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Financial Goals vs Financial Dreams



INTRODUCTION

I still remember being asked what my financial goals are, and replying with something along the lines of wanting to be rich and travel the world. The person I was talking to simply smiled and said, 'That's not a financial goal, that's a financial dream'. This one sentences stuck in my mind.

Have you ever tried to make a commitment to save more money, or improve your financial situation somehow, and then silently forgotten about it after a month? If you did, you were just thinking about a financial dream, not a financial goal. Once you distinguish between the two, everything else will fall into place. Here is a simple guide for you to understand what sets financial goals and financial dreams apart.


WHAT IS FINANCIAL DREAM



A financial dream is simply a vision of what you want your life to be like financially one day. It could be something as simple as buying a home, to something as complex as never having to check your bank account before buying groceries again. You probably have more financial dreams than you realise, and they are all incredibly important.

However, they are also very vague about what you need to do in order to reach them.

The truth is,

Financial dreams are good because they motivate you to want to achieve them some day, but they don't do a great job at telling you how to actually go about achieving them. Dreams are very powerful, but they are also fickle in the sense that 'some day' can come and go without warning

FINANCIAL GOAL



A financial goal is essentially a dream with substance. You can't achieve a dream, but you can accomplish a goal.

A financial goal should have a specific number tied to it, as well as a deadline for when you want to reach that number. There should also be a loose plan in place for how you intend to meet your goal, even if the plan is a simple as investing in a particular stock every month

The important thing is that your goal tells you where you want to be, and what you specifically need to do in order to get there.

WHY ARE DREAMS AND GOALS ARE OFTEN MIXED UP?

To be fair,

Dreams do sound nicer than goals

You might also be tempted to keep your dreams as goals simply because having a vague goal which you never reach is better than having a specific one which you can miss.

It's important to keep in mind, however, that goals are necessary for achieving financial stability, and that dreams will never get you there on their own.

One of the reasons why it's so easy to confuse the two is because social media makes us believe that everyone is already living their dream lives

We tend to see posts about people buying cars and houses, getting passive income streams set up, or doing whatever else their hearts desire, but nobody ever talks about how those things came about. Most people don't post about the boring but necessary financial goals which got them to where they are today. In other words, nobody talks about the daily grind required to live that exciting dream life.

When it comes to financial goals, however, it's crucial to remember that goals are what actually gets you results. That being said, goals are nothing without dreams. 

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT DISTINCTION?

There are many people out there who are unable to achieve their financial goals because they have never distinguished their financial dreams from their financial goals. These people are living their lives in a constant state of confusion, because they try to follow the same process for both things which are completely different.

As a result, people are unhappy with their financial situations, because they tried to make their dreams come true for years and nothing changed. The thing is, wanting something badly is not enough for you to succeed; discipline and structure are

You can have the biggest and best financial dreams in the entire world, but none of them will ever come true if you don't know how to break them down into simple financial goals. As soon as you distinguish your financial dreams from your financial goals, something in your head will click and everything will change for the better. You will no longer feel guilty about not being able to accomplish what you wanted, because you will realise that dreams are exactly what they sound like - dreams

That is why they need to be turned into goals before you can actually do anything about them. This simple distinction can do wonders for your financial mindset.

Dreams means feelings and Goals are Plan

Dreams give you direction, and goals give you the specific steps required to get you somewhere. You need both, but you should mainly be focused on the latter when it comes to your finances. Make sure to always use the five-step process when you're turning your vague ideas into real financial goals, and always review your existing financial goals if you want to make sure you're on the right track.

CONCLUSION

Financial dreams give your life meaning, while financial goals give it structure. You genuinely can't have one without the other, but if you had to choose which one to prioritise, choose your financial goals. Let your financial dreams stay pretty and vague in the background, and let your financial goals do the hard work so you can actually achieve something meaningful one day.

The next time somebody asks you about your financial goals, try not to be vague. If you want to be able to achieve your dreams some day, you need specific numbers tied to specific deadlines. That way, you will finally have something to work towards, and your dreams will stop being just that - dreams.


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