Do You Have a 5-Year Plan?

Do you have a 5-year plan? Planning (and then acting to make your plan a reality) is key when it comes to reaching your goals and making your money work for you.

But sometimes we get so caught up in what’s going on right now that we forget to give enough thought to the slightly more distant future.

If that describes you, consider setting up a 5-year plan. That can be the type of mid-range planning that keeps you on track for the real long term, while not seeming so far away as to be hard to visualize. (It’s a lot easier to picture what things might be like 5 years from now than it is it to imagine your life 30 or more years from now, for example.)

Set aside time on a regular basis

Really think about where you and your family want to be 5 years from now and how you’re going to get there — both financially and otherwise.

You could schedule this time to recur automatically in your calendar (say, every six months) or tie it to some sort of annual event (such as New Year’s or your birthday). That’s also a good time to evaluate the progress you’ve made to date, and to identify areas where you want to continue to improve.

Some of the things to consider are:

  • Where you want to live
  • Where you want to work/how you want to earn money
  • What you want to be doing in your spare time
  • How much you want to have in savings and investments
  • Major SMART goals you want to reach, both financial and otherwise
  • What you can take action on, specifically, right now that will get you to where you want to be

Keep in mind too that plans can (and very likely will) change over time. That’s another reason it’s good to review them regularly. There’s no rule that says your plans are set in stone. But if you don’t plan, you’re less likely to do and get the things that are really important to you.

What about you? Do you have a 5-year plan or some other sort of long-term plan? What have I left out?