How to Set Your Investment Goals
Investment goals revolve around your personality, your resources and, yes, how much money you want to make.
Defining your investment goals requires more than just saying I want to make money.
Failure to define your goals will result in not achieving the profits you deserve and secretly want.
Sometimes we are afraid to voice or write down what it is we really want, yet not doing so actually sets us up for mediocre results.
The keys to achieving the best investment results come from knowing what you are aiming for and what resources you bring to the table.
In general the keys to establishing and achieving your goals revolve around: • Personality • Time • Current financial resources • Future financial resources • Profit uses Personality: Be honest with yourself and ask your spouse or friends if necessary: Are you a risk taker? If so, how much? Are you willing to lose money in order to make money? In other words, if you were managing a baseball team how likely would it be for you to call for a squeeze bunt play? Or would you (with one friend) go for an all day hike in the back country of Glacier National Park (famous for its stunning mountain vistas and grizzly bears)? In other words, are you more likely to be a conservative or an aggressive investor, or perhaps your personality falls somewhere in between? Time: Does work and family or sports and hobbies chew up most of your time? Can you find 30 minutes a day, or just 30 minutes or an hour a week to manage your investments? Would you rather be fishing, out on a date, watching a movie or TV than making investment decisions? An aggressive investor will have time almost every day to make investment decisions while a conservative investor can usually spend just 30 minutes a week or maybe just every other week or two reviewing his portfolio.
If you are a moderate, in the middle investor you probably only need 30 minutes a week.
Current resources: How you diversify your investment portfolio is influenced by your personality and time to make decisions but if you have minimal resources aggressive goals may need to be handled carefully so as not to endanger your cash and future growth.
This doesn't mean you have to take a totally conservative investment stance, but that you may need to balance or have multiple goals.
Future resources: Building your investment portfolio with additional cash each week or month can allow you to pursue more moderate or aggressive goals because your investment base is growing.
Profit Uses: How you plan on using your investment profits is an important consideration.
How soon you want to reach a certain cash level can push you towards either a conservative, aggressive or middle of the road approach in making your decisions.
Combining your honest answers to these five aspects of developing your investment goals should help you focus on the investment method that works best for you.
You should write down, briefly, the answers so that you keep your focus and don't allow one-time events or conversations to sway you off track.
Defining your investment goals requires more than just saying I want to make money.
Failure to define your goals will result in not achieving the profits you deserve and secretly want.
Sometimes we are afraid to voice or write down what it is we really want, yet not doing so actually sets us up for mediocre results.
The keys to achieving the best investment results come from knowing what you are aiming for and what resources you bring to the table.
In general the keys to establishing and achieving your goals revolve around: • Personality • Time • Current financial resources • Future financial resources • Profit uses Personality: Be honest with yourself and ask your spouse or friends if necessary: Are you a risk taker? If so, how much? Are you willing to lose money in order to make money? In other words, if you were managing a baseball team how likely would it be for you to call for a squeeze bunt play? Or would you (with one friend) go for an all day hike in the back country of Glacier National Park (famous for its stunning mountain vistas and grizzly bears)? In other words, are you more likely to be a conservative or an aggressive investor, or perhaps your personality falls somewhere in between? Time: Does work and family or sports and hobbies chew up most of your time? Can you find 30 minutes a day, or just 30 minutes or an hour a week to manage your investments? Would you rather be fishing, out on a date, watching a movie or TV than making investment decisions? An aggressive investor will have time almost every day to make investment decisions while a conservative investor can usually spend just 30 minutes a week or maybe just every other week or two reviewing his portfolio.
If you are a moderate, in the middle investor you probably only need 30 minutes a week.
Current resources: How you diversify your investment portfolio is influenced by your personality and time to make decisions but if you have minimal resources aggressive goals may need to be handled carefully so as not to endanger your cash and future growth.
This doesn't mean you have to take a totally conservative investment stance, but that you may need to balance or have multiple goals.
Future resources: Building your investment portfolio with additional cash each week or month can allow you to pursue more moderate or aggressive goals because your investment base is growing.
Profit Uses: How you plan on using your investment profits is an important consideration.
How soon you want to reach a certain cash level can push you towards either a conservative, aggressive or middle of the road approach in making your decisions.
Combining your honest answers to these five aspects of developing your investment goals should help you focus on the investment method that works best for you.
You should write down, briefly, the answers so that you keep your focus and don't allow one-time events or conversations to sway you off track.
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