Top 7 Financial Goals for Personal Wellness
Too often, we see financial success as a vaguely defined “finish line” of some sort. It’s as if we expect to wake up one morning, take stock of our lives, and realize that we’ve “made it.” We’ve accomplished all the things! Time to relax and feel smug.
The alternative, in this mindset, is that we simply keep struggling until we die. So that’s pretty depressing.
If you're not sure where you're going, how will you know when you get there?
I’m sure someone said that once. If not, I said it just now – feel free to quote me.
Top 7 Financial Goals for Personal Wellness
The reality of our personal financial goals for personal wellness isn’t nearly so binary. Like so many things, it’s all about sliding scales of relative success. You’ve no doubt noticed that when it comes to money, there’s no top dollar amount that makes someone “happy.” At the same time, we can all probably agree that not having enough money to take care of certain basic things is… unpleasant. It’s at the very least grossly inconvenient.
what the experts say
You may remember a 2010 Princeton study in which it was determined that happiness does increase with wealth, but only up to about $75,000 per year. After that, more money has little correlation with more happiness. We all know these studies work in averages and generalities. You probably know at least one person making half that amount who’s constantly glowing with joy. We certainly see endless examples of folks in the U.S. with hundreds of times that amount who radiate insecurity and desperation.
Still, it’s an interesting idea – that we need SOME level of financial resources to feel content, but it doesn’t have to be as much as most of us had assumed. Since that particular study, further research suggests part of the equation isn’t how much we make as it is related factors:
“The number is less relevant than how you earned it and what you’re doing with it,” Robert Frank, host of CNBC’s “Secret Lives of the Super Rich,” told Town & Country.
Rachel Sherman, a professor of sociology at the New School and author of “Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence,” agreed. “I think what my research shows is people can have exactly the same amount of money and feel totally different about whether it’s enough for what they want to buy and enough to feel secure,” she says.
It seems that, to a certain extent, money quells financial fears and allows for increased satisfaction in life… at the end of the day, money can only do so much.
So how do we "quell" some of those "financial fears" and reach for that "increased satisfaction"?
#1 Adjust Your Money Mindset
It turns out that spending money on helping others and on creating experiences for ourselves or with loved ones rather than buying stuff, contributes far more to personal fulfillment than our net worth. None of this should be a huge surprise – as a culture we talk a good game about such things, even if we don’t always live them out in real life. It does seem, however, like we should have been paying more attention to the weekly financial goals for personal wellness learned on Full House or the Hallmark Channel. Who knew?
However you choose to use your money, and whatever dollar amount you consider “enough,” the reality is that you still need a plan to get there. Early in life that probably includes getting the right education, pursuing a career about which you’re able to feel passionate, or simply avoiding reckless behavior.
As an adult, however, we have to start looking a bit further into the future. We begin to realize that financial security is a big part of our overall peace of mind. Although there’s no point at which we’ve “arrived,” there are some general goals we can keep in mind to help nudge us up that sliding scale of relative success. Just by recognizing the role financial planning plays in our bigger picture, we’re making progress.
#2 Maintain an Effective Household Budget
Crafting a useful monthly budget is a goal; maintaining it is an ongoing process. Unless you know precisely how much you bring in each month and where it all goes, you can’t make reasonable decisions about your financial journey going forward. All of your other financial goals for personal wellness start with this one.
A budget isn’t something you can throw together one Saturday morning and forget about it. If you don’t already have a spreadsheet or other fairly detailed record of your total income and spending, that’s where it starts.
First, your income. This usually means your paychecks and any additional take-home by anyone who contributes to your household. If your pay varies from month to month, or if you own your own business or have additional income from other sources, you may need to look at past months in order to accurately anticipate the future.
Now that you know how much money comes in, where does it all go? For many of us, the first time we try to account for our spending doesn’t go so well. House payment, car payment, groceries, utilities… but where did the rest of it end up? Oh yeah – there was that one thing we bought and the night we took the kids to eat. Now if we could just figure out where the rest of our monthly income mysteriously disappeared.
Remember that the goal isn’t to make you feel bad about how you spend your own money. An effective budget starts with clarification – then you start evaluating and making adjustments. The first step in reaching our financial goals for personal wellness is to know where we are and what we’re doing. Only then can we start to figure out how to get wherever it is we want to be. It will probably involve creating some better spending habits and making some tough choices. It will absolutely involve maintaining or building a good credit history and strong credit score. It also gets easier the more we do it. And like doing your homework or watching your weight, as we start noticing the results it quickly becomes worth it.
#3 Keep Your Debt Manageable
Modern American life offers much to be stressed about. It’s rather ironic, given that the comforts and conveniences available to those of us with even a modest middle class lifestyle surpass all but the most privileged of history’s cast of characters.
At the same time, we’re paying for it all – and in more ways than one. They say money can’t buy happiness, but the lack of it doesn’t do much for bringing on the good times, either. Debt, in particular, can quite literally impact our physical and emotional health.
Some debt may be necessary to maintain a typical American lifestyle. Most of us finance our vehicles, and very few of us pay cash for our homes. I’m personally not all that horrified by a few credit cards or other monthly obligations, as long as it all stays within reasonable limits. If paying off your debt seems a bit daunting, perhaps you’ll find it more helpful to think in terms of keeping that debt manageable.
Doing this begins with that budget we just mentioned above. And, much like a budget, getting our debt under control is a goal; keeping it manageable is a process. You may be noticing a theme. Many of our financial goals for personal wellness aren’t about hitting a target and calling it a day; they’re about maintaining a financial lifestyle that leads to less short-term stress and greater long-term happiness.
Reduce your monthly spending. Pay down those credit cards and stop using them so often. Look into refinancing your home or automobile – it might save you more than you think. Consider bill consolidation at a better interest rate. Start doing those little things that add up. Take your lunch to work more often. Shave those utility bills and renegotiate your cable TV package and cell phone plan. Dig out that old comic collection or those collectors plates you never seem to look at and sell them to someone who’ll enjoy them; use that money to pay something off.
Take Care of Your Financial Goals. Visit the Goalry Mall
It’s not about denying ourselves everything that makes life worth living just so we have plenty tucked away when we die; it’s about giving ourselves enough financial clout to do the things we really want to do. It’s about doing more with your time and resources while you’re here, whatever that means to you specifically.
#4 Start a Savings Account
You probably know what I’m going to say on this one. The number one reason many of us don’t contribute regularly to savings is that we don’t think we have enough “left over” each month for it to matter. That’s the wrong approach, however. You don’t follow your monthly budget, pay your essential bills, then put whatever’s “left over” in savings. Your monthly savings should be PART of your budget! They ARE one of your essential bills!
You know the next part as well, but I’ll say it anyway because sometimes those are the things we most need to hear.
Even if you can only contribute $20 a month to a savings account, you should be doing it. Maybe in six months, you double that. When you have that garage sale in the spring, put whatever you make – whether it’s $50 or $500 – in savings. When you get an unexpected refund for something or cash for Christmas, put at least half of it in savings.
What difference is a modest savings account going to make? How does it contribute to your financial goals for personal wellness? I’m glad you asked.
First, it’s just good financial practice. You should always have a plan for some sort of savings. Eventually, we want some of that to be invested in some productive way – but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Second, savings act as an emergency fund. When you’re confronted with emergency medical expenses, or unexpected repairs which simply must be made, or other of life’s wicked little twists, you now have one more option than you did before. Having money in savings doesn’t prevent all of our problems, but it means we might be able to pay for some of them without going into further debt. It allows us to keep a little more focus on the important things in our lives.
Finally, even a small savings account reduces stress. We know we have a safety net – something to break our fall if anything goes wrong. Or, if we want to frame it in a more positive light, savings give us more options going forward. Either way, less stress means better health and more happiness. It should be one of our easiest financial goals for personal wellness to begin and maintain.
#5 Have a Plan for Retirement
Most of us at some point have sat down with someone from HR or with a rep from a financial organization chosen by our employer to fill out some forms and check some boxes and figure out what sort of life insurance we want, whether or not we need accident coverage, and probably how much we want to contribute to… something above and beyond whatever our employer already pays on our behalf.
That’s an excellent start, but you should take a few moments to revisit those options and where they’re taking you if things continue along the current track. Most Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement, and there’s a good chance a whole bunch of us are going to find ourselves in very stressful and uncertain circumstances at about the same time in 20 – 30 years.
Keep your impoverished hands off my artificially flavored gelatin cup!
Start by going through whatever paperwork they sent you home with and write down whatever questions you have. Look at your various options, keeping in mind that some might travel with you while others go away if you leave that employer. Don’t be afraid to schedule a sit-down with HR or that rep from the financial company and ask your questions. Lay out your situation and ask about your options. You’re not bothering them – this is what they do.
Whether you’re 25 or 52, the time to make sure you have a plan for retirement is now. This is probably the most obvious of any American’s financial goals for personal wellness, so no excuses! Whether you’re relying on a 401(k), IRA, or your own investments in stocks, mutual funds, or other options, knowing you’ve improved your odds of a comfortable conclusion to your time on this troubled earth will go a long way towards reducing your stress and increasing your enjoyment now.
Speaking of which…
#6 Learn to Invest
Financial security in the 21st century means at least some investments beyond your checking and savings accounts. Even if you have what seems like a pretty nice retirement set-up through your employer, it’s a good idea to have a few options outside of that.
You’ve probably noticed that local economies are stronger if they have a variety of industries, European royalty might have lasted longer if they’d brought in some outside DNA more often. And there’s a degree of security in financial diversity, especially when it comes to your financial goals for personal wellness.
If you think that investing’s not for you because you don’t have enough money, that’s backwards! You don’t have to go full Wall Street Wonder-Mogul or risk your life savings – in fact, I would strongly discourage that. But you should make a specific effort to learn a little bit about different sorts of IRAs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, or CDs. Not all of it – not all at once, at least – but some of it. Then, after doing a little homework, wade in slowly but confidently.
This brings us to…
#7 Keep Learning
We started this list with self-awareness and a mindset towards wealth in all its many forms. We’ll conclude it with something similar.
One of the most effective financial goals for personal wellness you can adopt is also one of the easiest. Educate yourself. Stay focused on your financial options and the language of that world. Don’t let it take you over – you don’t want to become one of THOSE people – but spend a little time each week reading blogs like this one or any of the other reputable financial websites out there. There is, if you’ll pardon the pun, a wealth of information out there, if only we’d take advantage of it.
Final Thoughts
Knowledge is power, and while reaching your financial goals for personal wellness may be an ongoing process, so is learning. More importantly, so is enjoying your financial journey.
Let us know if we can help along the way.