Get it Together and Get it All

Hey, you! I’m just going to get right into it, because time is money, folks.

I want you to outline your goals. I know - it’s deep, but that’s how we do it here on The Money Minute. I like to break these down into Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10 goals. Maybe that sounds crazy to you, but you’re going to have to just trust me on this one.

Then, I fill them in. Which is the fun part, right? When I make this plan for myself I think about my career, where I want to be living, what I want my family to look like and what sort of fun I want to be having. Or, more simply, what I want to be doing, where I want to be doing it and who I want to do it with.

There was a time when I couldn’t answer that question (and let’s be honest, my response is still evolving day to day).

That’s why I like to break that big, difficult question down into the basic components, or what I call the Three F’s: Finance, Family, and Fun.

The Three F’s are so, so important for living the life you want. And while you’re not going to have all of the answers, that doesn’t mean you can’t get a little control by planning out your three F’s.

You might think you know what you want, but do you?

Here are some big picture thought starters for you to see if you really do:

• What do you hope to get out of your career? What’s more important: the money or the work you do?

• If you’re at the beginning of your career now, or even well on your way, what does your job look like in five years? In ten years?

• Do you see yourself settling in one spot and buying your own home someday, or do you imagine a globe-trotting life of travel and adventure?

• Do you see yourself being married? Having kids?

• What do you like to do in your off hours? Alpine skiing every winter, karaoke with friends on Friday nights, or does a monthly book club float your boat? (Maybe doing yoga with baby goats?!)

When I do this, I follow this acronym for goal-setting, SMART, in mind. It’s a little cheesy, but it works. It stands for:

The kicker(s) here are Actionable and Realistic. We want to make sure we’re being honest about that criteria. For example, say that in order to get your dream job, you need to go back to school for a year. Hell yeah. Amazing. I love that for you. Say you do that Year 1, and by Year 3 you want to buy a house. Is that comfortably actionable? Probably not. If you go back to school Year 1, you may have student loans at Year 3 that you need to focus on paying off before tying up your money in something big like a house. Feel me?

When I first sat down to map out my goals in 2013ish, they looked like this:

Riddle me this: Do you have a spending plan that puts you on track to achieve these goals? And if you don’t have a spending plan, check out my post on how to make one!

Goals are awesome, but they come with price tags and we need to make sure you have enough money (or a plan to make enough money) to make those dreams a reality. Because a goal without a plan is just a wish.

So I made my budget and… it didn’t add up. There was no way I could swing a big retirement contribution and put up the scratch to get my production company going. Then, it turned out that starting a company was really a lot of work (on top of a full-time job, thaaank you very much), which, frankly, made it tough to find the time, let alone the energy, to have dinner out with friends.

So when I had to face the music, here’s what I did. I went back to my goals and my budget and made some edits. I scraped together $1,000 per month for a retirement contribution (which was less than my goal, but all I could handle), and I scaled back my weekly dinner with friends to just drinks every other week. Not the exact goal I had written down, but I could still see my girls and maintain the important relationships in my life… and my sanity. And by making these friend-dates just drinks instead of dinners, I was able to keep that golden balance between end game and extras. Here’s what it looked like when all was said and done:

I get it. Facing the music can be tough. You may realize you’re going to have to make some compromises you didn’t see coming. You may have to add in some more time to reach your goals. But I promise you this: making realistic goals sets you up to achieve them. You will be so proud when you do it. On the other hand, setting super ambitious goals that aren’t as realistic, sets you up for disappointment. And when you miss one milestone, it’s a whole snowball effect; you may feel defeated, and then start making bad money decisions, and scrap the whole ten-year plan. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen.

So I can speak to the value of having realistic and actionable goals. I know - SO sexy, but seriously! My present self is thankful to my former self for being fair with her goals. Because of my former self, I can now look at my present self, 8ish years later and say: Yes, I have maintained the important relationships in my life. Yes, I started a production company. Yes, I could afford to freeze my eggs. Yes, I’ve kicked off my book series. Yes, I have my own show. I’m checking off all my boxes, and it feels damn good.

Aaaaand that’s all the time we have for today! I’ll see you soon for your next Money Minute.

xo,