One of the greatest things that we can do to improve our lives is to make goals. I am not talking about just any goals either. If we want to change and improve our lives, setting real goals is one of the best ways to do this.

For a goal to be a real goal, it needs to meet a number of criteria.

  1. It needs to be a SMART goal:
    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Actionable
    • Realistic
    • Time Based

    This acronym can help you set useful goals, no matter what level of life - parenting, work, finances, even long term life goals. SMART is by itself worth its own post, but for anybody who wants to find out more now, a single Google search can get you started.

What it cannot do is tell you how well aligned your goals are with your personal philosophy, beliefs, and what is most important to you. It is entirely possible to generate a list of smart SMART goals to govern your financial life, yet which will be entirely wrong for you or your situation.

Let me give you an example from my life. I could set a goal to (S) get a new car, (M) paying cash, (A) by saving $1500 a month, (R) until I have $20,000, (T) within two years. This goal is smart, because I would not be financing an asset that will lose its value every day as I drive it. It is also a SMART goal. But it is not right for me. A new car would not contribute anything to what is important to me.

I have started the process of determining what my values are and what is important to me. I am not done, but I do know that driving a truly new car is not on that list. So, that goal would not be a good one for me.

No Credit Needed appears to have done some similar value setting - even if it was not a formal process. From what I can tell, he determined that holding debt and paying interest - for anything - did not match up with the values that he and his wife wanted to hold to. With guidance from Dave Ramsey NCN pulled out all the stops and attacked his debt. Now that he has eliminated it, he is saving an incredible amount of his income in an effort to prepare for expected upcoming expenses while holding to his personal philosophy.

Stick with me. I will be spending time thinking about what is truly important to me and why. I will also be relating these values to my financial situation and future. Finally, I will be setting a series of goals - both financial and non - to help ensure that I am working on what I have determined is most important.

Wish me luck.

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