Invest Safely: Investing Success - SMART Goal Setting

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Investing Success - SMART Goal Setting - T is for timely

The final step in the SMART goal process is "T"; A SMART goal is Timely.

Setting a timeframe or end date is the last checkpoint for a SMART goal. An end point on your SMART goal gives you a clear target to work towards.

Without a time period, you won't feel any urgency to take action, and therefore you won't commit.

Back in December 2009, when Ed Whitacer became CEO of General Motors, he did not say that GM would pay back its loans. Instead, he said that GM would pay back $6.7 billion in governament loans by June 2010...part of the reason it was not "business as usual" down at "The Tubes" (hat tip to www.Autoextremist.com for coining that term over a decade ago)

Examples of a timely goal can include "within the next week", "for the next three months", "by the end of the year", etc.

Today, we complete our ongoing example. Here are a few ways to make the goal timely:

Save $250 per month by the end of the year (good timeframe if you're working towards a certain level of savings)
Save $250 per month for the next 6 months (good timeframe if you're trying to set aside money consistently)
Save $57.69 per week for the next 12 weeks (good timeframe if you're living paycheck to paycheck)

Choose a timeframe based on your personal financial statements so that your goal is also realistic.

You can also used your personal financial statements to measure your progress, hold yourself accountable, and make changes if necessary.

Saving $3,000 per year has the same end result as saving $250 per month for 12 months. But a monthly timeframe requires more attention and provides you with more chances to be successful!

Hopefully you've found this week's series on goal setting useful for your 2011 investing goals, as well as any other goals you set for yourself.

Good Luck!