Investing Unit 1: SMART Financial Goal-Setting

Introduction
Unit 1: Basic Building Blocks of Successful Financial Management

Building Blocks
Wealth Protection
Wealth Accumulation
Wealth Distribution
Summary
SMART Financial Goal-Setting
Action Steps
About the Author

Unit 2: Investing Basics
Unit 3: Finding Money to Invest
Unit 4: Ownership Investments
Unit 5: Fixed-Income Investing
Unit 6: Mutual Fund Investing
Unit 7: Tax-Deferred Investments
Unit 8: Investing Small Dollar Amounts
Unit 9: Getting Help: Investing Resources
Unit 10: Selecting Financial Professionals
Unit 11: Investment Fraud

Study Guide
Action Steps
Monthly Investment Messages
Glossary

To get where you want to go in life, it is important to decide in advance how you will get there. Goals are signposts on the highway to the future. They serve as your road map to personal, career, and financial success. By keeping specific goals in view, you can direct your energies toward achieving your goals.

SMART goals need to be written down on paper to reinforce their importance. Use the SMART Goal Setting Worksheet to set some short-term (less than 3 months), intermediate-term (3 to 6 months), and long-term (one year or longer) financial goals that follow the SMART goal format.

Rich Text Format (downloadable for use on your own personal computer)

Goal Setting Worksheet (Rich text format)
Financial Goal-Setting Worksheet (Rich text format)

Short-Term, Intermediate-Term, and Long-Term Goal Setting Examples — PDF Format. Use these examples as a guide for developing your own goals.

Short-Term_Goal_Setting_Example (PDF)
Intermediate-Term_Goal_Setting_Example (PDF)
Long-Term_Goal_Setting_Example_1 (PDF)
Long-Term_Goal_Setting_Example_2 (PDF)
Goal Setting Worksheet (PDF)

Remember Your SMART Goals

S	Specific
M	Measurable, Mutual, Motivated
A	Attainable
R	Relevant, Realistic, Resources, Review, Revise
T	Time-line, Trade-offs