Personal Finance

Strategies for goal setting

“Run the race in such as way as to attain the goal.” Philippians 3:16

There are a number of strategies you can use to motivate yourself to achieve your goals. It is all about what works for you for what may work for one person may not necessarily work for someone else.

It is in the sporting arena that you will see goal setting quite common. A lot of sports people will tell you that theyu do not intentionally go out to break records, it just happens but then a lot of them do use strategies to motivate themselves.

Athletics and fun runs/road races have been my sports in the past. I remember one 10k road race I did where I felt rather lethargic during the first half of the race-this was at the Isle of Bute Highland Games at Rothesay in Scotland in 2011. At the half-way point, I decided to challenge myself to see how many other runners I can overtake during the rest of the race. I manage to pass 22 runners.

As an athlete or rather a former athlete, I know that satisfaction of reaching one’s goals whether that be running a personal best or just completing the race. To me it all depends on the circumstances. I have come back from serious muscle strains which have put me out of action for over a year and on my first race back I may set myself a target of just completing the race and as my fitness increases my goals will be more demanding.

It is important to keep in mind that you are running your race and you should not allow others to determine how you are going to run it. No one can run your race for you. It is all well and good to take advice but you must still take responsibility for how you are running this race we call life. Once again I will use a race I competed in as an example.

It was 1998 when I competed in a vets 1500m race in Aberdeen. There were just four of us in the race and according to the form book I was expected to finish third. Two of the entrants beat me in a 1500m race a month earlier. On that occasion they ran past me in the last 200m. On this occasion I was confident of causing a surprise as I was a lot fitter and was in that zone but I knew I would have to make sure the pace was strong because if it was a slow pace and a sprint home then I was done as the other three were faster than I was.

Prior to the race, One of them asked me how I was expecting to go, I replied, “I’m just going to play it by ear” but I knew exactly how I was going to run the race.

“On your marks, set, bang.”

The race was under way and I dropped back to last place waiting to see if any of the others will set a strong pace but I was cruising with such a slow pace being set and it stayed the same for the first 400m and I decided that I will have to set a stronger place but waited until we reached the straight so as not to cover any extra ground then I looped the field and took over with about 900m to run and gradually increased the pace. This continued for a lap and as we reached the “bell” lap I was full of running that I really make sure that never left anything on the track  and opened up a lead on the others. At the 200m mark I still had lots to give but heard footsteps behind me but dare not look back and in the last 100m I had my eyes fixed firmly on the tape and crossed the line in front. I felt so good that I could have gone another lap.

This is a good example of running your race in such a way as to win the prize. Life is like that, you have to run your own race as not all of us have the same calling.

It is important to start small when setting your goals and then when you have accomplished your goal set yourself a more challenging task.

My old headmaster at primary school told us of how a runner started from scratch. In those days there were telephone poles along the road and as the headmaster was saying, this runner jogged to one telegraph pole then walked to next one, jogged to one telegraph pole then walked to the next one etc. after a week or so, he jogged to two telegraph poles and walked to the next one etc. After a week or so, he jogged to three telegraph poles then walked to the next one etc. After a period of time, he was fit enough to jog the entire distance without stopping to walk.

Your personal goals and where you are at in terms of fitness and health will determine what your goals are if you decide to take up running.

You have to be realistic and start from whatever position you are in but at the same time not fall into the trap of believing that your circumstances are your lot in life. The same headmaster who told us about the telegraph pole training method also said there is no point in doing all of your training on the one-day and not train for the other six days of the week because you will be stiff and sore for days the next day. It is best to take your time and do a little each day.

A lot of people set a goal to give up smoking on 1st January and for those people these next two stories may give you some encouragement.

Years ago a lady told us how she was a 70 cigarette a day smoker. She cut down on cigarettes by one smoke day day so that after the 70th day she had finally given then up and has been a non-smoker ever since.

A girl I worked with in Aberdeen told us that her nan had given up smoking and had put the money she would have otherwise spent on cigarettes and had bought an item of furniture once she had saved enough. My colleague told us that her nan can see all of the stuff she had bought with money that she would have previously spent on cigarettes.

People use different kind of strategies to motivate themselves to achieve their goals and it is what works for you that counts.

Happy goal-setting

Bob

www.robertastewart.com

The art of setting goals

To get anywhere in life you may have something to aim at because to aim at nothing will mean you hit your target every time. Your goal (s) may be personal, financial. Material, or humanitarian but whatever is you have to put some strategies in place in order to give you the best chance of a successful outcome because having a goal is one thing but deciding to do something about it is another altogether and that requires effort.

The first thing you need to do once you have established what the desirable outcome is (your goal), the next thing is to decide what steps you need to take in order to make your goal(s) a reality. Unless you know where you are going you are not going to know when you have arrived. Imagine if you went to purchase a bus, train, or air ticket without naming a specific destination. Unless told the person who was selling you the ticket where you wanted to go they cannot help you.

Now let’s look at the different types of goals.

FINANCIAL GOALS

This can be a rather touchy subject with people unwilling to give up their pet spending habits or at least partially reign them in to enable them to achieve a better financial outcome for themselves and their families. Achieving your financial goals can be just a matter of transferring your spending in one area to a more productive area. It is not for me to tell you what you need to give up in order to achieve a better financial outcome for yourself but in order to know where your money is going you need to do some kind of stocktake on what you are spending your money on.

PERSONAL GOALS

These are goals that are important and meaningful to you. A good example of a personal goal would be “To learn a new language.” Another would be “To obtain my driver’s license.”

MATERIAL GOALS

These are things you won, an example of a material goal would be “To save up to buy a car.”

HUMANITARIAN GOALS

This is a goal to get involved in some cause that is meaningful to you. I don’t think anyone who has ever got involved in a cause suddenly woke up one morning and thought to themselves “What cause shall I get involved in today?”  A humanitarium goal is established by some events that triggers your heart strings. It may be something you saw on TV and something you have experienced so it is better to leave this one open.

The basic rules of goal-setting is that they must be S.M.A.R.T goals-S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Achievable, R=Realistic, T=Timed

Specific means the goal has to be stated in specific terms! A goal such as “to lose weight” or “to save money” are not specific goals because there is no way of knowing whether you have achieved the goal. A specific goal would be to state how much weight you want to lose and how much money you want to save. Here are a few examples of unspecific and specific goals;

VAGUE GOAL                                                  SPECIFIC GOAL

Lose weight                                                     Lose 5 kilos in two months

Save money                                                     Save $1000 in 12 months

Improve my times                                           Run under 5 minutes for the mile

Once you have have specific goal, it is also a measurable goal. You will have something specific to aim for.

The goal has to be achievable, by that I mean through your own efforts. A goal of “to win the lottery” is not achievable because it cannot be done through your own efforts.

The goal has to be realistic but at the same time challenging. Only you can make that call. Be careful who you share your goals with because several dreamstealer’s will put limitations on you and expect you to live your life according to their viewpoint. What I am saying here is don’t sell yourself short.

There should be a timeline on when you want to achieve your goal by; this will prevent your goal from dragging on without any action being taken. Unless you give yourself a timeline which you want to achieve your goal by you will always run the risk of putting things off till tomorrow and fall back into old habits that you need to deal with in order to achieve your goal.

www.robertastewart.com

Getting financial advice

Should you get financial advice?

Well that all depends! If you have no savings behind you then is budget advice you need not financial advice. the difference between the two is that a budget advisor and teach you how to manage your money in order to live within your means while a financial advisor will advise you where to invest your savings.

You do not need to be cashed up in order to need financial advice. If you are just joining kiwisaver then you need advise on which fund to invest in and that is not something that you should be getting advice from some random person. Your bank or whoever your kiwisaver provider will provide to best information for you.

Financial advice of an any kind should never be a substitute for gaining financial literacy. If you have the discipline to save your money then the sense to put that money to work for you then it is your responsibility to decide on how to invest it. Some people ask for advice on financial matters only because they want someone to blame if things turn to custard.

During the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 there were a number of Financial companies that went bellyup and many people lost everything they had. The saddest part is that some had their entire life savings invested in the one company. Now I do not know where they got their financial advice from but I always thought that sensible investor knows that you do not place all of your eggs in the one basket. These people who lost their retirement savings must have been quite intelligent in order to have accumulated such a large investment portfolio but they were financially dumb or greedy, or both. What they were doing was similar to someone going to the races with a sum of money and betting all of their bank roll on the one horse.

I think someone who decides to place all of their eggs in the one basket really needs to take full responsibility for their own decisions and not blame others even if they did take advice that turned out to bad. After all it is your money and if you have decided to remain financially ignorant because you are too lazy to get yourself financially educated by reading different books on finance then you really have only yourself to blame if someone who made your choices for you turned out to make the wrong ones.

www.robertastewart.com

Bitcoin scam does the rounds

It had to happen sooner or later. Internet scammers using bitcoin to scam others. There was two cases reported on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand where they were targeted by bitcoin scammers. Both cases were identical where the scammers claimed that they had access to their passwords and webcam evidence that they had been accessing objectionable material online.

In the email, the victims were being black mailed in handing over an undisclosed sum of money. “Other people have reportedly claimed that demands for $1000 NZ of Bitcoins have been made and are to be paid into an account. If the demands are not met then the offender would share the evidence they have with the victim’s contacts.

As with other email scam, the low life’s send out thousands hoping that eventually someone will send them the amount they asked for. It is basically a numbers game.

Police have advised people not to hand over any money, ensure they had all the latest security and anti-viral measures in place and report such threats to the authorities in order that others may become aware of them. They should also regularly change their passwords.

Another piece of advice is to never respond to these people or they will never leave you alone.

Anyone who has been contacted by email with demands outlined here should contact the authorities in your country who deal with this kind of thing.

I have an ebook explaining everything you need to know about getting involved with Bitcoin. You can grab yourself a copy below;

www.robertastewart.com

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Kiwisaver for retirees (New Zealand only)

65 is the age of eligibility for New Zealand Super, the name given to the pension paid to New Zealanders. You also are able to access funds in your kiwisaver account at this age provided that you have been in kiwisaver for at least 5 years. For example, if you joined kiwisaver at 61, you will not be able to withdraw money from your kiwisaver account until you are 66. However if you became a member of kiwisaver say two years prior to reaching 65 and during that 2 years transferred money from another retirement fund into your kiwisaver account then the 5 year rule applies from the time you joined the other superannuation scheme. It is unclear whether this applies when you transfer money from an overseas retirement fund into your kiwisaver account.You are able to withdraw the whole lot from your kiwisaver account or just as you need it. If you withdraw the lot then your kiwisaver account will be closed and you will not be able to rejoin. Kiwisaver is such a great savings tool that it is worth keeping it open after your retirement.

If you continue working past 65 and remain in kiwisaver, you will not be eligible for the government tax credits ($520 max per annum) and your employer is not obliged to contribute to your kiwisaver account. You need to talk with your employer about making the employee deductions into your kiwisaver account though. There are three options, 2%, 4%, or 8% of your gross income.

there is a large number of retirees in New Zealand who were not born in New Zealand. many will be eligible for New Zealand Super. It will pay to check the eligibility criteria. there will be a number of retirees who were born in New Zealand but worked overseas for a time and have money in some kind iof superannuation scheme which that country has. It may well pay to have that money transferred to your kiwisaver account prior to retiring because if you receive money weekly from that superannuation fund then WINZ will deduct that amount from the amount you receive as your NZ Super.

This post is not intended as financial advice. It is advisable to contact your financial advisor if you have any questions regarding kiwisaver.

www.robertastewart.com

fixed term investments and finance companies

Written by Robert A. Stewart

Finance companies offer higher interest rates to their lender’s only because they charge higher interest to their borrower’s than the high street banks will do. This is because the customer’s of finance companies are usually those that the banks will not lend to because they are deemed to be at a higher risk of defaulting on their loans. These are the people that borrow for consumable goods that lose value and in almost all cases, the liability (the amount owing) is more than the value of the goods acquired. This is particularly so for motor vehicles and house hold appliances. Some of these companies will lend to property developers and this does not mean that since they finance company has an asset such as property to fall back on if the borrower defaults on the loan because there are cases where the property developer has gone into liquidation bring the finance company down with it.

During the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, many finance companies collapsed losing their investors millions of dollars out of pocket. The sad part is that many retired folk or those approaching retirement age lose their entire life savings after investing everything they had into the one company. These people broke of the most important rules of investing in that the placed all of their financial eggs in the one basket. I don’t know if any of them received financial advice or not but at the end of the day it is the responsibility of each individual to be a steward of their own resources and to educate themselves on financial matters.

So what are the main rules of investing with finance companies?

1.Do your homework first! This involves do an internet research, reading the financial section of the newspapers, and obtain their prospectus by writing, phoning, or emailing them for details.

2.Diversify, that means don’t put all of your money in one basket but spread your investments around several companies.

3.Invest in the larger companies because they will less likely to be affected by one major lender defaulting on their loan

4.Invest in companies that have stood the test of time and have been around the longest because they will have systems in place to deal with economic down turns as a result of being experienced in dealing with recessions.

Investing in finance companies can give you a good return on your money if you play your cards right but they should only feature as a minor part of your financial oportfolio and not all of it as the higher interest, as enticing as they may be, do not always compensate for the level of risk being taken by investors because the finance companies are out to make money, not friends and will pay as little interest as they are able to in order to temp investors but at the same time charge as much interest to their borrower’s in order to make a decent profit.

If you enjoyed this article, why not share it with others. You have permission to reprint and resell this article.

www.robertastewart.com

The advantages of saving

Having savings will make life easier later on down the road. Just think about these benefits of saving money that people who are spendaholics cannot take advantage of.

1.You are able to invest the money and grow your wealth. There are ample opportunities to invest your money and make it grow and if you are able to save your money, you can take advantage of these.

2.When you save up for something instead of using your credit card then yo save on interest repayments. People who buy stuff on credit are paying more than if they have paid in cash. During a person’s lifetime, this interest adds up to a fortune.

3.Having savings behind you gives you more options. If you spend everything you make then when the time comes that you may lose your job, you are inhibited by your lacks of resources. People with savings behind them are able to move to another city in order to find work.

4.When an emergency arises such as dental repairs, car break down, family occasion such as a wedding or funeral, you are in a better position to deal with it if finance is not a problem.

Saving money requires self-discipline and responsibility for your own finances and with a bit of planning and organization you can make life easier for yourself to cope with the financial hits that will occur from time to time.

www.robertastewart.com