9 Life-Changing Long Term Financial Goals Worth Setting

Are you stuck wondering, what are long term financial goals to have in order to reach financial success? When you don’t know where to begin, dealing with personal finances and heading towards the right path can seem impossible. However, life becomes a lot easier when you know what long term financial goals are worth setting and actually achieving.

Begin your path to financial success by being aware of the best long term financial goals to have!

Goals that can help you map out a life plan that guarantees you will achieve financial wealth.

As someone who has experienced the benefits of setting financial goals, I know of the top goals in life to achieve!

You will be learning about examples of personal finance goals you should be working towards at this very moment.

That way by the time you’re much older, you can be proud of all the long term financial goals you’ve accomplished!

This post is all about long term financial goals worth chasing to change your life for the better.

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Life-Changing Long Term Financial Goals

What Are The 3 Types Of Financial Goals And How Long Do They Last?

Most people are usually only aware of short term and long term financial goals.

However, the third type people need to know about are medium term financial goals.

Up first we have short term financial goals. These are ones that you can typically achieve in less than a year.

Next up we have medium term financial goals. These are ones that you want to achieve in one to five years.

Lastly we have long term financial goals. These are ones that you want to aim to accomplish in more than five years.

Though all three are equally important, we will be focusing on long term personal goals examples that deal with finances!

What Is A Long-Term Financial Goal?

Listed down below are long term financial goals examples to keep in mind as you’re making your own list of goals.

Especially if you’re looking for long term financial goals for young adults!

1. Purchase A Home

The most common long term financial goal almost everyone has on their list is to eventually settle down and own a home. In fact, some even see this as a “you made it” moment when it comes to financial achievements!

Why buy a home? For starters, it can turn out to be a very good investment in most cases. This is because a house is an asset that slowly, but surely, increases in value over time.

It is also beneficial to purchase a home if you’re planning to raise children with your partner one day. Not only will you have a lot of space to raise them, but you can also pass it down to them when the time comes.

When thinking about your future home, be very realistic with your expectations. I know it’s easy to dream big and want a huge home, but you don’t want to be stuck paying it off forever!

Get an idea of how much your desired home is going to cost and begin setting money aside. If you’re wondering, how much money should I save to buy a house? You typically want to have at least 20% of the sale price saved up for a house down payment.

Keep in mind that this is usually the minimum that is recommended. It never hurts to go beyond that percentage and save even more money!

This money will come in handy when it comes time for you to deal with home maintenance and repairs. As well as any other types of home emergencies.

2. Pay Off Student Loans

This next goal is one of the top financial goals for college students that can relieve a lot of stress.

Especially if you find yourself having to pay an arm and a leg for your college education. Not quite literally, but you know what I mean!

It’s no secret that having a degree opens up many doors that lead to you landing your dream job. A job that you not only worked so hard to obtain, but one that also pays very well.

However, depending on how many student loans for college you received as well as the total amount, you can find yourself paying high amounts of interest and fees.

Which can quickly add up when you don’t pay your student loans in a timely manner!

Meaning, you will have to pay more money than the original amount, which is want you want to completely avoid. So although you may be given many years to pay back certain loans, don’t take your sweet time doing so.

Instead, make it your priority to have a plan ahead of time. While in college, get a job on the side so that you can start paying off your loans ASAP!

When you finally finish college and move up to a higher paying job, use this as an opportunity to put more money towards paying off your loans. Keep doing this until you finally finish paying everything off so you can be completely free of student loans.

3. Eliminate Debt In Its Entirety

Similar to paying off student loans, debt is another one of those things you want to clear out immediately!

Debt is definitely something that can become a never ending headache if you’re only making the minimum amount of payments that are due. More so when you have multiple credit cards that you need to pay off.

The longer you take to pay things off, the more opportunity you give high interest rates to kick in and begin increasing the amount you will owe in the end!

You can begin by writing down the debt that you owe on each credit card along with their APR. This will help you decide whether you want to use the debt snowball or debt avalanche method to tackle your debt.

View each credit card as a short term financial goal. As you clear the debt off one credit card, think of this as you accomplishing one of your many short term financial goals!

Doing so will in turn motivate you to keep going until you no longer owe anything and reach your long term financial goal of eliminating all debt. Keep in mind that once you clear your credit card debt, things aren’t over just yet.

You want to then use ways to stay debt free so that you don’t end up in the same situation again. Trust me when I say that when you know you don’t owe anything, you sleep much better at night!

Related: How To Get Out Of Debt When Your Are Broke: 9 Must-Know Tips

4. Set A Career Plan

One of many long term financial goals for high school students should be to create a career plan. This essentially makes sure that you continue taking the correct steps to end up with your dream career!

Let’s say for example you want to become a registered nurse after graduating high school.

You can begin by taking a certified nursing assistant training so that you can get your foot in the door. Most certified nursing assistant courses are usually only a couple of months and teach you basic caregiving skills that help you become a successful nurse in the end.

After completing your course, aim to get a job so that you get the opportunity to work alongside registered nurses. This allows you to get experience seeing the many nurse duties and responsibilities they have.

From there, you can take the courses that you need to be able to enter a licensed vocational nurse program. This is a step above a nursing assistant and gives you the chance to practice a broader scope of clinical duties. It also allows you to make a bit more money, which is never a bad thing!

Finally, you can work your way towards achieving your long term goal of becoming a registered nurse. Out of the three of these, this career will land you some very high paying jobs.

By furthering your education and getting to the end of your career path, you have the potential to make the most money possible. Which means more money for you to use to achieve your other financial goals!

5. Maximize Your Earning Potential

Speaking of making the most money possible, when working, you should always aim to increase your earning potential!

One way to go about this is to see if your current job allows you to grow. Check with your boss to see if there are any positions above yours that you can transition to.

If there are certain courses you need to take first in order to move up, consider doing them. There might even be times where your employer is willing to reimburse you for the courses you take upon completion.

When this is the case, make sure to use this perk to your advantage as it will really pay off in the end!

Another way to go about this is to use the power of negotiation to your benefit. In order to do this, it helps to ask around and get an idea of what your coworkers that hold the same title as you currently make.

Once you have this information, you need to then think about what you as an employee bring to the table. Think of all the times you went above and beyond to do something that benefited the company.

After building your case, have a conversation with your boss to negotiate a higher pay rate. Though the worst thing they can say is no, it isn’t the end of the world.

You can always look for another job that is willing to pay you the amount you are asking for. This is something a lot of people do every couple of years and it works in their favor. So definitely an option worth exploring!

6. Become A Business Owner

It’s one thing to start a side hustle, but it’s another thing to become a full-fledged business owner.

If you currently have a side hustle going on or are thinking of starting one, make it your goal to put your all into it so that it can become a successful business!

Why should you become a business owner? Well, it not only allows you to become your own boss, but it also lets you follow your passion and make money doing the things you truly love.

The beauty about going this route is that it provides a way to make a lot of money that would otherwise not be achievable through just working a traditional 9 to 5 job.

One of many examples of financial goals for a business owner is to eventually make enough money to hire help. By doing so, it allows them to slowly reduce the amount of hours they work and begin enjoying financial freedom!

They’re able to do this by making passive income as well as increasing their streams of income. After all, the more streams of income a business owner has, the more money they will generate each month.

So what are you waiting for? Start one of the many side hustles to make passive income so that you too can experience the joys of being your own boss and becoming financially wealthy!

7. Improve Your Credit Score

If you didn’t already know, you basically need good credit for a lot of things.

What do you need good credit for? Here are just a couple of benefits of having a good credit score:

• Gives you a better chance of being selected when applying for an apartment.
• Gets you lower interest rates when you apply for credit cards, loans or a mortgage.
• Allows you to have higher credit limits which allows you to borrow more money.
• Gets you much better rates on car insurance.
• Makes you more creditworthy allowing you to negotiate better deals.
• Increases the chances of you skipping out on utility deposits.
• Provides you more employment options as some employers review your credit score as part of a background check.

For these reasons, make it your mission to take the time to improve your credit score. If you’re wondering how to increase credit score, here are some ways to do so:

• Keep your credit card balance low.
• Always make your payments on time.
• Limit new credit applications.
• Make sure that your current open credit cards are in good standing.
• If you notice any credit report errors, dispute them.

Using these ways to improve credit score helps you get your score to where it needs to be.

You typically want to aim for a score that is in the 750s for it to be considered very good. From there, keep using the methods mentioned in order to work your way up to a score of 800 and above for it to be considered exceptional!

Which ultimately proves to lenders right off the bat that you are an exceptional borrower.

8. Save For Retirement

A question that always seems to get asked by many is, what age should you start saving for retirement?

No matter what age you plan to retire at, you absolutely need to start saving way ahead of time. I always say that the sooner you start saving money, the better!

Even if you can only begin with little ways to save money like switching to a prepaid phone plan, saving loose change, having cheap date nights at home or bringing your own lunch to work, that is totally fine.

As time goes on, the amount of money you save will start to add up. Along with this, keeping your retirement in mind will help you adopt good money habits so that you make better financial decisions as the years go by!

Though you do receive money from social security when you’re retired, it’s almost never enough to completely cover all of your expenses.

By having plenty of money saved up when you finally do retire, you increase the chances of you experiencing an enjoyable retirement. One that doesn’t include financial stress stopping you from living your best life!

Related:

• 9 Absolutely Necessary Reasons To Save Money Starting Today
• 25 Of The Best Clever Ways To Save Money Like A Pro
• Ways To Save Money At Home – 31 Inexpensive Activities To Do

9. Master Your Money

To ensure that you are able to reach the long term financial goal of achieving financial freedom, you need to know how to master your money!

There are so many different ways to go about this. You can do things like read personal finance books, monitor your credit, check your finances regularly, and reduce your monthly payments.

However, one of the best ways to master your money is by understanding the importance of budgeting. Once you have a better understanding of this, you won’t be stuck wondering, why would someone create a budget?

Instead, you will want to create a budget so that you have an easier time getting your personal finances in order.

Luckily for you, I have a post going over the steps to take in order to make a monthly budget that actually works! If you’re interested in getting started, make sure to check out The Ultimate Guide On How To Make A Monthly Budget.

The minute you begin using your budget, you will see just how easy it is to track spending, pay off debt, save money every month and so much more!

Basically, all of the healthy money habits that instantly improve your finances so that you end up mastering your money.

This post was all about life-changing long term financial goals worth accomplishing that lead to a brighter future.

Now that you’re aware of these personal long term goals examples, you can start listing out your own!

You can even use a setting financial goals worksheet when listing out your long term financial goals.

This will help you remember to stay on track and hold yourself accountable at all times.

So now that you no longer have to wonder, what are some long term financial goals?

Make sure to get started today!

If you found even the tiniest bit of information from this post helpful, just know that it was made simply for you.