of our financial advisers, they may be able to identify other ways for you to create the funds needed for your travels (perhaps through tax savings or low-cost investment strategies, to name just a couple of possible pathways.)
When you come to see us for the first time, we begin by getting to the heart of the goals you want to achieve in your life. You may already be clear about this, or we can help you figure it out. Examples include:
Next we look at what financial resources you have and how we can improve your ‘financial infrastructure’ in a way that will support you in achieving your goals in your desired timeframe.We weigh up a variety of strategies (using financial modelling) to identify what we regard as the best way for you to proceed. Typically, this involves a number of elements such as reviewing investments, finance, superannuation, tax, insurance, estate planning and more.Our recommendations are tied directly to your goals, and we create a visual presentation explaining how they will help take you from where you are now, to where you want to be.If you are happy to proceed, we can assist by implementing many aspects of your customised financial strategy on your behalf. You also gain ongoing access to your financial adviser so you can check in as required and run any important financial decisions by them. You’ll also meet annually with your financial adviser for a full review of your strategy and progress.In summary, we can help you figure out your ‘why’ and your ‘how’ regarding making your goals happen.Feel free to contact me to discuss your requirements and/or to schedule an initial free consultation with one of our financial advisers.