It’s not too late to figure out your financial goals. In fact, just because people think in terms of “resolutions,” it’s never a bad day to make some specific goals for yourself. So even though we might be a few weeks into January, if you’re anything like me, that doesn’t mean you’ve figured out this year’s plan quite yet. Lucky for us, some of our favorite money nerds were willing to share their financial goals for 2021. Read on below!
Jerry Brown
My number one goal for 2021 is to double my income. I plan on doing this by writing more freelance articles for high-paying clients. At the end of last year, I had a lot of success using LinkedIn premium to land some major clients. I believe this has put me in a position to earn the most I’ve ever earned in one year.”
Jerry Brown is the founder of Peerless Money Mentor, and a personal finance freelance writer with bylines in Bankrate, Business Insider, and more.
Our .02: We like that Jerry has a specific goal in mind: “double.” This makes the goal trackable. He can also create milestones during the year to check his progress and correct his course if his current plan isn’t working.
Check your goals. Are they specific?
Whitney Hansen
My #1 goal for 2021 is to build a geodesic dome as a short-term rental in the mountains of Idaho. I’m really excited to diversify my cash flow and create a fun/unique experience for people to enjoy.”
Whitney Hanson is the host of the popular Money Nerds podcast and personal finance coach who paid off $30,000 in 10 months.
While Jerry focuses on clients, Whitney’s goal is interesting in a different way: income from a rental property. Rentals are a great, more passive approach to making money. Sure, she’ll have to either hire someone to clean the dome or make repairs (unless she wants to do this herself), but once she has the property built, it’s largely money flowing into her pocket without much expense.
Are you working on any passive income goals?
Bobbi Rebell
My #1 financial goal for 2020 is to get my young adult kids fully on track to launch into their grownup lives with the confidence in their ability to manage their finances independently, and the humility to seek help in the times they need guidance.”
Bobbi Rebell is a Certified Financial Planner and host of the Financial Grownup podcast. Her book, Financial Grownup, was a bestseller in 2016. A sequel is on the way!
We love Bobbi’s goal because teaching kids to surround themselves with good money habits helps everyone! Bobbi and her husband will know that their kids are in a good financial position or at least have the skills necessary to reach their own goals. Plus, it’s easier to learn yourself if you’re teaching someone else.
Who are you teaching to be better with money? Would that help you learn more about money yourself?
Jim Wang
My #1 financial goal is to finally consolidate all of my investment accounts. I still have a few “leftover” brokerage accounts, such as my wife’s Roth IRA at TD Ameritrade, that I want to shift over to Vanguard, where I have the bulk of my investments. It’s something that doesn’t have a significant financial benefit but moving it helps managing it all slightly easier. I’m a big fan of simplification (and automation!) and it’s something I want to do more of this year.”
Jim Wang is the founder of WalletHacks.com, a personal finance blog that helps young professionals and new families better manage their money to live the life they want.
Jim nails this. Tracking your goals is impossible if you don’t have a clean dashboard to see how you’re progressing. When you go on a road trip, do you have five different dashboards, each with a different set of data? Absolutely not. You have one dashboard that tells you critical information.
What are you using to track your goal progress this year? Are you focusing on critical data?
Want more on goal-setting? Listen to these interviews for a deeper conversation:
- Building Habits That Stick (with James Clear) James Clear is an expert on habits, and his book Atomic Habits was a huge bestseller. We spoke with him about the process of forming habits that stick.
- Creativity, Collaboration and Innovation – Don Hahn, Lion King Producer Don Hahn was a Disney Imagineer before becoming a top producer of films, so he’s been on both sides of the creative landscape. How do you create actionable goals that are creative enough that you’re inspired to want to follow them? We spoke with Don specifically about this topic on this episode.
- You Can Have It All (with Romi Neustadt) Romi Neustadt has been leading people for a long time, and knows that when it comes to goal setting, smaller doesn’t always mean better. However, having it all might not mean what you think it does. On this episode, she dives into how you can have everything, and what “everything” actually means.
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