Just as you mature and develop as a person, and your circumstances do likewise, so will your financial goals. The aims you had for the money you were earning when you were 20 will not be the same aims as you have in your 40s or 60s and beyond. And so it is important you continue to review your financial goals - either because you have achieved a particular goal (a deposit for a house for example) or because your material circumstances are changing. For example: approaching retirement years.
In your review, you should go through the same exercise you may have done before, though possibly many years earlier. Consider your goals now and for the next ten years - are they the same as ten years earlier? Having decided what it is you want to achieve by your own chosen date in the future, begin looking at all the numbers you have looked at before: income, expenditure, assets, liabilities, heath, family needs, tax etc.
It may be that on review, you will realise that you have not progressed much towards your goals, despite a considerable time having lapsed. This may require you to change your investment plan, what you are putting aside and sometimes goals such as your retirement date as well.
However, you may also find that you can retire earlier than you thought; if everything is coming together for you. The most important thing is to plan and keep checking on your progress regularly either in case action is needed, or just for the re-assurance that everything is going to plan.
It is important to be flexible, within reasonable limits, when you are developing and reviewing your goals. Your judgement will be key in seeing if the new goal is still in line with your long-term objectives in life. At times, it will become necessary to re-evaluate and discard one goal in favour of another more critical one.
For more information and help in reviewing your financial goals, please do not hesitate to contact Whitings Wealth Management on 01945 581937.
