When you’ve got a vision, it’s really easy to get caught up in the excitement of what you’re aiming for.
You’ve got this picture on your wall or on your computer. You can see it all so clearly and you KNOW what you want to achieve.
But do you actually measure your progress towards those goals? To see whether you’re actually making any progress at all? And if not…where to even start?
That’s exactly what we’re talking, in this week’s blog. The crucial numbers to start tracking right now, to make SURE your wealth is on the right journey!
Having a visual reminder can be a brilliant way of knowing you’re making progress. It’s why you see those barometers on the side of church halls, when they’re raising money for a new roof. And every so often a guy goes up the ladder and colours the next bit in.
Visual reminders like this give you a simple way of knowing exactly where you are, help you stay on track and give you the motivation to keep going!
The first thing crucial number to look at is your net worth – the amount of money you’ve got in assets, once you deduct all the money that you owe to anyone.
You can do this on a piece of paper but I find a spreadsheet is easiest, that you can go in and update quickly and easily.
Set up a column and list out ALL your assets – like the home you live in; any other properties you own; cash in the bank; pensions; ISAs; all that type of thing.
And then do another column, which has got all the money you owe to people – like your mortgage; car loan; money on credit cards; student finance; overdrafts; anything you haven’t paid off yet.
Add up each column at the bottom. Deduct one from the other to see your net worth at a glance. THIS is a figure you should aim to track!
It’s up to you whether you want to look at it monthly, quarterly or annually. But over time, you want to be increasing the value of the assets that you hold. Because otherwise, all you’re doing is spending the money as fast as you earn it.
If you’ve got specific targets as part of your wealth plan, then make sure you’re tracking those too.
Let’s say you want to save a pot of £500,000 for your retirement.
Each year, have a look to see how much is in the pot. If it continues to grow at the same rate, will you have enough to reach your £500k target or do you need to make adjustments? Do you need to pay in a lump sum or increase the monthly contributions? Or do you need to look at investing in something that’s got the potential for more growth?
Sometimes the worst thing is not that you don’t have enough money…it’s the fact that you don’t know whether you have enough or not!
In the old days, people would buy a pension or investment and just leave it in a drawer for 20-25 years. If they were lucky, it paid out the amount they needed. If not, it was too late to do anything about it.
Luckily, financial advice has changed beyond recognition since then. And now most clients have an ongoing relationship with an advisor to keep an eye on things, track your progress and KNOW you’re moving towards your goals at the right rate, making little tweaks along the way where needed.
If you’re not working with a Financial Advisor for whatever reason, there are ways that you can do this yourself.
There’s loads of free online software out there now, to help you work out if you’re on track for the goals you want.
Say your goal is to repay your mortgage. Your current payments are £1,000 a month and your current balance is £200,000 still to pay.
If you want to work out how to pay it off more quickly, you could use a mortgage overpayment calculator to see the impact of paying an extra £200 or £500 a month (or paying off a bigger lump sum). There are lots of calculators you could use – the Money Saving Expert one tends to be easy to use – but if you Google it, you can find lots of other options.
You’ll also find basic retirement planning calculators online, to help you see if the pot you have and the amount you’re paying in will be enough for what you need in future.
Whatever your goals are – saving a pot of money, paying off your mortgage or anything else – you NEED to have a date that you want to achieve it by. And then it’s about taking action, to make sure it happens.
But along the way it’s also critical to track your progress. Otherwise how will you ever know if you’re on track, before it’s too late?
Which is why my signature coaching programme – The Wealth Builder Experience – now includes follow up and support over 6 months (with the option to add on further months of support), to keep you moving towards your big goals!
We’ll have an epic day in a lovely venue near where you live (so you don’t need to travel to London) and create a plan to grow your wealth. To buy your dream home or repay your mortgage and create a safety net that leaves you feeling totally protected. You’ll leave knowing exactly what to do and importantly how to track your progress!
Over the following 6 months, I’ll support you as you take action and tick things off your list. And then we’ll end with a celebration lunch (on me!)
So if you’d like some support to seriously grow your wealth and track your progress, every step of the way – you know where I am. Here’s how you can reach me, to chat it all through (or just message me on Facebook).
Here’s to taking control and REALLY knowing your numbers, to create the future you REALLY want!
Until next time,
Claire
