Whilst it does factor into a huge part of our lives, not everything in this world is about finance. Sometimes it is important to remember that life is for enjoying and experiencing, and money merely facilitates that.

Living for the moment and acting spontaneously can be exhilarating but it can also be extremely detrimental to your budget. Planning ahead using financial guidance allows you to visualise a long-term goal of happiness and contentment without the stressful question of affordance.

It’s important to think hard about what you really want. If money were taken out of the equation, what would you do with your time? It may be important that you travel, spend time with your family, visit historical places or read well and often. What do you really desire? What do you dream about?

There is a great difference between dreams and goals. A dream can be conjured up in a moment on a distant whim; a goal must be acted upon. Goals have deadlines and checkpoints. Think about what you dream bout and find a way to translate those dreams into a goal. Where dreams occupy your mind and give you moments of contentment, goals take over your life with excitement and vitality. Dreams are free, goals cost money.

D.H Lawrence once said- “Men are not free when they’re doing just what they like. Men are only free when they’re doing what the deepest self likes. And there is getting down to the deepest self! It takes some diving.” One of the hardest things about starting a new journey is figuring out where you want to go. This is an entirely personal search, one that cannot be influenced by an article, a book or a website. Look around you and decide what satisfies you, what drains your energy, what you want more of and what you can do without. These little moments of analysis will help you on your path.

Once you’ve identified your goal, you can begin planning your life around achieving it. The next step is to break down your ideal lifestyle into smaller goals or ‘checkpoints.’ Financial planning comes into play here, but it’s important to remember that its only purpose is to ensure that you have every resource you need for your journey. A handy mnemonic that is often used in these situations is SMART.

Specific – Try to be as accurate and detailed as possible when outlining your goals or ‘checkpoints.’ The more clarity you have the better- how much will this cost me? How can I accomplish this goal?

Measurable – The easier it is to measure your success, the more accomplishment you will feel. For example rather than saying “I’d like to exercise more”, a better phrasing could be “I will run twice a week.” The same measurable planning can be applied to the financing of your adventure.

Attainable – It is important to be as realistic and honest as possible about your goals. If your aim is to commit to more charity work it would be more beneficial to say “I am going to volunteer at the homeless shelter once a week” than “I intend to become this year’s Mother Theresa.” However, don’t simplify your aims and create easy goals, merely make them more feasible.

Relevant – Are your goals and ‘checkpoints’ relevant and necessary to the bigger picture of what you’d like to accomplish? It’s important to focus your energy purely on what you’re striving for and keep your ideal lifestyle in mind.

Time-bound – What are the time constraints surrounding your goal? It would be useful to list specific dates of when you expect to reach each ‘checkpoint’ to ensure you stay on track. This will also help you manage the money needed for your endeavour as you’ll have broken down each need and necessity by its date and development.

The final piece of advice when planning your life goals and future ideal lifestyle is to give yourself a break. Nothing happens overnight and it is important to keep focused on what you truly want and deserve from life. Chip Wilson (founder of lululemon) once said- “I had no idea, but I realised that probably thirty to forty percent of my brainpower was taken up with the questions that I couldn’t answer- because I had no direction. When I got clear on exactly where I wanted to go, and set the goals to get there, my mind calmed down.” Achieving your goal is difficult but when you realise that you can live without limitations, you can achieve anything.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding financial planning and thinking about the future. You can call us today on 01993 772467 and you can also get in touch online.