Turn Life Goals Into Financial Goals: My 40 Before 40 Bucket List

I recently made a 40 before 40 bucket list for myself and it really got me thinking about the relationship between life goals and financial goals. So I thought I’d share with you how to turn your life goals into financial goals, and why you even should think of them in that order.

The importance of financial goals

Goals are important in many areas of life. They give you clarity and direction. They can help you stay motivated and when you reach them you’ll feel successful (and even more motivated!).

But there is an art to goal making.

Goals (financial goals included) should usually be SMART-goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

It is easier to reach financial goals that are SMART because their progress is easier to monitor and most of all, they are clear.

It is much harder to stay accountable with vague goals, because how do you define them? Do you know exactly what needs to be done to reach them?

By having clear financial goals you are doing yourself a favour when it comes to financial decision making.

Why do I say that?

Because the world of finance has so many options, so many paths that you might go down and which all in theory are equally right.

But not all financial options are ideal for all goals.

So knowing your goals means that your decision making becomes easier, as your pool of suitable options is reduced.

Turning life goals into financial goals

What are your financial goals?

What comes to your mind when/if you are asked this question?

For many of us financial goals can be harder to define, especially off the top of our heads. They are numerical and they may feel more clinical and like we have no connection to them.

Especially if we are forced to just pull numbers out of the hat with nothing backing them up.

So what’s the solution?

The best place to begin is with your life goals, then turn them into financial goals.

Most of the things in life that we want require money, either directly or indirectly. This gives us a concrete way of calculating how much we need for our financial goals and whether they are achievable.

For example your life goal is to travel to a certain place. It should be fairly easy to estimate how much that will cost and then make a savings plan based on that.

Now your life goal of traveling to a place X has become your financial goal of saving an X amount of money by X date. And to maximise your chance of reaching it will be fairly simple to make it into a SMART goal:

Specific -> You’ve already made it specific! The goal is to travel to X by saving an X amount of money by X date!

Measurable -> You already know the amount of money you’ll need so it will be easy to measure if you are on track to reach your goal

Achievable -> By making a savings plan you can stick to you have now made this goal achievable

Relevant -> By relating the financial goal into your dream you have made it relevant to you and you’ll feel connected to the goal and more motivated to reach it

Time-bound -> Based on your savings plan you know when you should reach this goal and can measure your progress

This method can be applied to any goal or dream you have in life!

My 40 before 40 bucket list

In case you haven’t heard about X before X lists, the idea is to make list of goals, achievements and experience you want to have before reaching a specific age milestone.

Since I’m in my early 30s, I’ve made a list of 40 things I’d like to achieve/experience before I turn 40. This gives me nearly a decade to get through the list!

Here’s my 40 before 40 list, in no particular priority order but categorised based on the type of goal!

Career and academic

1. Finish Certificate in Financial Advice (Done)
2. Finish Bachelor of Business – Financial Planning and Advising
3. Finish Diploma in Science and Technology
4. Get a job in the finance sector
5. Get professional accreditation (CFP or CLU)
6. Masters degree in finance
7. Write a book
8. Work for myself

Health and fitness

9. 1 bodyweight pull up
10. 10 bodyweight push ups

Travel and experiences

11. Tongariro Alpine Crossing
12. Taranaki Maunga summit track
13. Abel Tasman Coast Track
14. Heaphy Track
15. Kepler Track
16. Lake Waikaremoana Track
17. Milford Track
18. Paparoa Track
19. Rakiura Track
20. Routeburn Track
21. Tongariro Northern Circuit
22. Visit Queenstown
23. Visit Kilpisjärvi
24. Visit Iceland
25. Horse trekking in Iceland
26. Hiking in Norway
27. See whales
28. See orcas
29. Visit Australia
30. Visit Egypt

Home

31. Build our sleep out
32. Build our own home
33. Permanent garden
34. Build/buy a sauna for home
35. Buy spa pool for home

Miscellaneous

36. Buy a hybrid/electric/hydrogen car
37. Create a capsule wardrobe I’m happy with
38. Get New Zealand citizenship
39. Student loans paid off (both Finnish and NZ)
40. Sort all my things left in Finland and organise bringing them to New Zealand

As you can see there are a lot of items that will cost a significant amount of money, so prioritisation and planning will be important in order to reach all of these goals before I am 40!

I would have loved to add more travel items on the list, but they are very expensive, especially when your point of origin is New Zealand! So I tried to create a list that would require effort and planning, but which was also fairly achievable.

Plus, I didn’t bother to add to the list that I’d like to visit Finland every 2 years, which will require it’s own budget allocation, therefore not leaving much for other type of travel.

So, there are a lot of New Zealand experience items (mainly hikes), and some things can be combined for example visiting Iceland, horse trekking and seeing whales. Same with going to Kilpisjärvi and hiking in Norway.

Egypt may sound a bit random in the mix but it will be our most likely honeymoon destination if/when we do get married!

Anyway, achieving the items on this list will be what I’ll be basing on a lot of my financial goals in the next years to come!

I’m hoping it will keep me from losing sight on what I want to achieve in life so when I turn 40 I can look back and see how I’ve lived life with intention and in a way that has allowed me to experience things I’ve always wanted to experience!

You can follow my progress to certain savings goals in my monthly check ins!

Do you keep a list for your life goals? What is/would you put in it? Let me know in the comments!