Planning for 2013

I always look forward to this time of year, not for the holidays (sure, spending time with relatives I rarely see is nice) as much as because of my annual planning ritual.

Without a map it is much harder to reach your destination.

I have friends who fly by the seat of their pants, and it is scary to imagine what they'll do when they are no longer able to work for a living.  There's no planning for retirement.  Heck, they barely plan for next month.  Then I have friends who set measurable goals.  Guess which of my friends are best prepared for rainy days?

My map adjusts for traffic.

My goal setting combines financial, physical and fun goals.  It is flexible enough to allow for changes when life presents detours, yet challenging enough to keep pushing me to be a better person.  Most of the goals are financial-related because it takes money to do the fun things, so if I meet my financial goals I should be able to do the fun things I would like to do.

Around the end of the year I will have firm goals and will publish them here.  Here's a sample of what I am working on:

• Weight loss (at least 25 pounds)
• Increasing my Net Worth (by better than I did in 2012)
• Lowering Utility Expenses
• Decreasing Debt

By setting short term (month-to-month), medium term (annual) and long term (lifetime achievement) goals, I have purpose.  I can measure my progress and feel either success or failure.