Setting Goals

[nads]

Hi there,

I'm in my mid twenties, and recently finished reading three of Kiyosaki's books. He has inspired me to get off my backside and do something with my life! I want to be financially free by age 40 (although I am secretly aiming to be free at age 30).

At the moment, I am investigating network marketing, as I want to start my own business in e-commerce. I currently work for a pharmaceutical company and am getting married next year (it's all happening!).

Also, I have a keen interest in real estate, especially in creative real estate techniques (am in the process of learning).

However, I have realised that I need to set more specific goals on how to achieve financial freedom. At the moment, I am focusing on education, learning, reading, thinking, planning.

Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to set goals for myself? At present, I have set 50 goals that I would like to start working towards once I AM financially free. But I have not really set specific and measurable goals on how to get there.

If anyone has any suggestions, or can recommend books/websites on goal setting, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[WillG]

Hi nads,

We done so far. Sounds like you have set some great goals already. The 'financial freedom' goal seems to be a common among the forumites. There ahave been a lot of threads on goal setting on the forum. Do a quick search and you will find a lot of great information.

Some things you can do immediately (if you haven't already done) may be ...
1. Create a budget for the currrent year.
Creating a budget will help you set a realistic timeframe for when you can become 'financially free'. It will also help you avoid impulse buying.
2. Calculate the amount of passive income you will need to become 'financially free'
3. Calculate the amount of assets & associated returns needed to produce your passive income.
4. Work through some scenarios for accumulating these assets.
5. Use real life numbers in the scenarios where possible (expected rents etc). This exercise will help you work out the number & type of properties required to be 'financially free'.
6. Get a good mortgage broker and determine how much you can borrow. This will also have an impact on the properties you buy.
7. You should know where you are 'financially speaking' after doing the previous steps. You are now ready to buy 'assets' and get some cashflow happening.

Cheers

 

[GoalsMagic]

nads ... great to see you so motivated to move forward, and your desire for more knowledge. I would say that the starting point of setting any goal is to do the following first:

1/ Clearly define in specific detail the goal. Go beyond the 'I want to be financially free' goal to something specific that your brain can lock onto such as:

'I am financially free with a net worth of $XXXXXXXXX by 1st January 2010. My passive income from income producing assets is $xxxxxxxx per annum. My investment portfolio is made up of XXX number of propertys, $xxxxxxxxx invested in the share ....."

and so on. This gives you a detailed picture into what you are aiming at. Imagine trying to do a jig saw puzzle with the pictures removed from the peices ... very difficult, right? Thats how many people approach goal setting. So your first step should be to develop clarity around the goal.

2/ Once you have clarity the next most important thing is WHY ????? You can have a fantastic plan HOW but if you do not have strong enough reasons WHY then you will quit when things get tough. Think about the reasons WHY, and really get associated with what it will mean to achieve the goal. Look into Anothony Robbins PAIN vs PLEASURE principles of motivation.

3/ Then move onto HOW and develop specific plans, sub goals and monthly tasks for the achievement of the goal.

Hope all the above helps.
Regards
Rod

 

[kierank]

To me, the 3 big questions are WHY, WHAT and HOW in that order and the WHY for a lot of people is the hardest.

Once you have the WHY (written in future past tense), determine the WHAT (written in future past tense) in order for you to achieve the WHY and then work out the HOW (written in present tense starting with strong action verbs) in order for you to produce the WHAT.

This applies in business as well as our personal lives.

 

[Les]

G'day Kierank,

I must say you've got me intrigued here:-

(written in future past tense),

Must admit, English was never my best subject (at school, anyway) - but I don't recall a "future past tense" ......

How does this work???? Pray tell.....

Could this be a misnomer? Or am I missing something here that I really need to know??? Is this "Anthony Robbins speak"? Or something else???

Regards,

 

[Aceyducey]

Future past tense is a legitimite way of writing in English.

It involves projecting yourself into the future then writing about what happened in the past for your future self.

A line I like to use is:

Imagine you are 80 years old and have accomplished all of your life goals...what were they and when did you accomplish them.

Writing from this perspective is future past tense.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[kierank]

Originally posted by Les
G'day Kierank,

I must say you've got me intrigued here:-

Must admit, English was never my best subject (at school, anyway) - but I don't recall a "future past tense" ......

How does this work???? Pray tell.....

Could this be a misnomer? Or am I missing something here that I really need to know??? Is this "Anthony Robbins speak"? Or something else???

Regards,

Les,

I "baited the hook and waited for the fish to bite". Thank goodness you took the bait.

Future past tense is not something they teach you at school; in fact, English teachers will probably mark you wrong for using it.

In sport, good coaches will use visualisation techniques to help their charges succeed. For example, as we are half way thru the footy season, every good football coach would have painted a picture in every football player's mind of their team winning the Grand Final, collecting the Champion Cup and having a Winner's Medal placed around their neck. Visualisation is an example of future past tense - the event is in the future but your mind sees it as already happened (i.e. in the past). I understand Cathy Freeman visualised herself with the 400m Gold Medal around her neck in Sydney, months before it actually happened. If you can visualise a future event as already happened, you are well on the way to achieveing it - the stronger and clearer the picture, the more likely you will achieve it.

In business, one way to increase your chance of success is to put your goals/objectives in future past tense. For example, if you have a vague business objective such as "We hope to reduce costs", there is very little chance that you will achieve it. But, if you re-word the objective in future past tense to "Costs reduced", you have a far better chance of achieving it. Even better, you should set at least one Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to clarify the objective, say "Reduction in operating costs by 10% by 30 June 2004".

The same technique applies with personal goals and personal wealth. Put them in future past tense and clarify them with KPIs. It will make a big difference.

These technigues have been used in business for over 30 years (the World Bank and United Nations were some of the early players). In my day-time job, we teach business people these sorts of techniques and have seen "some extraordinary things achieved by some ordinary people". One example was an organisation (a Government Department) that was going to close down a business unit - by using these techniques, the business unit not only avoided closure but they were able to demonstrate how valuable their services were to the people of Queensland which in turn has lead to their growth and expansion today. How is that for success!!

If you would like more information, I am passionate about this sort of stuff and am happy to share with people.

 

[Les]

G'day Kierank (and Acey),

I "baited the hook and waited for the fish to bite". Thank goodness you took the bait.

Thank goodness that's all it was.... I mean, it could've been REALLY BAD, like me losing my memory ..... Nah !!!

Anyway, thank you both for the explanations. I am somewhat relieved now,

Regards,

 

[nads]

Working Backwards

Hi
Thanks for everyone's replies and advice so far!

I like the idea of writing down my dreams and working backwards from there (working out how much passive income I need etc...).

However, I am having trouble working out what I need to do to reach these goals. For instance, I dont have trouble working out how much passive income I will need to become financially free. However, to work out how many IPs I should have, and how much passive income I should be making from my business.

Since I am still at the learning phase, Im not as financially literate as I should be, in order to be able to work out the steps I should take to reach my goals/dreams. I have no idea about ROI etc... (I know what these terms mean, but I dont know what my ROI should be. Can I find answers anywhere on this forum?

 

[Aceyducey]

Nads,

The number of properties will always vary because you cannot necessarily pick exactly the properties you intend to buy...you have to look at what the market offers...and will vary due to rental increases & cap growth over time.

ROI is also more about measuring the efficiency of your money - by comparing the ROI on several proposed projects you can determine which is the best way to allocate your funds for the maximum return.

ROI is not necessarily the only measure you will use to determine good investments...there are likely to be risk management, legal and ethical considerations....

ie: the higher the ROI the likely the riskier the project (that you do NOT make the ROI)...not always, but a good rule of thumb when comparing projects.

On your how much Q....work out the passive income you need. Convert it into today's dollars & begin buying properties that get you closer to that income level.

So long as you are headed in the right direction, the precise number and type of investments required will become clearer.

Sorry I can't offer you a simple formula - but if you do want to simplify it...work out how much passive income you will receive per property and divide this into the total passive income you would like...it will give you a figure as to no. of investments of this type - just don't be scared off if the figure is quite high

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[nads]

THANKS!

Thanks Aceyducey!

For now, I have looked at all of my goals/dreams, and worked out the priority of each of the goals. Some of the goals cant be achieved until I have achieved another goal.

I have set the year by which I would like to achieve my goals, and have prioritised them. For now, I am focusing on creating strategies to achieve the short term goals. As time goes on, hopefully, as you said, the longer term goals will make more sense and I will be able to set strategies to achieve these.

Thanks to everyone for your help! It has made my task a little easier. Normally, I would have given up by now, but your feedback has encouraged me even more. I am on track to becoming financially free!

Natalie

 

[brains]

GO NADS!!

 

[kierank]

Originally posted by brains
GO NADS!!

Brains,

I'm glad you remembered the space after GO

 

[nads]

Yeah I have a great nickname dont I...bloomin Nads!

It was either that or cheeky chops, goonge, googins, chez, NatNat....