The Influence of Financial Books #2. Have a goal.

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One thing I noticed is when someone knows what they talk about finances, they ask you what are your goals. They always start with this and before I never put into thought why they ask for in the first place. It's so simple yet when you think of it, setting goals are way too deep of a question that while reading I found myself ashamed that I kept mine so vague. And then reading further, not only should I have specific goals, I should have an idea on how to achieve those goals.

My goal when asked was as simple as my (need and) want to fix the house. It's my want to have it up to second floor but it's our need to have it fixed, especially because it's old, more so at the ceiling. I've talked about this with my family and they (sisters) kept on pressing for a second floor which in my own estimate, though I might be able to afford it (just a guess), I don't have urge to do so. Why? Because it's not needed. Why would I spend thousands of pesos to a house that 1. not mine and 2. not needed. Of course this is OUR house, but then again, there are so many things I could do with the money and it doesn't involve spending it on things that are more of a want than a dire need. For instance it could just go with my sister's operation (she doesn't want to undergo but family is convincing her to). Priorities, priorities.

The other goal was also simple. Just to save. This was challenged by Tabañag's book and I am convinced that I must be able to set a specific 'save' at that. Like how would I know if I reached the said goal? If I save 100pesos, is that enough? Obviously it's not, so I must think of a number. I must make it specific in such a way that I can:

1. Keep track of where I am in the goal
2. Make a plan of how to reach the goal
3. Be able to break it down to mini goals to make it much more feasible


Through this I realized, that the reason why most of us can't save is because we don't have a plan. We simply say I wanted to save but we don't have a clear purpose on what we are saving for. Usually, if you are like me, that savings would just go to the next 'incident', be it due bills or whatever. But if you think that you are saving because you are anticipating to retire soon, well, you would be scared to not to prepare for it. I know I am.

Image here: http://sashi.wordpress.com/2005/10/23/goal-a-review-sorta/

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