Setting Financial Goals

You can only achieve what you want though planning. This explains why you must deliberately understand what you want to achieve from life. Under this topic, you will explore your personal and professional development plan that guides you on what you would like to achieve from life. During the sessions, you get involved in setting financial goals mainly explained as an objective which is expressed in or based upon money. Most importantly, this topic aims to empower participants to have a Financial Plan which is a tool that helps one to decide how to use your money to achieve personal life goals.

People everywhere work to have enough money to meet their day-to-day spending needs, pay debts, keep the business running, meet future needs for housing, pay for school and ensure a secure old age. Often there is not enough money to reach all these goals. Let’s Read the story of James and Prisca.

James and Prisca’s Financial Situation

 James and Prisca have to pay regularly for food, clothing and house repairs. They also have loan repayments to a financial institution and owe a shopkeeper who has sold them goods on credit. Their roof is rusting and they want to change it before the rainy season. Their eldest son will get married in the near future. They have to pay high school fees for their other 2 children. They must travel to take care of family or business matters. James and Prisca also know that unexpected things happen. Family members get sick. Things break and need to be repaired

What are the financial pressures that James and Prisca feel? Why?

A financial plan is a tool to help you decide how to use your money to achieve your goals. A vision is the mental picture of what you want. As adults, we have a vision of what we want our lives to be, where we will live, how we will live, what we will do with our lives, etc.

 To achieve our vision, we set goals―personal goals and financial goals. Setting goals means identifying where you want to go, what you want to be, when you get there, why you want something, and knowing how you will get what you want.

 For example: Where do you want to be in the next five years?

What type of person do you want to be married to?

 How many children do you plan to have?

 Goals are clear targets that you would like to achieve. Financial goals are specific financial targets you have. Goals help you to achieve a vision. A vision is the ideal imagined reality you aspire to achieve. A vision is likened to a dream. For example, if your vision is to be debt-free, then your financial goals will help you set priorities and financial targets to ensure your dream for financial freedom.