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iQuestions Faculty, Ron Blue 
 
 
Question: 
 
What financial goals should we set? 
 
Answer: 
 
When people start thinking about goals, there are various segments of 
their life: spiritual goals, personal development goals, financial goals, 
and all different goal-setting areas. I want to speak to the financial 
goals. 
 
I find there’s a tremendous amount of confusion on what goals should 
we set. Well, the reality is there’s really only about eleven or twelve 
financial goals that anybody is ever going to have.  I’ve found that 
most people really only have about six, seven or eight goals in the 
financial area, when it comes to specifically dealing with the finances. 
 
First of all would be the goal of, “How much do I want to give, and 
where do I want to give?”  
 
Secondly would be, “How do I want to plan for my taxes?” 
 
Third would be, “What do I want to do about the debt that I have, both 
the credit card debt and the car debt and the mortgage debt—what are 
my goals, when it comes to debt and debt repayment?” 
 
Fourth is, “What about my savings? What am I saving for in the long 
term?”  
 
Here we have some other sub-goals. For example, “Do I want to save 
for retirement?” “Do I want to save for financial independence?” “Do I 
 
 
want to save for the college education for my children?” “Do I want to 
save for a vacation home, another car, something that I want to do 
from an entertainment standpoint?”—I’d categorize all of those into 
the lifestyle area. “What changes do I want to make, long-term, in the 
lifestyle that I have?” 
 
And then, lastly, and probably most importantly, “What are my goals 
relative to my lifestyle?” I have found that most people do not set 
lifestyle goals. They just continue to increase their lifestyle, as 
opposed to saying, “This is the lifestyle that we would be comfortable 
with.” 
 
If, as a family, you can set goals in giving, taxes, debt, lifestyle, 
savings and long-term goals, then you’re automatically going to have 
a direction to your life—as you take those first steps to achieving those 
goals, you’re going to feel a lot better about yourself. 
 
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