Learning to budget and setting specific goals is crucial in order to become financially stable, or even proficient while working with money.  When you’re thinking about setting goals, you should follow these steps.

First, you should focus most of your attention on goals that take higher priority.  To do this, most of your less important, yet probably more desirable, goals should be placed on hold, as they often tend to be a result of taking care of primary goals.

Second, be prepared for conflict.  When two worthy goals are at odds with each other, you should ask yourself some basic questions such as: which goal will benefit more people than the other? Or: which goal will be more detrimental?  Writing the pros and cons down for each goal is a good exercise to help you decide which one is more important.

Third, time should be on your side.  The more time you have, the easier it will be to attain success.  Age plays a big role in this, since investments tend to vary between older and younger people.  Risks are often taken amongst the younger crowd, since they generally have a shorter investment horizon.

Fourth, don’t forget about your family.  Significant others, spouses, and even children should have a say in your goal-setting regime, as it often affects them just as much as it affects you.

Fifth, choose wisely.  Make sure you are looking for goals that will result in satisfaction and financial security. Getting out of debt is a great goal to start with, as is beginning to build an emergency fund.

Sixth, begin as soon as possible.  Setting goals means intricately knowing your finances.  It takes time and commitment, you should not have high result expectations if you do not have knowledge of your own financial situations. Don’t put off organizing your finances any longer, the time is now.