Goal Planning is an attempt to align one’s Financial Goals (Personal
& Family Goals), with the investments that one makes, to ensure that they
are able to realize the goals when the time’s ripe. Here are a few examples of
common life-goals that I can think of: Children’s
Education, Marriage, Retirement, House, Car, Family Holidays, etc. Some of
these Goals like Buying a Car or Going on a Family Vacation are negotiable and hence flexible in nature, whereas others such
as Retirement, Children’s Education, Marriage etc. are non-negotiable and thus less
flexible. However, because of the high emotional value associated with
non-negotiable goals, these happen to be very close to our hearts. In-fact it
is these non-negotiable Life-Goals that lend meaning to our existence; and it
is for this very reason that Goal Planning assumes real significance.
Although the idea of Goal Planning may sound very appealing to the mind,
in practice, this is something most individuals and families fail to implement.
In the absence of a goal based investment plan, most individuals and families
simply choose to go with a random, unstructured approach to investing i.e. identifying a few efficient
instruments and deploying all their life-savings into them. However, when investments
are not linked to specific non-negotiable life-goals, there is a strong tendency
among individuals and families to dip into their investments from time to time,
either to meet their short term entertainment and leisure needs or to fund
unforeseen financial crises. When such withdrawals take place frequently, they
eat into their savings & investments, thereby jeopardizing their Goals.
On the contrary, when investments are linked to a specific life-goals,
the propensity to break them for purposes other than the ones planned, goes
down drastically. For instance, If I’m
investing for my daughter’s higher education, a goal very close to my heart, I
would neither break the investment, nor
would I make unplanned withdrawals from the investment pool under any
circumstances. Same is the case with every other significant life-goal such
as Retirement, Marriage, etc. Thus, our commitment to life’s important goals, helps
us develop a deep sense of investment discipline; one of the key attributes for
achieving long term investment success. Disciplined Investing over a long term
period also helps us reap the rewards of compounding and ultimately leads us to
Financial Well-Being.
About the author
Deepak Rameshan,
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERCM, Dip TD, MMS
Deepak Rameshan is a CFPCM professional, and has been working in the financial services domain for close to 13 years. He holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies and a Diploma in Training & Development and has been actively engaged in Training & Content Development during this period. As a Personal Finance Enthusiast and an avid researcher of the subject, Deepak has delivered several Investor Awareness Workshops over the years covering areas such as Risk Planning & Insurance, Retirement & Goal planning, Tax Planning and a few other specialized areas. He takes keen interest in writing and has penned numerous articles for this blog, addressing some of the most relevant concerns that individuals face with respect to their finances. “Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. (FPSB Ltd.) is the proprietor of the CFPCM, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERCM and marks outside the United States, including in India, and permits qualified individuals to use these marks to indicate that they have met FPSB Ltd.’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.” Watch this space for more insights on Personal Finance…