 One of the biggest challenges people face when it comes to money is goal setting. In financial planning, I see this repeatedly: people can usually manage one or two goals at a time, but beyond that, things get messy.
It makes sense if you think about it. From school, we’re trained to think in short cycles of one year until the next exam, maybe two or three years for the bigger ones. Add in the natural tendency to focus intensely on just one or two things at a time, and it’s no surprise that setting multiple, long-term goals can feel overwhelming. The good news? It doesn’t have to be. Over time, I’ve developed different ways of helping people make sense of their goals, and one framework I particularly like comes from Carl Richards, a financial planning expert known for simplifying complex ideas. He distils goal-setting into four simple principles:
1. Goals Are Guesses The further out a goal is, the more it becomes an educated guess. You can’t possibly know what life will look like in 15 or 25 years, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. Take retirement as an example. If you’re 30 years away from finishing work, you can’t know the exact figure you’ll need to live a good life. But you can start moving in the right direction. That might mean:
2. Goals Are Flexible Many people give goals rigid deadlines. Miss the mark, and they feel like failures. But life doesn’t work that way. Things change, unexpected events crop up, and sometimes you need to pause, reset, or even abandon a goal. For example, you might aim to pay off a debt in two years instead of five. Great ambition. But maybe a few months in, you hit an unexpected expense. Instead of seeing this as failure, recognise it as life reminding you that flexibility is key. Pause for three months, then restart. The goal hasn’t disappeared, it’s just shifted. Flexibility is a strength, not a weakness. It means you adapt instead of giving up entirely. 3. Goals Are Personal This one seems obvious, but it’s where a lot of people go wrong. Your goals are yours - not your parents’, your neighbours’, or Instagram’s. We all know the “keeping up with the Joneses” effect. A neighbour gets a fancy barbecue, suddenly the whole street has one. Did you really want it, or were you swept along? A good practice is to review your goals regularly and ask:
4. Big Goals Require Small Steps Big goals can feel paralysing. Buying your first home, for example, is a huge undertaking. For someone in their twenties, it can feel so overwhelming that they don’t even start. But the reality is, every big goal is just a collection of small steps. Buying a home might start with:
Bringing It All Together Carl Richards’ framework is simple but incredibly effective:
If you keep these in mind, goal setting feels less intimidating and more achievable. You don’t need perfect answers today. You just need to start, stay flexible, focus on what matters to you, and take one step at a time. At Money Boot Camp, we help people in the messy middle - ages 25 to 55 - figure out their goals, prioritise them, and put practical steps in place to make them happen. Whether it’s buying your first home, paying off debt, or planning for retirement, the key is clarity and confidence. If you’d like help getting started, you can book your Financial Health Check with us today. It’s a simple, one-time assessment that gives you a personalised action plan to move forward with confidence. Comments are closed.
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