Establishing a smart financial roadmap involves more than just navigating the present; it requires a strategic approach that embraces both the immediacy of short-term needs and the foresight for attaining long-term aspirations. While short-term financial goals are crucial for today’s financial security—addressing pressing concerns and unexpected challenges—long-term financial goals can help ensure sustained prosperity and stability, as well as build a legacy for you to pass on to your children. The best financial plans always consider both. 

 

So, how do you create a realistic and workable financial pathway that incorporates strategies for today and objectives for tomorrow? In this post, we’ll provide our best tips for short-term and long-term goals, as well as tools to help you stick to your plan and maximize your results.  

Financial goals help you visualize the necessary steps to make smart money decisions.

 

How and Why to Set Short-Term Financial Goals 

While long-term goals are essential to ensure that your future needs are considered and met, short-term goals also bear great importance for your financial health.  

Firstly, short-term goals provide excellent incentives for staying on track and engaged with your finances. While there is great satisfaction in achieving a long-term goal like purchasing a home or saving for retirement, these goals can take years. Achieving short-term goals in the interim can make you feel accomplished and financially on course. 

Secondly, having short-term goals can also help ensure that your immediate needs are met within your budget and your finances are in order. Short-term goals can vary in length from a few weeks to a few years, but because they are always at the forefront of your financial strategy, they can serve as both guiderails and constant reminders to remain money conscious.  

Examples of Short-Term Financial Goals 

So, what are some specific short-term and achievable goals that can help you improve your financial standing? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
 

  • Creating an Emergency Fund: Aim to save $1,000 in six months for unforeseen expenses. 
  • Paying Off a Credit Card: Plan to pay off a $2,000 credit card debt within a year. 
  • Saving for a Vacation: Set aside a small amount—for instance, $50 every week—to fund a holiday trip. 
  • Reducing Grocery Bills: Cut grocery spending by 20% over the next three months. 
  • Cutting Entertainment or Discretionary Spending: Decrease overspending on these costs (like streaming services or eating out) by $100 a month. 

 

When setting short-term goals, it's important to connect specific actions to your goals.

Steps to Identify and Set Realistic Short-Term Financial Goals 

If you want to create some short-term goals but aren’t sure where to get started, don’t feel intimidated. Highlighting and planning for realistic objectives can be simple by following a few basic steps.
 

  1. Assess Your Financial Situation: Review your income, expenses, debts, and savings. Understanding where you stand financially is the first step, so you can spot areas that need improvement and get an idea of how to realistically address them, given your current financial picture.  
  1. Define What’s Important: Consider what you need versus what you want to help you find places to make adjustments. Also, take the time to see what would make the biggest impact on your financial well-being—for instance, paying down debt vs. saving for a trip.  
  1. Be Specific and Measurable: As part of the “SMART Goal” strategy, avoid vague goals like “save more money” and instead aim for something tangible, e.g., “save $500 in 3 months.” This will also help you break down your goal into manageable steps.  
  1. Set a Time Frame: Short-term goals typically range from a few weeks to a year. Do a little math to help you decide on a realistic time frame for each goal. By setting the right time frame, you can help ensure your plan is sustainable.  
  1. Write It Down: Documenting your goals can make them feel more tangible and provide a visual reminder. Write them down, detail your plan, tell people about it, and set reminders on your phone to boost your chances of success. 
  1. Choose the Right Tools: If you are saving for a short-term objective, be sure to choose an interest-bearing account to help you reach your goal faster. Kasasa checking accounts with cash back can give your savings a boost, as well as money market accounts with competitive interest. Paying off debt? Use our debt management calculators to help you find the best path forward.  
  1. Consider Long-Term Plans: As you create short-term goals, it’s also important to keep longer ones in mind. Always leave room in your budget for bigger-picture items. 

Planning for Long-Term Financial Success 

Setting short-term goals can help you be sure that your day-to-day spending, savings, and income are in balance. But to truly attain long-term financial stability, you need to create viable plans that build wealth and security, providing sufficient income in your retirement.  

 

With long-term plans, patience and consistency are key—as are starting as early as possible. For example, when saving for retirement, if you start saving $100 a month at age 25 vs. age 35, you’ll have saved nearly twice as much by age 65. 

Examples of Long-Term Goals 

Here are some of the most common (and important!) long-term goals to consider:
 

  • Building a Retirement Fund: An essential long-term goal is saving for retirement. There are many planning tools available (as well as the assistance of financial advisors) to help you determine how much you need to save at each time in your life to maintain your lifestyle in your post-working years.  
  • Educational Goals: With the ever-rising cost of education, setting aside funds for your children’s or grandchildren’s college can help set them up for success (instead of debt!) after school. Using designated college savings accounts can also provide you with tax benefits.  
  • Wealth Accumulation: Creating a strategy of investments, including various asset classes like stocks, bonds, and funds, can lead you to a life of prosperity down the road, as well as a legacy to leave your children.  
  • Investing in Real Estate: In addition to market investments, purchasing property for long-term capital appreciation or rental income can be a significant goal. From buying a home for yourself to investing in commercial properties, real estate can provide both stability and potential for growth.   

A short-term sacrifice leads to a long-term reward.

Tools and Resources for Long-Term Goal Management 

Depending on your goals, planning for long-term objectives can involve many different strategies—and the process may seem overwhelming. However, there are numerous tools and resources available to help you create a realistic plan and manage your goal as you work toward it little by little. 

 

At Flanagan, we offer many products and tools, as well as our dedicated, local expertise to help you create a plan that works for you. 

 

  • Nest Egg Investment Services: At Flanagan, we partner with Nest Egg to deliver on-demand advising for retirement, education planning, and wealth management.   
  • Certificates of Deposit: High-interest CDs can be a healthy, low-risk addition to any investment portfolio.  
  • Individual Retirement Accounts: Whether you’re self-employed or simply want to supplement your workplace plan, IRAs from Flanagan are a valuable retirement savings tool with great tax advantages. 
  • Health Savings Accounts: Health expenses in retirement are often grossly underestimated. If you qualify for an HSA today, consider bolstering your retirement savings with additional contributions.  
  • Investment and Savings Calculators: With dozens of financial calculators for retirement planning, long-term savings, and investing (as well as many other needs), Flanagan gives you the tools you need to explore your options and create realistic goals.  

 

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. -Tony Robbins

Strategies to Help You Succeed 

As you begin making those long-term and short-term plans, it’s important to keep the following in mind to help ensure your chances of success. 

 

  • Be Flexible. When circumstances change, find creative ways to pivot to stay on track. Likewise, if you experience a windfall increase in income or decrease in expenses, consider how to use it as an opportunity to reach those goals faster. 
  • Automate. Setting up automatic payments and deposits both for saving and paying off debt means never forgetting to stick to your plan. 
  • Review Regularly. Sometimes, a plan simply doesn’t work. Sometimes, your needs change. Review your goals and plans on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed.  
  • Treat Yourself. Incorporating regular rewards for progress can help keep you motivated and experience a greater sense of accomplishment. Choose incentives that align with your plan, and be sure they are in perspective. 

Partner with Flanagan to Master Your Financial Goals 

At Flanagan State Bank, we strive to give you the tools and support to identify, plan for, and achieve your financial goals. From checking accounts with interest to retirement savings plans, our accounts, and services can provide you with a foundation for short and long-term financial health.  

 

Stop by a local branch in Flanagan, El Paso, Benson, Bloomington, Le Roy, Gridley, or Pontiac to get started, or check out our many resources for more tips on meeting your saving and investing objectives: