S.M.A.R.T.E.R.

Happy New Year! It’s the time of setting goals for the coming year….and hopefully follow through with them. It’s a good time to set financial goals, such as setting up a budget, building savings, paying off debt, or improveing your credit score. When making a goal, put it through the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals steps:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timely
• Evaluated
• Revised

For example, if your 2011 financial goal is to pay off an auto loan, go through these steps:

• Be specific—How much is the car loan?
• Make it measureable—How much will you need to pay monthly?
• Is it attainable—Does your spending plan allow you to be able to pay that much each month towards your loan?
• Is it relevant—Is this a loan that you feel needs to be paid off this year? Can you afford to pay it off?
• Time—Are you giving yourself enough time to pay off the loan? Do you need more time?
• Continued Evaluation—Evaluate monthly how you are doing. Are you able to pay how much you need to monthly? Are you on track to pay it off this year?
• Make revisions—Did something change where you can’t pay as much or you could possibly pay more?

Now, after looking at this example, look at your 2011 financial goal. Put your goals through these steps to help keep you on track!