The second step in personal financial planning The first step in personal financial planning is controlling your day-to-day financial affairs to enable you to do the things that bring you satisfaction and enjoyment. This is achieved by planning and following a budget. The second step in personal financial planning, and the topic of this article, is choosing and following a course toward long-term financial goals. As with anything else in life, without financial goals and specific plans for meeting them, we drift along and leave our future to chance. A wise man once said: "most people don't plan to fail; they just fail to plan." The end result is the same: failure to reach financial independence. The third step in personal financial planning, "Building a Financial Safety Net," is discussed in the third article in this series. Four simple steps for setting financial goals Step 1: Identify and write down your financial goals, whether they are saving to send your kids to college, buying a new car, saving for a down payment on a house, going on vacation, paying off credit card debt, or planning for retirement. Step 2: Break each financial goal down into several short-term (less than 1 year), medium-term (1 to 3 years) and long-term (5 years or more) goals. Step 3: Educate yourself! Read magazines about money, or a book about investing, or surf the Internet's investing websites. The stock market is not voodoo. With a little effort you can learn enough to make educated decisions that will increase your net worth many times over. Then identify small, measurable steps you can take to achieve these goals, and put this action plan to work. Step 4: Evaluate your progress. Review your progress monthly, quarterly, or at any other interval you feel comfortable with, but at least semi-annually, to determine if your program is working. If you're not making satisfactory progress on a particular goal, re-evaluate your approach and make changes as necessary. Do it now! There are no hard and fast rules for implementing a financial plan. The important thing is to do SOMETHING, and to start NOW. You also need to understand how to build a financial safety net to prevent financial disasters caused by catastrophic illnesses or other personal tragedies. Keep reading this column. Source: SmartbizAfrica