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It's your future

What Value do you Put on Planning for Retirement?

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We often come across people who know they should be thinking about the future, but are caught up in day-to-day life and not planning for retirement. They cannot see beyond the present and into the future and as such find it hard to comprehend what the future may hold.

Have you ever wondered why it is easier to buy a car than it is to save for retirement?

We know that the second a car rolls off the lot it significantly reduces in value. Compared to that your super is likely to actually increase in value over the life of the vehicle. Why then do people find it easier to buy a car?

Because of immediate gratification – we get something straight away.

After you’ve signed the paperwork and handed over a huge amount of cash, you get to enjoy your Brand New Shiny Car – all for you.

Sure your money is gone, but look at the car…

How do you feel about your shiny new car a month later? Or a year later?

You probably have gotten to the point of washing it once a month (yes, driving through a thunderstorm counts as cleaning), letting the kids eat in the back and you don’t mind if someone gets a bit of dirt on the upholstery. By this time the new car obsession is gone.

You see buying a car might provide satisfaction in the here and now, but it rarely holds value (in our minds and in the marketplace) for more than a year and is it really the best place for your money?

Planning

Planning for retirement

Planning for retirement on the other hand doesn’t usually give you immediate gratification, but it is a prudent place to invest.

We think that if we save a little more and add it to our super we’ll be right when we get to retirement age. But that’s the problem, we think we’ll be alright, but we don’t know.

With a new car purchase, we know exactly what we are getting and receive our car as soon as we hand over some cash. We have certainty. But with retirement (being so far into the future) we have no idea what our retirement will look like.

So, how do you get the best of both worlds – gratification and certainty?

We approach this by showing you your future financial position using your current situation and alternatives. We make it possible to see what your retirement looks like, 10, 20, 30 years down the track. We do this so that when you make a contribution to your super fund or decide to purchase an investment property, you know that this will ensure you can enjoy a comfortable retirement.

This regular review process allows for us to provide greater certainty to you and hopefully greater peace of mind. It allows for you to draw the connection between depositing funds to super and the benefit you will receive (albeit in the long term future).

Most importantly though, planning for retirement provides a sense of gratification today for making progress towards your long term future prosperity.

financial goals

Financial Goals

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What financial goals will you achieve by 2020?

goals2

dailyfinance.com

Research shows that financially successful people are people who set plans.

A recently conducted survey with the self-made rich found that the more financially successful you are, the greater the likelihood that you’ve set personal financial goals to help you achieve that success.

The data also shows that highly successful entrepreneurs are about three times as likely as ordinary people to write down their goals as a way of motivating themselves to keep achieving.

As the saying goes, “Nothing measured, nothing managed.”

If you don’t set down your financial goals in plain black-and-white, how do you expect to reach them?

Take 10 or 15 minutes to answer these five simple goal-setting questions and you can set a fresh new course for wealth-building in the new year:

  1. “Where do I want to be in 2020?”

Remember 2011? If you’re like me, it seems like just yesterday.

The next 5 years will fly by even faster, so now’s the time to figure out exactly what you want for yourself and your family when you get there.

Whatever net worth goal you choose, staying mindful of that specific number is guaranteed to help you make smarter choices about your partners, customers, and projects in the coming months.

Bet on it.

  1. “What are my annual income goals for the next five years?”

With your net worth goal set for 2020, it’s not so hard to figure out how much money you’ll need to start socking away in the next five years if you really want to get there. Ask yourself what income you’ll need to achieve in each of the next five years to put yourself in position to reach your 2020 financial goals.

On the line below “2020,” write “2019” and so on down to 2016.

Beside each year, write down your target annual income for that year, and your target average monthly income for the year. 

  1. “What are my monthly goals for 2016?”

Now you’ve got your work for the next 12 months.

A set of interim income goals for each month will help you be clear about your priorities right away.

That’s because now you can see, maybe for the first time ever, the direct cause-and-effect relationship between what you choose to do this month and what you’re building toward 5 years from now.

On the next 12 lines down the page, starting with “D” for December, count down the initials of the next twelve months: “D, N, O, S, A, J, J, M, A, M, F, J.” Then put your magic monthly number next to each initial.

4. “Where can I post my goals so I don’t lose sight of them?”

Some of you are lucky enough to attain your dreams without giving much thought to your goals, but most know that the obligations of daily life will always conspire to distract you from the prize.

So if you really want to achieve the 18 important benchmarks you’ve just committed to paper, make sure you don’t put them away, and forget about them.

What do you have posted on the wall at eye level above your workstation?

Whatever it is, even if it’s a picture of your family, move it nine inches to the left, and fill that empty space with your goal sheet! 

  1. “How can I keep raising my game throughout 2016?”

Here’s a New Year’s resolution that might prove to be the most valuable one you’ve ever made.

Resolve to celebrate every great new deal you close this year by redoing this 10-minute exercise.

Every time your business takes a leap forward, every time you find that you’ve exceeded your monthly goal, create a new map of your goals, for next month and the next YEAR.

Write “Resolve, Review, and Revise” at the bottom of your sheet. Each time you write up a new goal sheet, keep lifting your vision of what you can achieve in the coming months. There’s no telling just how happy 2016 will be once you achieve your financial goals!

Article: Biz-e-news