Making a 'Plan' and setting goals

[anthonykirby]

Hi all,

Silly question - but with all the support on here I am hoping somebody can help me out.

Has anybody got a 'structure' that they use or a way of making a document which outlines long term and short term goals.

How do you go about writing them out so they are straightforward and keep you focused every day?

for example - my goal is to retire by the age of 40 (I am 24 now). How would you write this out .. would it be

to retire by 40 i will need
1. to buy x amount of property per year.
this property will need to grow by x - so I will focus on x type of areas and x type of property

Thoughts on this would be great - as I am keen to get some goals written out!

Cheers everyone - look forward to the response. I am sure more than myself can use this as a good tool moving forward.

Anthony

 

[alexlee]

You need a couple of different goals, I think. The BIG goal, then the short and medium term goals. The short term goal might be to save $x and buy one property in the next 12 months. The medium term goal might be to learn about tax law or council development rules or renovations. Long term..... my goal is my signature. I have a much more detailed version, of course: I imagine what my ideal day would be like: what I'll do, where I'll go, what I'll eat, etc and how much money that would take.
Alex

 

[Xenia]

Hi Anthony,

Alex is correct! You need a long term goal wich will involve an amount of money required to have the lifestyle you want (ie retirement) and a plan of how you will get there. How many properties, cash flow situations etc. You then need to break it down into yearly, monthly weekly and even daily goals to enable you to track progress. It is very much like writing a business plan and measuring KPM's (Key performance indicators) along the way.

Spend days or weeks on it if you have to but it is very important to have clearly defined goals written out!. People that waste money on seminar after seminar and try different things to no avail do so because they have no defined goals!

Dale GG's wealth sabotage is a great tool for goal planning as are many books and CD's on business and marketing plans. It is not easy and not something that you will spend a few minutes on but very well worth it.

All the best X

 

[BayView]

here's an analogy for success that will apply to ANYTHING in life that you want to succeed at.

As most (or maybe only some) of you know, my background is as a golf pro. I was/am a good player, but not good enough to make a living from winning prize-money. I became a golf teacher instead and did it for 20 something years. Time for a break.

However, at the start, I wanted to be Tiger Woods (who doesn't), so the BIG goal was to be the best player in the world (still could happen but the clock is ticking loudly - am I delusional?).

Anyway, after setting the big goal, I then realised that I had to work towards that end result. A haphazard plan is formed; play a LOT. That didn't work too well.

So, now the correct process begins; I need to educate myself about golf, golfswing, how to play. Lots of reading, lots of lessons, lots of playing and practicing. A structured approach.

At the start, knowledge was limited but enthusiasm was high, so I improved to a degree by good luck and a bit of natural ability more than good management. In property investing this approach could wipe you out.

Then, more intense learning and knowledge improvement resulted in better standard of play, better results. Experience was increasing as well and this helps a lot too.

Eventually, consistent practice, play and steady improvement of knowledge and experience created the golfer I now am.

Property investing is the same; have a BIG goal (retire at 40 etc), but then you need to work the plan with the steps that will get you there, and keep on focusing on the day-to-day steps.

Get educated, study consistently, play (aquire properties) regularly and as you gain experience your results will become better.

 

[The Y-man]

I set FY, 5 year and 10 year targets.

The targets used to be net worth, but these days it is a combination of net worth and income.

Once these "destinations" are set, I go about finding the strategy, or "mode of transport". eg. IP, shares, trading, MF's, work.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[Rixter]

Dale GG's wealth sabotage is a great tool for goal planning as are many books and CD's on business and marketing plans. It is not easy and not something that you will spend a few minutes on but very well worth it.

I too can vouch for Dales Wealth Sabotage program.

Its a fantastic book & software program for working out how much income you will require, mapping how to get it and your progress to date along your travels towards attaining it.

 

[MichaelW]

I do it in excel.

I basically just build up a model, starting today with what I've got and then projecting forward based on my strategy to procure properties when the equity allows, or to invest it with a margin loan in managed funds. I show all my assumed rates of growth or income across the top and then project forward. This becomes my baseline for my strategy.

It also clearly shows when my passive income is sufficient that I can quit my salaried income and cover my living expenses with change left over and compounding growth left in the portfolio.

I think my current model based on my current strategy has me exiting my salaried employment in 3-5 years.

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[Tim]

I too can vouch for Dales Wealth Sabotage program.

Its a fantastic book & software program for working out how much income you will require, mapping how to get it and your progress to date along your travels towards attaining it.

Well I just downloaded the Wealth Sabotage PDF and spreadsheets ($65) which includes the Trust Magic PDF as well, because over the past few weeks I have thought I need to get very specific with goals. I can recommend this investment as although it is relatively basic if you don't already have financial goal planning sorted this is an excellent place to start. It helps you get more specific about goals.

I recently read that goals should be SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable (possible within the realms of what is achieveable)
Realistic (from what you want and believe you could potentially achieve)
Timeframed

I think one of the most beneficial aspects of the Wealth Sabotage package is the monitoring concept built into the spreadsheets.


Cheers,

Tim

 

[Francesca C]

Hi

My parnter and I have an extensive 5 year plan which has been broken down to 1 year goals, to weekly goals to daily goals.

It drives me crazy sometimes because it seems really boring. If I dont stick to the plan, I get told off :<

I want to stop working for someone else at 30 (next 12 months) and work for myself from home doing property stuff full time.

I use Stephen R Covery templates from the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" this is my favourite book in the world.

 

[Tim]

Francesca have you found these goals are being met and this process is working or any other comments?

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Francesca C]

Hi Tim

I am not expert, I read lots and have to remind myself constantly... I get lazy sometimes.

If you have one big goal, on a day to day basis you have to do all this little things in order to achieve this goal...

Our spreadsheet goes into daily tasks and most of them are crossed off, sometimes there are a few things we dont do, that is carried over to the next day and we try to make each other accountable for why it wasnt done.

My favourite saying is.... If you want to be successful being "good", is not good enough, you have to be outstanding.. the only way to become outstanding is to turn all your "shoulds" to "have too' and get them done. anthony robbins

The only way I can do this is with a solid plan.

Most successful people make consistant and consious decisions every day and take massive action towards those decisions.

 

[Rixter]

My favourite saying to keep me going through even the most boring tasks along our wealth journey is - To get things that others wont I must do the things that others dont!

 

[ianvestor]

I use Stephen R Covery templates from the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" this is my favourite book in the world.

On that note, if you're in Brisbane and haven't yet checked out the Lifeline Book Festival at the convention centre, go NOW!

I picked up the above book and many others for around $0.50 to $3 each.

In total, I got 9 copies of The Richest Man in Babylon (perfect little book to hand out to friends/family), 7 copies of Think and Grow Rich, and 4 copies of 7 Habits... Spent about $60 all up on a mountain of classics.

Of course, this was yesterday morning when it opened, so they probably don't have any Babylon left (I got every copy I could find)... but there were heaps more copies of 7 Habits that I didn't buy.... The only thing is they're not alphabetical, they're just on huge rows of tables labled "Reference" so you might have to spend a couple of hours browsing.

Good luck!

 

[tubs]

One thing that is usually missing from goals is the sacrifice:

...to do this I must...

Thing is, its easy to write down something like:
"I will renovate my house by September" but there needs to be more behind it.

What you should say is:
"I will renovate my house by September" and the sacrifice is:
"and to do this I will give up golf to free up the time, take a fortnight off in June and stop smoking so I have got enough money".

There, isnt that a lot more powerful?

Also lets you put some reality into your goals so you can work out HOW you are going to achieve them.

 

[FrankGrimes]

You also need to break your goals down into small, more management pieces. Just putting “I want to be retired in 15 years” is a bit vague and not really specific enough. I’ve been sent on a course for work and goal setting is a big part of it, what has been suggested is this –

List the goal, whatever is may be. Then break it down into categories.

Constraints
Opportunities
Action plan

Then list items below each and set dates to achieive each goal. So the goal may be “retire at 40”

Constraints

- Current job doesn’t pay enough
- Family doesn’t want to invest
- Whatever

Opportunities

- grandmother will sell me her house for cheap
- upcoming seminar
- current PPOR could be renovated, refinanced and used for IP deposit
- so on so on

Action plan (this should tie back with constraints and opportunities)

- Read all the books by Feb. 2008
- Buy first IP by June 2008
- Second IP by Dec 2008
- Start share trading in Jan 2009
- Investigate LOE and levels of equity required for desired retirement income Jan 2009

I think the important thing is to set long term and short term goals. Break them down and make sure you put realistic dates against each action item and review every few weeks. Now this is obviously a simplistic example but gives you an idea. But “retire by 40” is a bit meaningless on its own.

 

[sue78]

I envy people that just buy an IP, sit on it and it goes up. You may find though that the market condition may change in the next few years and you may have to wait years for growth.

We have never really discussed the end goal...maybe that's why I have no control of my finances, paperwork or anything at all.

I think it's still better to have short term goals like what you want to achieve this year, how you plan to do it, how much time you set aside each week for property searching etc

Have realistic goals to aim for and realistic rewards...1 IP this year, $20k growth and a plasma TV or overseas holiday as a reward.

Look at a mix of buy and holds, renovators or developing. I prefer developing as although it's a bit of work, I am more or less guaranteed CG.

 

[Angelo]

I too am a big believer in setting short, medium and long term goals. I once tried setting the big goals and not having the short and medium goals and it didn’t end well for me. Things are much better now I have short and medium term goals as well.

Dale’s wealth sabotage is easy to read and very much to the point. Other books you may want to read are Think and Grow Rich, The secret (movie), 7 habbits of highly effective people (already mentioned), Use SMART goals also (already mentioned).

Immerse yourself continuously in positive books that talk about goal setting and positive mindset. We’ve been very much programmed from the time we were born to think the way we do and it is particularly the unconscious thoughts we have which can do the most damage in our lives. I’m a big believer that by immersing yourself in positive surroundings and books we begin reshaping our minds consciously and unconsciously and in doing so make it easier to achieve our objectives.

Be positive and take action every day to reach you goals and your well on the way.

Good luck

 

[Francine]

wealth sabotage book

so is the cd enough or do i need the book of wealth sabotage ad its really worth getting is it.

i'm just starting out jsut starting to read books etc.

cutegal.

 

[jaycee]

Surely it wouldn’t hurt for them to give some detail as to what the cd contains so you have an idea of what it is giving you / not and help you decide if you should spend $27 / $65 or more with them ?

I'm curious, but see no examples / details as to what to expect, maybe I just didn't find the right links on the page (?)

I'm like Anthony, I want to make a plan (and I think Anthony realises the plan has to be more detailed than "retire by 40" otherwise, he would think he already has a plan), but am not sure how to map it out & work out what I need to do in order to write out the shorter term goals & strategies to get there.

 

[BayView]

I too am a big believer in setting short, medium and long term goals. I once tried setting the big goals and not having the short and medium goals and it didn’t end well for me. Things are much better now I have short and medium term goals as well.

Dale’s wealth sabotage is easy to read and very much to the point. Other books you may want to read are Think and Grow Rich, The secret (movie), 7 habbits of highly effective people (already mentioned), Use SMART goals also (already mentioned).

Immerse yourself continuously in positive books that talk about goal setting and positive mindset. We’ve been very much programmed from the time we were born to think the way we do and it is particularly the unconscious thoughts we have which can do the most damage in our lives. I’m a big believer that by immersing yourself in positive surroundings and books we begin reshaping our minds consciously and unconsciously and in doing so make it easier to achieve our objectives.

Be positive and take action every day to reach you goals and your well on the way.

Good luck

I saw THE SECRET - the movie the other day. The wife borrowed it from a colleague at work.

I had heard of it a number of times here and on Steve's forum, and had my doubts (my cynical nature coming to the fore) but vowed to keep an open mind about it until I'd seen it.

Result; just a bunch of highly repetitive, titillated Yank "packaging" saying:

"have a positive attitude, motivate and believe in yourself".

It was like one of those infomercials where they drag out for an hour a whole lot of guff about a product that is basic, overpriced and could be described in full detail in about 1 minute.

Pretty much like the rest of those types of "seminars" really.