In April 2020, I started creating monthly financial goals to accompany my budget to help me stay motivated. There is something about being able to cross out the goals that you have achieved at the end of the month.
The reason creating these goals can be super beneficial is because it gives you something to strive for. When you create a budget, it is easy for that information to become just numbers on a page. By creating these goals you can accomplish by sticking to your budget it switches something in your brain and makes your budget more meaningful and tangible.
Over the past 11 months, I have really come to the understanding that getting your finances in order takes a lot of mental work. It’s not the math that we get stuck on but our emotional relationship with money that causes us to make poor decisions or stay in the same cycle.
The Importance of Creating Financial Goals
By creating financial goals on a monthly basis it gives you a way to give yourself a pat on the back. You will have all of these goals that you accomplished or came close to accomplishing written down that explicitly shows how your budget has helped you make small strides to reaching your overarching goal.
How to Create Financial Goals
For instance, if you want to travel to Africa in the next 10 months and you know that it will cost $2,000 for the overall trip then you will need to save $200 a month. So every month you can write on your monthly goal I need to save $200 for my trip to Africa. Everytime you successful do this check it off on your goal for the month.
And your goals do not have to be specifically tailored to saving money. If you know there are some challenges to reaching that monthly savings goal like eating out. A goal for yourself for that month could be “I am not eating out for this month” or “I will only eat out a max of 3 times or spend a $100 on eating out.
I recommend that you create a max. of 3 goals so that you don’t overwhelm yourself. These goals should be your priority for the month. Anything more is extra.