5 Reasons You’re Not Reaching Your Financial Goals

This post 5 Reasons You’re Not Reaching Your Financial Goals appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Despite the fact that the stock market has been booming, so many people are not meeting their financial goals. Some wonder if they’ll ever be able to retire.

Well, I want this year to be the year in which you actually reaching your financial goals.

I’m a trader. Usually, when traders are not meeting or reaching their financial goals there are some simple and easy to explain reasons why. That fact may be hard to swallow, but it’s the truth. I have a reputation for giving it straight

So, let me detail five common reasons why traders aren’t realizing their full financial potential, and offers tips for how to reverse this negative trend.

Reason #1

You don’t have goals. What are your goals?

If this question is being met with crickets chirping in the silence, that’s a problem. Chances are, your lack of goals is playing a big part in why your financial dreams aren’t coming true.

To be able to attain your financial goals (and any goals, really), you first need to have goals. So what are your goals?

This should be unique to you, and not based on things you think you “should” want.

Maybe you want to earn enough money so that you can buy a condo in Manhattan. Or perhaps it’s not a single tangible thing, but you have a goal to increase your income by 20% per year.

Quite honestly, it doesn’t matter what your  goals are. What’s important is that you have goals that are meaningful to you, and which you have thought out carefully.

By having firmly defined goals, you have something specific on which to measure your progress, and specific things to work toward. Having specific goals in mind also allows you to create manageable milestones to work toward them.

Reason #2

You lack targeted training. You can have the most specific goals in the world, and the most magnificent plan for how to attain them.

But it won’t happen if you don’t have the skills necessary to succeed. This is true in any type of business, but it’s particularly important if you’ve chosen trading as your profession and how to go about reaching your financial goals.

I’ve created an e-letter specifically designed to help my readers do that (go here now to learn how you can sign up). It’s designed to give my readers the precise skills they need to get ahead and make money by trading penny stocks.

A basic education on how stocks work simply isn’t enough: you need to be specifically trained in what it is that you need to know to make money.

Reason #3

You’re not working hard enough. Becoming a millionaire requires a lot of hard work.

But something that many traders overlook is that making $500,000, or even $200 for that matter, requires hard work too.

And when you work hard, you must be working hard on the right strategy. In a nutshell, you need to work hard all the time as a trader, whether you’re trading with a small account or moving hundreds of thousands in a single trade…research and preparation ahead of time matters most of all!

It’s important to set up good work habits and to be diligent early on. If you’re new to trading, now is the time to develop good habits, so that you can learn the ropes and experience growing pains when the stakes aren’t as high.

As you begin to make more money, you’ll be happy that you took your work seriously earlier, because you will have ingrained good habits and will understand what works and what doesn’t in your trading.

As you begin to earn more, this solid foundation will help you work smarter and make more money later on. By learning how to work hard now, you’ll reap many benefits later.

Reason #4

You don’t have proper guidance. Having a mentor is lame because you can just do it all yourself, right?

Absolutely wrong.

Why would you set yourself up for potential calamity and failure when a mentor can save you from experiencing both?

A mentor is worth his or her weight in gold. It’s literally like having someone who has a big key that can unlock many of the mysteries of your unfolding career.

A mentor has been where you are, and probably made plenty of mistakes and bad decisions. By following their advice and consulting with them frequently, you can avoid many mistakes and bad decisions that could lose you a ton of money.

Listen, you’re probably still going to make mistakes and lose money at points, so why not avoid as many of the pitfalls as you possibly can?

A mentor can help you do this.

Reason #5

You’re not adjusting your goals appropriately. It’s important to have clarity on reaching your financial goals. But don’t allow them to be so set in stone that you have no flexibility.

Being too rigid with your goals can actually keep you from attaining financial success and as a trader you must ALWAYS be adapting to new hot sectors, new hot stocks, new patterns and being aggressive or conservative in various market environments.

Listen, I am a big believer in dreaming big and setting huge financial or personal goals to work toward. However, you also need to be realistic on a certain level.

For instance, say your goal is to buy a hotel resort in South Beach. That’s a great goal, but it may take quite a long time to reach it.

Therefore, it’s important to set many more manageable goals along the way. Otherwise, your goal can seem very far away, and this can be discouraging.

Having mini-goals in between here and there allows you to focus on smaller milestones while remaining committed to your goals.

That’s how I attained bigger goals like these:

Believe it or not, you can actually set your goals too low, too. Think of it this way…

Say you have $10,000 in credit card debt and your goal is to pay it off. When you start to make money trading, you can pay this off pretty rapidly. But then, without a new goal, you can lose momentum.

It’s important to re-adjust your goals to suit your career. If you’re meeting them too quickly, aim higher! Don’t hold yourself back by not dreaming big enough.

Having a clean path to reaching your financial goals is a vital part of finding success in business, whether you are trading penny stocks, operate a retail store, or run a food truck.

The tips in this post are meant to help keep you committed to your goals and gain financial success.

I’m hosting an event next Wednesday, Jan. 24, to show you how too can learn how to gain financial success by trading penny stocks. If you’re ready to take control of your financial future, join me. If not, I don’t have time for excuses.

Regards,

Tim Sykes
for The Daily Reckoning

The post 5 Reasons You’re Not Reaching Your Financial Goals appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

This story originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning . The Daily Reckoning, offers a uniquely refreshing, perspective on the global economy, investing, gold, stocks and today’s markets. Its been called “the most entertaining read of the day.