Settings Financial & Lifestyle Goals

Take a look at our guide to help you set you financial and lifestyle goals.
About Tudor Franklin IFA

Tudor Franklin was established by Richard Meats and Bharat Chudasama, with a vision for a professional financial planning and advice service that can provide clear value to our clients at any stage in their financial life. With over 25 years joint experience advising clients on such matters as investments, pensions, inheritance tax planning and protection, we pride ourselves on being professional and delivering advice in a clear and understandable way.
finance financial financial planning goal FINANCIAL Plan Set Set goal make time
Take a look at our guide to help you set you financial and lifestyle goals.
About Tudor Franklin IFA

finance financial financial planning goal FINANCIAL Plan Set Set goal make time
SETTING 
FINANCIAL AND 
LIFESTYLE GOALS
Plan for tomorrow, live for today
G U I D E  T O
JANUARY 2022
The start of the new year is the perfect time to 
obtain professional financial advice and in 
doing so help secure your future – and that of 
your family – for years to come. Whether it’s advice 
on significant lifestyle changes, such preparing for 
your retirement, helping your children buy their first 
home or investing to beat inflation, we can help.
Life goals
Part of the process should also include articulating 
and writing down your financial and life goals. 
Doing this can actually have an impact on achieving 
them, by helping you to maintain focus in the face of 
distractions, setbacks or challenges.
You might write down, ‘I want to be mortgage-free 
by the age of 50’ or ‘I want to retire by the age of 55.’ 
Think of each goal as a financial milestone. This will 
enable you to check that you’re on course, without 
worrying too much about how much longer you’ve got 
to reach your destination.
Reach milestones 
Developing effective money habits, having a lifestyle 
you can afford and thinking carefully about your 
family priorities will help you identify and reach these 
goals or milestones – the key to having money serve 
you well over your whole lifetime.
Whatever stage you are at, a new year offers the 
chance to rethink your earning, spending, saving, 
investing and giving behaviours and habits to ensure 
they are aligned with what really matters. It’s also a 
good time to make sure that your financial life is well 
organised so you feel in control.
Clear objectives
Any goal (let alone financial) without a clear objective 
is nothing more than a pipe dream, and this couldn’t 
be more true when setting financial goals.
It is often said that saving and investing is nothing 
more than deferred consumption. Therefore, you 
need to be crystal clear about why you are doing 
G U I D E  T O
SETTING FINANCIAL 
AND LIFESTYLE GOALS
Plan for tomorrow, live for today
Financial success doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a process starting with having 
a goal, planning carefully and being con"dent of making the right decisions 
at the right time. It is easy to stray from basic, solid principles of "nance. 
#ese remain true no matter what your age or circumstances. It’s those same 
principles that need to be applied to your "nancial a$airs.
02
GUIDE TO SETTING FINANCIAL AND LIFESTYLE GOALS
what you’re doing. This could be planning for your 
children’s education, your retirement, that dream 
holiday or a property purchase.
Once the objective is clear, it’s important to 
put a monetary value to that goal and the time 
frame within which you want to achieve it by. The 
important point is to list all of your goal objectives, 
however small they may be, that you foresee in the 
future and put a value to them.
Realistic
Just setting goals doesn’t guarantee success—setting goals 
is only one part of a process that can lead you to success. 
Setting goals is key to planning, executing a plan, staying 
motivated and ultimately evaluating your success.
Set realistic goals. It’s important to set goals that 
you can achieve. It’s good to be an optimistic person, 
but being a Pollyanna is not desirable. Similarly, while 
it might be a good thing to keep your financial goals 
a bit aggressive, being overly unrealistic can definitely 
impact on your chances of achieving them.
A realistic goal is one that you can reach given your 
current mindset, motivation level, time frame, skills and 
abilities. Realistic goals help you identify not only what 
you want but also what you can achieve, and help you 
stay the course by keeping you motivated throughout 
your journey until you get to your destination.
Divide goals
Now you need to plan for where you want to get to, 
which will likely involve looking at how much you 
need to save and invest to achieve your goals. #e 
approach towards achieving every "nancial goal will 
not be the same, which is why you need to divide your 
goals into short, medium and long-term time horizons.
Just setting goals doesn’t 
guarantee success—
setting goals is only one 
part of a process that can 
lead you to success. 
03
GUIDE TO SETTING FINANCIAL AND LIFESTYLE GOALS
As a rule of thumb, any financial goal that 
is due within a five-year period should be 
considered short-term. Medium-term goals are 
typically based on a five-year to ten-year time 
horizon, and over ten years, these goals are 
classed as long-term.
This division of goals into short, medium 
and long-term will help in choosing the right 
savings and investments approach to help 
you achieve them, and it will also make them 
crystal clear. This will involve looking at what 
large purchases you expect to make, such as 
purchasing property or renovating your home, 
as well as considering the later stages of your 
life and when you’ll eventually retire.
Inflation matters
It’s o%en said that in&ation is taxation without 
legislation. #erefore, you need to account for 
in&ation whenever you are putting a monetary 
value to a "nancial goal that is far away in the 
future. It’s important to know the in&ation rate 
when you’re thinking about saving and investing, 
since it will make a big di$erence to whether or not 
you make a pro"t in real terms (a%er in&ation). 
You could use the ‘Rule of 72’ to determine, at a 
given in&ation rate, how long it will take for your 
money to buy half of what it can by today. #e 
Rule of 72 is a method used in "nance to quickly 
estimate the doubling or halving time through 
compound interest or in&ation respectively. 
Simply divide 72 by the number of years to get the 
approximate interest rate you’d need to earn for 
your money to double during that time.
Risk protection
#ere’s much to be said for ‘protecting before 
investing’. If loved ones are relying on you 
"nancially, your priority should be ensuring 
their security rather than taking on investment 
uncertainty. Discuss your goals with those 
you’re closest to and make plans together 
so that you are well aligned. An evaluation 
of your assets, liabilities, incomings and 
outgoings will provide you with a starting 
point. You’ll be able to see clearly how 
you’re doing and may "nd areas you can 
improve on.
Risk protection plays a vital role in any 
"nancial plan as it helps protect you and 
your family from unexpected events. Make 
sure you have put in place a Will to protect 
your family, and think about how your 
family would manage without your income 
should you fall ill or die prematurely.
Tax liability
With tax rules subject to constant change, 
it’s essential that you regularly review your 
own and your family’s tax affairs and plan 
04
GUIDE TO SETTING FINANCIAL AND LIFESTYLE GOALS
accordingly. Tax planning affects all facets 
of your financial affairs. You may be worried 
about the impact that rises in property values 
are having on gifts or Inheritance Tax, how best 
to dispose of shares in a business, or the most 
efficient way to pass on your estate. Utilising 
your tax allowances and reliefs is an effective 
way of reducing your tax liability and making 
considerable savings over a lifetime. 
When it comes to taxes, there’s one certainty 
– you’ll pay more tax than you need to unless 
you plan. #e UK tax system is complex, and its 
legislation o%en changes. So it’s more important 
than ever to be tax-e'cient – particularly if you 
are in the top tax bracket – making sure you 
don’t pay any more tax than necessary.
Take control
Developing a comprehensive financial plan 
allows us to take control of our money, assess 
our current financial situation, set goals and 
prepare a strategy to achieve those goals. By 
better understanding your finances, setting 
goals and creating a strategy, you will live more 
comfortably and with greater confidence.
#is will help you develop a clear picture of 
your current "nancial situation to see the big 
picture and set long and short-term life goals, 
which is a crucial step in mapping out your 
"nancial future. When you have a comprehensive 
"nancial plan, it’s easier to make "nancial 
decisions and stay on track to meet your goals.
Retirement decisions
Retirement planning goal setting is important 
because it can help you avoid running out 
of money in retirement. It enables you to 
calculate the rate of return you need on your 
investments, how much risk you should 
take, and how much income you can safely 
withdraw from your portfolio. The number 
of options available at retirement have 
increased with changes to legislation, which 
have brought about pension freedoms over 
the years. 
The decisions you make regarding how 
you take your benefits may include tax-free 
cash, buying an annuity, drawing an income 
from your savings rather than pension fund, 
or a combination of these. Beginning your 
retirement planning goal setting early gives 
you the best chance of making sure you have 
adequate funds to support your lifestyle.
Life changes
There is little point in setting goals and never 
returning to them. You should expect to make 
iterations as life changes. Set a formal yearly 
review at the very least to check you are on 
track to meeting your goals. Monitoring your 
financial performance in this way creates more 
certainty and confidence in making both short 
and long-term decisions. 
We will help you to monitor your plan, 
making adjustments as your goals, time frames 
or circumstances change. Discussing your 
financial and lifestyle goals with us is highly 
beneficial as we can provide an objective 
third-party view, as well as the expertise to help 
advise you with financial planning issues. 
Finally, get SMART
To make sure your financial and lifestyle 
goals are clear and reachable, each one should 
be: Specific (simple, sensible, significant); 
Measurable (meaningful, motivating); 
Achievable (agreed, attainable); Relevant 
(reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-
based); Time bound (time based, time limited, 
time/cost limited, timely, time sensitive). 
Developing a comprehensive 
financial plan allows us to take 
control of our money, assess our 
current financial situation, set 
goals and prepare a strategy to 
achieve those goals. 
05
GUIDE TO SETTING FINANCIAL AND LIFESTYLE GOALS
CONFIDENT ABOUT  
YOUR FUTURE PLANS?
Once we understand your needs, we help 
you build a "nancial and lifestyle plan to 
serve you and your wealth throughout 
the various stages of your life. Only by 
recognising and meeting your distinct 
requirements can we have a positive 
impact on your life. #is is why we provide 
an extensive range of services, plus the 
ability to tailor solutions based on your 
speci"c needs. To arrange a meeting, or for 
further information, please contact us.
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