The top 10 important money goals for 2021

Are you wondering what are the best things you can focus on this year to boost your financial situation? Here are my top 10 important money goals that you should try in 2021. A lot of these I have done myself and others I am starting to implement myself.

When I started learning financial literacy in my early 20’s, I didn’t know what I should focus on first. I didn’t know what I absolutely needed to get done before I started investing for my future. In this blog post I have created 10 SUPER beneficial goals for anyone to follow from starting their financial journey to anyone in the midst of generating wealth.

Here are the top 10 important money goals for 2021

Money Goal #1

The first strategy is creating a side hustle. If you haven’t heard this about 1 million times already, I don’t know what you’re doing. I know it may seem harder to actually do than say but the reality is that if you do not have any other source of income except your 9-5 or 1 stream of income, you’re doing it wrong. benefits of having more than one stream of income are:

• More flexibility in your decision making
• More freedom to do what you want
• The ability to depend on yourself instead of your employer

Some ideas that cost very little to start is uber & uber eats, doordash, instacart, babysitting, dog sitting, tutoring, cleaning homes, etc. These side hustles are not luxurious BUT they allow you to create some type of income while you build what you truly want to do.

Money Goal #2

The Second goal is to create a yearly overview for 2021. Use a spreadsheet to log your expected income every month and all bills and expenses. This will allow you to see with a birds-eye view your financial picture. It will also tell you how much money you are capable of saving at the end of the year.

When we make financial goals, it’s important to look at the entire picture, For example, what if you want to save $5,000 this year but after doing the math, you will only have $3,000 to save. This shows that in order to reach your goal of $5,000, you will have to create some type of side hustle to at least make an additional $2,000 to reach your initial goal of $5,000. I know it sounds like a lot of work but I promise it will only take about an hour of your time to get all the information in order.

Doing a yearly budget overview also allows you to plug in yearly dues that only come out once a year and that will show you which months you will have more expenses. Let your budget work for you, but you have to figure out the ins and outs first.

Money Goal #3

The third goal is to create savings and debt goals. Make sure to make all your goals SMART goals that way you can track your goal at any given time. Simply saying I want to save more or I want to pay off debt is not enough. How much do you want to save and by when? how much debt do you want to pay off and by when? That way you know how much to save each month, considering your yearly overview. Here you can create an emergency fund if you don’t already have one or create a goal to increase your emergency fund by $2,000.

Savings and debt goals are a lot of fun and create a challenge for you to accomplish. After reaching any savings/debt payoff goals, always treat yourself to some type of reward. This will keep you motivated and keep you striving for more. Also, consider having a visual tracker so that you can see where you started and how far you have gone. This simple little trick helps you stay the course.

Money Goal #4

The fourth goal is to try and create sinking funds if you haven’t already. Saving for something you know is going to cost you a lot over time makes it easier. I would rather save $50 every 2 weeks from January to November than try to buy $2,000 worth of Christmas gifts with my last paycheck of the year (and not paying bills on time and having to play catch up for weeks into the new year).

$50 every two weeks isn’t scary and will not make or break my budget. Sinking funds can literally be anything from Christmas to a summer vacation. It takes a small amount of money every time you receive income and it will alleviate so much stress in the long run.

Money Goal #5

The fifth goal is to create a monthly budget that you can actually stick to. Add your monthly expenses from your yearly overview, your savings goals, and any variable spending that you have within the month. I know this may seem unnecessary since you created a yearly budget but, this will make your goals smaller and much more attainable since you are only planning 1 month.

Consider holidays, events, and birthdays. When you have a plan for your money, it becomes easier to follow. You will also have an easier grasp on everything.

Money Goal #6

The sixth goal is to create a paycheck budget. the third budget so far! lol ok, I promise this will be the last budget BUT it’s the most important one because this will tell your money what to do between today (the day you get paid or receive income) to the next time you receive income. If you don’t have a plan to follow for this time period, your monthly budget and your yearly budget will not coincide or work for that matter.

This budget creates a much smaller goal for you to follow and you can easily digest it. Just like the monthly budget, consider holidays, events, and birthdays. All of this information is already on your monthly budget, it’s just making it smaller and smaller.

Money Goal #7

The seventh goal is to research your retirement and investing opportunities if you haven’t done so. If your current employer offers options for saving for retirement with a company match, you should take advantage of it regardless if you are in debt. That’s free money your leaving on the table that can compound over years.

If you’re self-employed or your employer does not offer a retirement plan, consider looking into a Roth IRA or SEP IRA. You can start investing with as little as $50 a month. I know that sounds like a small amount, but over time it will grow. If you’re interested in cryptocurrency or individual stocks, do your research before starting. I recommend diversifying your portfolio with all different kinds of investments.

Money Goal #8

The eighth goal is to work towards a good to great credit score. This is a controversial topic as some people believe that you don’t need good credit but I firmly believe that your credit is very important for many different scenarios. I for one have had bad experiences within my life because of my then bad credit score.

I wasn’t able to move into the apartment complex I wanted to, my car insurance was very high because of my score, and I had to pay a high-interest rate on my first car and drastically overpaid for my car. It’s not cute nor is it fun to go through any of those things. Take some time to learn different credit improving tips if you aren’t already at good or great credit. I promise your future self will thank you.

Money Goal #9

The ninth important money goal is to start creating plans and budgets for bigger purchases that you plan on obtaining sometime in your life like buying a home, a car, an investment property, a business, or even a family. You will never be ready with what life throws at you BUT it’s a little easier when you have some sort of plan written out. Big decisions and big life changes are best thought out when you write it out and think every scenario through.

If you do not start saving for these big goals in 2021, that is totally ok. If you change your mind a thousand times, that is also ok. The point is to take it out of your mind and onto paper to outline what you want to obtain.

Money Goal #10

The tenth important money goal is to read a financial book every month, read finance news every day, or keep a ready list every week to continue to stay updated on all things money. It is so crucial to stay up to date on what is going on around the world because everything, directly and indirectly, affects your money.

Learning new ways to optimize your income and creating new lines of income is always a great idea. You never want to stay stagnant in this ever-changing world. Always keep your financial strategy simple but never stop learning.

There you have it, my top 10 important money goals for 2021. I guarantee that these 10 money goals can and will move you toward your financial goals. The most important thing you can do is stay consistent. You are the only one that can make the decision to change your finances. It’s not easy but it is totally worth it.

To recap, here are my top 10 important money goals for 2021

• Creating a side hustle
• Create a yearly budget overview
• Create savings & debt goals
• Add sinking funds to your budget
• Create a monthly budget
• Create a paycheck budget
• Start researching investment strategies for retirement
• Work on your credit score
• Create and plan big purchases and or life changes
• Read 1 financial literacy book every month

Other helpful resources:

PIN THIS IMAGE

Posted By: Jennifer · In: Budgeting, Building Wealth