Plan the end is not doing funeral arrangements, although I have thought of writing my own eulogy. Perhaps, that is a little too controlling! Would you buy an airline ticket without knowing the destination? Would you get on a bus, if you did not know where it was going? Many young people enter college for all the wrong reasons. Some day you will want to retire and you need to plan for it.
I cannot imagine writing a book without having some idea about the ending. Yet, many people start careers and rarely think about their career or lives after their career. If you ask a young person who just graduated college or finished some other training, they will say that is forty (40) years from now. It is so far off; they do not think they have to do anything now about it. It as though they are talking about someone else. That someone else is old and is not on the radar. They are worried about student debt, relationships and finding their first home.
Those are the facts as they see it. I remember seeing a scene in my favorite (Jim Thorpe All American) movie when Jim runs away from school. Mom wants Dad to beat him so he will go back to school. Instead Jim’s Dad asks him what he sees when he looks at the fields. After Jim responds, his Dad tells him it is a child’s perspective. He points out how school will help him do more. He assures his father that he will go back to school. No beating needed!
A little adult guidance does wonders with young people. So as the (senior) adult in the room, I want to help you plan your end. A good beginning will mean a good ending. It is a little like a story. I start with a good title, then a beginning, middle and an ending. If you like it, you might come back and read a few more articles. Since I am offering information as well as a story, I want to influence your thinking. It wouldn’t hurt, if you took the advice and make your own action plan.
Setting goals can take the vagary out of dreams and make them reality. I particularly like goals and a plan to achieve those dreams and fantasies. I recently wrote an article called, Progress Is Never a Straight Line, but you must plan to achieve success. Planning is an overused term! Is it planning when you think about something? When you set a goal, you need to develop a (action) plan to make it happen. A plan is a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.
An action planis a sequence of steps or activities that must be taken or performed to succeed. A good action plan should have specific tasks, a time line and resource allocation. I would also add monitoring your progress and adjusting your effort to meet milestones or goals. Planning your end may be tomorrow or years from now. Thinking about the end is far off is a little like procrastinating. Procrastinating about retirement is easy because it is so far off or is it? Do you really want to work forty (40) years until you retire?
If you are not thinking about this end (retirement) early, you will have to work forty (40) years until you retire, if at all. You should plan your retirement just like you plan your career! You did plan your career, didn’t you? Whether you went to college or some other post secondary training, you should have spent time thinking where this training was going to lead you. What were your expectations? What are you doing to get yourself ready for that promotion? Are you learning skills and gaining experience for the next opportunity? If you are not thinking about the future or the end, you will not achieve it!
I think more people think about what will happen at the end of a date than how their career will end. I am reminded of a scene in The Graduate where an adult asks the main character Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) what his plans were now that he graduated (Princeton). Benjamin didn’t know and the adult offered advice of one word “plastics”. You then see Benjamin floating in the pool on a raft. What a metaphor! He was floating in the pool aimlessly because he had no goals or plans. Are you Benjamin? Did you plan for retirement or are you planning for failure?
Final Thoughts
Plan you end or you will be doomed to failure! Planning should be part of your daily effort to reach or achieve goals. It ranges from your education, career, goals, dreams, buying a home, personal finances, family and retirement. If you do not plan, how will you achieve your goals? Planning for the unexpected may mean having emergency savings, but retirement and your career can be planned. What are you doing? Plan the end or plan for failure!
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Carnivals:
Carnival of Retirement at Investing Money
Carnival of MoneyPros at Making Sense of Cents
Y and T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Plan the end or plan for failure!
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{ 22 comments }
I’m all about setting goals, although I tend to look fairly short term (1 to 6 months). I think when i set my 2013 goals I will put in a few long term goals say 20-30 years type time frame.
I focus on short term goals, but in concert with long term goals. I take the big goal and break it down.
I agree. IMO, you need short, medium, and long-term goals to get where you really want to be. The short and medium help you achieve successes – which will keep you motivated.
I take any goal and break it down to what I need to do each day. It makes it easier to accomplish and fits into my long range goals.
Great post! I like to break goals down as well to short, medium and long term goals. Saving for retirement is great and I have a plan in place for it, but it does not happen overnight. You need to have a plan in place for the steps you take along the way and have vision for what those next steps will be. Otherwise, as you said, you’ll just be aimless.
I like to put my retirement savings and regular savings on automatic. That way it takes care of itself and placed it on a priority.
Good points, Krant! Last year about this time I published an article about planning from the future – realising that not deciding on the ‘end’ irrespective of our present and than working back has made me change how I ‘plan’ and has been very productive.
And I did, write my own eulogy that is. It says: ‘She lived so that everything that could have been said in her eulogy is absolutely true.’
I wrote my best friend’s eulogy and then gave it to his wife (widow). I realized how powerful words can be and I thought about writing my own.
My approach to planning is to figure out what outcome I am trying to achieve. I then break it down to daily/weekly/monthly tasks to achieve it. It just seems logical to me.
How do we plan for it? I am saving as much as I can for retirement, am I doing enough?
What is enough? Do you need $3k, $4k or more per month to live the way you want. Start with what you want and how you plan to live in retirement. It doesn’t matter if it is 10 years from now or 30 years. Figure out approximately what it may cost and work backwards. There are retirement calculators that will help. I know Fidelity has a pretty good one. I am a strong believer in multiple income streams. In my calculation I use Social Security and my pension as an important part of the fixed income portion. I use my IRAs, brokerage accounts and Roth IRA as my growth and income portion. Since I expect to live 30 years in retirement and I will retire at 71 years old, I plan to withdraw at a 3% rate. I also expect to keep a very low cost lifestyle. I have done this my entire life. For example, $5K per month (w/o debt) will sustain a very comfortable lifestyle and I have that more than covered with Social Security and my pension.
I love this. I agree that if you don’t have an end plan, you will just keep working and then you’ve worked your whole life away. Set some goals. The worst that can happen is you have to postpone them. You’ll never get there if you don’t have any.
Everyone needs to work for something. Every company gas goals! I don’t understand how people do not have goals.
Yes it’s all about specifics when it comes to action plans. Just like how you can’t have a real budget without actual real numbers. I love making goals and I try to be detailed when I set them but I think there’s always room for improvement, especially when I haven’t completed them.
After you set goals, you need to monitor your progress. The goals are only as good as your action plan. Last keep yourself accountable for your goals too.
Goals are important as long as they are realistic and they are adaptable. Each day can bring new strides and/or setbacks so it’s wise to revisit those plans intermittently in order to keep them current. Just don’t get bogged down with the idea of planning every single minuscule aspect of life or it (life) will pass you by.
Plan for the big things and the things that matter.
Thanks for the great post. I am in the process of refining goals for myself so I don’t feel like I am wasting my days or not doing things I want to do. Hopefully I will feel more successful in 2013.
Take your goal and break it down into daily tasks. Completing your daily tasks can make you feel successful. Good luck.
Great post, goals are instrumental in getting anything worth while done. I’m not sure who said it so I can’t give proper credit but a great quote is “A goal without a plan is only a dream!”
I have often said that, but I am sure I am not the first. No goals equal treading water.
An awesome reminder of the value of goals. Both broader vision and specific steps/targets to get there.
Thanks, it certainly appeals or uses my planning skills.