30 Day Investing Challenge, Day 27: Track Your Progress
Did you know that tracking your goals means you’re more likely to achieve them? The action of writing down your progress not only keeps you motivated but also helps you visualize your success over time. It also shows you where you may need to pivot or change the goal, like increasing the timeline or decreasing the savings amount each month depending on other factors in your life and if your priorities shift. The one cool thing about goals is they’re not set in stone and tracking them can show you the different paths you may want to take.
For example: when it came to retirement my initial goal was to retire between the ages of 65 and 70 like most people do. So I was satisfied in saving 10-15% of my pay towards that goal and leaving it at that. But once I joined the FIRE movement, I knew I had to adjust my savings amount because the goal timeline had shifted backwards dramatically. I also knew that tracking my progress would be key to making sure I was on track to hit my goal and keeping me motivated through the “boring middle” as folks like to call it. This is basically the point at which the high of discovering FIRE wears off and you’re in the drudgery of saving and paying off debt while you wait to reach your goal. I personally don’t find it boring because I designed a great life that is simply interrupted with a job.
Action Step: Track Your Short, Medium, and Long Term Goals
Below I’m attaching worksheets that will help you define the parameters around each of your goals, as well as daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly trackers.* You can use whichever trackers feel right for the specific goal you want to track, however here’s my suggestion:
Use the daily and weekly for your short term goals.
Use the monthly is great for short or medium goals, though I don’t recommend it for goals longer than 10 years or the tracking will get tedious.
Use the yearly for your long term goals.
If you’re feeling inspired, feel free to use these templates to create your own tracker, like quarterly or semi-annually. Whatever works for you!
Use an investing calculator to determine how much you should save and what the timeline should be for each goal. My favorite is NerdWallet’s.
Use this worksheet to help plan out your short, medium, and long term goals. Remember to use the investing calculator.
Use this daily investing tracker for your short term goals.
You can also use this weekly investing tracker for your short term goals.
A monthly tracker is great for both short and medium term goals, but I’d avoid it for goals longer than 10 years.
And finally this yearly tracker works great for long term goals. If you’re feeling inspired, feel free to make other tracking worksheets like quarterly or semi-annually.
*These goal worksheets and trackers are taken directly from my investing workbook “Your Journey to Freedom.” This workbook walks you through designing your best life using short, medium, and long term goals and shows you how to use savings and investing to reach those goals. There is also bonus material like a budget tracker and quiz. You can grab yours here, or by clicking the button below.
Want to dive in deeper? My investing workbook “Your Journey to Freedom” will show you how to build the life of your dreams and teach you the fundamentals of the investing world.
Not sure where to start when it comes to investing? My FREE step-by-step investing guide will help build your confidence by walking you through buying your first index fund.
