The Problem With Murky Financial Planning Goals

Are your financial goals “murky”? Are you simply borrowing goals from others because they sound good? Don’t fret, this is a very common malady. The problem is that it’s difficult to garner the motivation needed to follow through and take action steps for goals that aren’t personally meaningful to you.

When your goals are clear, decisions are easy. When they’re “murky”, they’re hard.

Does Your Financial Strategy Match Your Goals?

I’m no longer surprised when clients ask us about some investment idea or financial strategy that clearly doesn’t fit their stated goals. Oftentimes, when we remind them of these goals and then juxtapose the investment in question, the answer is clear.

Unless you have specific and crystal clear goals, you’ll just bounce around like a jellyfish in the ocean.

Ultimately, your goals should be an expression of what matters most to you. Not what matters most to your best friend, neighbor, or work colleague. Goals allow you to visualize how to bridge the gap between your current reality and your desired future.

A related issue is when spouses have competing goals. The immutable laws of physics won’t allow you to go in opposite directions at the same time. Eventually, you and your spouse need to settle on a common set of goals. Because everyone has different life experiences and built-in biases, reaching a common path can be hard work.

Your Financial Goals May Change Over Time

Your financial plan should create a flexible path for achieving your most important goals. Once the broad outline is in place, you can make adjustments as your priorities change.

Don’t get fixated on the reality that your occasional financial planning tweaks may differ somewhat from what your original financial plan outlined. Just like a basketball or football coach making halftime adjustments, you should be willing to pivot when needed based on changing circumstances.

Over time, it’s not uncommon for your financial planning priorities to change. What used to be the third priority is now first, etc. That’s to be expected, but your continual focus should be on your overall list of specific long-term goals. This specificity is necessary for you to plot saving and investing goals so that you can measure actual progress.

The Real Problem With Unclear Financial Goals

If you just have generalized, “murky” goals, you’re never sure if you’re really making progress. It becomes easy to delude yourself into thinking progress is being made when, in reality, you aren’t moving toward your most important goals.

Perhaps the largest problem of all with “murky” goals is that it wastes valuable time. That is, your productive work life is finite, and therefore, your ability to invest for the future is time-limited. We’ve seen far too many clients arrive here a few years before retirement with nearly impossible saving and investing goals, due to inattention during earlier years.

If you postpone saving, you can’t invest. Without investing, your financial future will be bleak.

When you’re faced with a serious gap between your goals and current reality, risk awareness suffers. That is, you likely end up taking substantial risks to make up for lost time. While this sometimes works, more often it just makes the funding gap worse.

If you have clear goals and priorities that are meaningful to you, it’s much easier to fill in the pieces of the puzzle of life. Start there. Ready for a real conversation?

Disclosure

Apollon Wealth Management, LLC dba J.E. Wilson (Apollon) is an investment advisor registered with the SEC. This document is intended for the exclusive use of clients or prospective clients of Apollon. Any dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. Information provided in this document is for informational and/or educational purposes only and is not, in any way, to be considered investment advice nor a recommendation of any investment product or service. Advice may only be provided after entering into an engagement agreement and providing Apollon with all requested background and account information. Please visit our website https://apollonwealthmanagement.com for other important disclosures.