Financial Planning

I recently took my first step towards financial frugality. In my last post about my first foray into personal finance, I listed my tabs on my daily spending, and posted up that spreadsheet. I have also tallied up my networth for the previous couple of months -- and I am wondering whether I should post that up or not. However, I am still not sure exactly what my next steps should be. I will try to plan out my steps, and try to divide them into short and long term goals in this post. Not only do I need to track my spending, but I also need to plan/save for my future expenses, and try to limit what I want to purchase, and maximize what I want to save. I also need to pay off my student loans, and set aside some money on a monthly basis for my parents monthly expenditures. What I also want to do is track my badminton progress. I am not sure exactly how to do that, but I think i'll allocate some time to trying to figure that out. I also have to start saving up for a car, but that will happen after I figure out how much I can afford to put aside each month, and how long I am willing to wait for the car. I also want to know how to design websites and use programming languages such as PHP and perl. In the age of computers, these skills are always an asset, and I think I have enough spare time even after excessively crazy amounts of badminton to work on these skill sets. I think setting goals are very important -- short and long term goals. These goals keep you constantly motivated, and through that, it becomes easier to realize your goals. The short term goals help to tell you that you're in the right path, and helps you to just suck everything up and just keep at it!

So here are my goals, which I shall categorize later:

1) Figure out Monthly Budget.
I need to balance my monthly budget, and make sure that I am living within my means. This entails adding up all my monthly expenses, and then allocating enough funds for each on a monthly basis. Since I'm been keeping track of my expenses, I should be able to do that pretty easily.

2) After figuring out budget, allocate money per month for the following future expenses:
- Buying my VW GTI
- Paying off my student loans
- Helping Parents out
- Some direct stock investment plan
- Buy a digital camera

3) Figure out a way to track my badminton progress.

4) Need to learn PHP, or Java -- and set up a webpage.

5) Pay off Home Mortgage.

6) I need to gather and file all my random paperwork (includes bills/notices/account statements etc etc)

Now that I look back at the above list, I think I need to make three categories: Short term, Mid term, and long term goals. So first up are Short Term Goals:

Short Term Goals(In order of importance):
- Figure out Monthly Budget
- Start helping out parents on a monthly basis
- File away all my paperwork, and organize them
- Save up for a Digital Camera

Mid Term Goals(In order of importance):
- Paying of my student loans
- Figure out stocks to invest in direct stock purchase plans
- Learn programming
- Figure out a way to track my badminton progress

Long Term Goals (in order of importance)
- Pay off Home Mortgage
- Save up for VW GTI

In my next few blogs, I will try to detail my plans for each of the listings in my short/mid/long term goals, and try to list clearly quantifiable milestones/benchmarks so that I can track my progress. This is really important. Without an accurate way to track and measure your progress, you have a good chance of getting derailed from your goal, and eventually, in the worst case, not attaining it at all.