Your time frame

When you’ve identified the goals that are most important to you, the next step is thinking about the timing.

You might try creating a chart that looks something like this one to help you organize:

	Short term (2 years or less)	Mid term (2 to 10 years)	Long term (More than 10 years)

Comfortable retirement			2035

Buying a home	2008

Child’s education		2015

Starting a business

Short-term goals are things you’d like to accomplish within the next year or two, such as buying a home, paying off college debt, or building an emergency fund.

Medium-term goals are plans you’d like to see realized within the next two to ten years, perhaps paying off your mortgage, starting your own business, or sending a teenager to college.

Long-term goals are objectives ten years or more in the future. Some long-term goals might be planning for a newborn’s college education or having enough money to retire comfortably.

Louise Yamada,
Managing Director,
Louise Yamada Associates

Louise Yamada discusses how your time frame to meet your goals is individual.

Your time frame also depends on your priorities: For instance, some people want to retire as soon as possible, while others hope to work well into their 70s or beyond.

Remember that no goal is by definition short, medium, or long term. Retiring might be a long-term goal for a 30-year-old, but a short-term goal for a 60-year-old. Similarly, putting away enough money for your child’s college education may be a long-term goal when your child is a toddler, but a short-term goal when he or she is 16.

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