Investment Basics: Very true. Thanks for the nice goal setting form.

Tristan: Each item in this list is applicable to retirees with the exception of #8. Instead of starting to invest for retirement, the focus should be on growing or preserving your current investments.

These tips are good for everybody – whether you want to retire in five years or thirty years from now. However, if you want to retire 5 years from now, you will need to take many other factors into consideration, such as how much money you have saved/invested, expected life span, current and expected financial obligations during retirement and more.

Elias: Way to get started on your emergency fund!

Great tips and advice on Personal Finance in this list! The only thing I would add is another important preliminary step:

- Defining your Life, Financial, and Investment Goals

Not defining or planning what you want out of life is like building a house without a map. Saving is good. But what are you saving for? College, to buy a house, early retirement?

All investors should clearly write down their goals on paper. This will put them in a better position to devise a plan or map about what to do to reach those goals and how much money (and time) it will require. For instance, if you wish to buy a house in 5 years, how much do you need to save and invest each month to be able to pay the down payment later? If you want to retire early, then you will also have to make the necessary calculations about how much you should save and invest each month, year considering the rate of return on your investments and how much post-tax income you will get when you retire.

Here are a few questions you can write down and answer in a notebook to help you out:

1) Setting Goals:

Here state what you want (house, go to college, start a family, travel, early retirement, whatever…)

a. In the next year I want to __________
b. In five years _______________________
c. In ten or twenty years ______________

2) Now write down WHAT you will do to achieve these broad goals:

a. My plan is to _______________________

(This could include taking courses, getting skills or training, more education, learning more about investing, etc.)

3) Now look at realistic ways to help you achieve your goals (which will surely require a substantial amount of money).

a. My financial goals include____________

(This can include things like putting $XX aside each week from your work pay, and finding other ways to add cash to help you finance your life’s projects).

b. My investment objectives include_______

(Here you want to set realistic objectives about how much money – returns – you can get from your investments).

Writing down one’s goals and savings/investment objectives is just as important as defining one’s investment strategy. It is an essential starting point that all people should do, but often neglect to do.

Hope this helps!

I think it’s a great list.