Personal Essay Example. Management: Finances and Goals

In order to achieve our life goals, the financial decisions that we make should be in line with both long-term and short-term goals. The financial choices often determine the quality of a persons life. Evidently, several agreements and adjustments should be considered to ensure effective financial management. One of the fundamental factors that crucial in financial decision making is planning. Planning with the amount of money that is available makes it easier to monitor the spending trend through appropriate budgeting. Budgeting not only involves noting down expenditure in the order of importance but also forecasting, tracking and making regular adjustments to the budget to accommodate changes. This is achieved through the development of a spending plan that helps in achieving life goals. This spending plan ensures that all the financial decisions made are appropriate and accounts for all fiscal spending irrespective of all the money used. This planning process is also enhanced by setting realistic goals that are achievable as well as selecting investments that would contribute to achieving long-term goals.

My life goal concerning employment is to work with an internationally reputable company. While working with such an organization, the chance of getting a high pay and enhancing my life is high. To achieve this goal, I will have to invest in my education to attain excellent grades that will attract such employment. This would mean adjusting my finances and channelling them to get a good education which will help to secure a job of my dreams. After obtaining such employment, I would then be keen to spend my money on professional development courses that are likely to assist in developing my career. Acquiring more skills makes it easier to access job promotions, a factor that often leads to financial stability. Additionally, this decision also improves performance in the workplace. A good employment will also offer me job security and other benefits like life and health which will contribute to enhancing my life goals. Such benefits will cater for needs that would have been paid from my savings or even wages.

Making financial budgeting decisions is essential in developing low spending as well as saving habits. While establishing my budget, the first decision I would make is ensuring that I allocate a more significant percentage of my finances to initiate good savings plan. This would be in line with the appreciation that savings form an integral part of financial management success. I would, therefore, come up with a budget that allows me to live within my means while addressing the basic needs, with what is left after savings. Such needs would include housing, education, access to health care. My savings will be channelled to such future life goals like acquiring better housing, starting big investments in areas like real estate, paying school fees for my children and adequately meeting the daily needs. The savings will offer a good security in cases of such things like emergencies that require urgent financial solutions.

I would also pay a specific minimum amount on my credit cards every month to ensure that I maintain a steady financial security. I would make deliberate efforts in using my credit cards wisely. Most people are often trapped in debts because of misusing credit cards. Credit cards also assist in tracking spending, and they can also be used to make budgeting plans more effective. I will also monitor my credit ratings to avoid bad ratings that may affect my financial stability.

One of the most important financial decisions about housing that I would make is to acquire a house in manageable mortgage terms. This makes it easy to keep financial management under control without incurring additional costs on housing. This would help me in ensuring that I spend less than 30 percent of my total income on housing costs and later on own the house. Buying a house is not always a better option especially if one's income is low. Spending a lot of money on housing might overstretch my finances which is most likely to affect the means on how to address other needs which would ultimately lead to financial instability.

I would decide to balance between housing and transportation costs. Evidently, I would decide to reside in an area not too far away from my workplace in order to minimize on daily transportation cost. Spending too much money on transportation or housing would, in the long run, affect the commitment to saving which would then put my future goals set to be met through the savings, at the risk of never realizing them all together. There is also a high chance of having to forgo some of my essential needs. I would, therefore, consider the cost of having to buy and insuring a car. I will strike a right balance by calculating the total amount of money that I will use for transportation while formulating the budget to avoid incurring additional grovelling costs.

In regards to grants and scholarships, I would focus on applying for grants more frequently and consistently to help in easing the pressure in paying for my school fees. I would, however, make plans to save some money to help offset the college fees without relying on grants as the only financial assistance to aid my education because the money is never enough. Once the applications go through successfully, I would ensure that I use the grants efficiently to avoid wastage by focusing on my studies to advance my career. I will also apply for scholarships early in order to secure a chance that will cater for my school fees thus saving the money that I would have otherwise spent on paying for school fees. As a result, I will keep the money for future investment. Applying for scholarships from private agencies and foundations has better returns and assists in payment of college fees.

In conclusion, it is with no doubt that to achieve life goals that I have, I must be ready to compromise on the current style of living and make adjustments that will help to reach the set goals.