Changing Behavior

Changing Behavior
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Changing Behavior
For the last two years, I have been earning a monthly income. Unfortunately, my saving habits have been wanting. Initially, I used to save a little money from my salary which I ended up spending on luxuries. I have since realized my problem is saving money without a clear goal. At times I used to have a lot of money in my bank account, but I had no idea what exactly to do with that money. Therefore, I am planning to start saving with a clear objective which is saving to invest in the securities market.
Saving with a clear goal will help me achieve financial independence. I will use the savings to invest in securities which will, in turn, generate passive income. This way I will not be entirely dependent on a monthly salary. Equally, the security of a passive income will enable me to have the freedom to make decisions not based on my monthly income. For instance, I will be able to travel the world, change a career, start a business, enroll for an MBA or even change my residence. Also, saving with a purpose will give me the much-desired peace of mind since I will have my finances and future in control. People who have clear goals in life are known to be calm and happy. Even in times of crisis, I will resort to my goals for guidance something which lacks in my current life. Therefore, I believe saving with a goal will help me lead a good life.
As we learned in class, I understand that self-control is a must have attribute if I have to achieve my new goal.

In this regard, I am planning to start keeping track of my expenditure. First, I will set what amount of money do I need and by when? Once I have established this, I will start to keep track of all my expenses and perhaps categorize them into food expenses, housing expenses and much more. This will enable me to know where my money goes to and what areas I can cut on to increase my savings. Consequently, this implies that I will adjust my spending habits accordingly. For instance, I will reduce the amount of money I spend on luxuries and instead use it to increase my savings for investment. It is also important that I set realistic goals in my quest to develop good saving habits. As we saw in the class readings, putting too much pressure on yourself may be counterproductive in the process of achieving personal goals. Therefore, I will set challenging but attainable goals to avoid the risk of burnout. For instance, I will reduce my expenses slowly rather than drastically. According to Brunstein (1993), personal strengths or resources come in handy in achieving personal goals. In this regard, I will be keen to utilize my strengths such as being hardworking to achieve my goals. Lastly, I plan to reward myself each time I achieve my short-term goals as I keep on pursuing the main goal. This has a psychological effect of encouraging myself to push further.
Measuring personal goals is an important step which enables individuals to determine whether they are making progress or not (Ford, 1992). A key measure will be whether at the end of the set time I would have managed to save the required amount to invest in securities. However, I will first assess my monthly habits and establish whether I am saving enough for each month. Also, I will assess my general attitude towards money to establish whether I have improved. For instance, spending less on alcohol will be a positive indication.
References
Brunstein, J. C. (1993). Personal goals and subjective well-being: A longitudinal study. Journal of personality and social psychology, 65(5), 1061.
Ford, M. E. (1992). Motivating Humans: Goals, emotions, and personal agency beliefs. Sage Publications.