Let your Dreams Motivate your Investing

From Ken Little

Setting an investing goal of X percent return on your portfolio may be exciting to some people, but others find no motivation in numbers.

If you find that percentages just don’t get your pulse pounding or stir you to stoke your stock investments, try setting a goal that captures your imagination.
Since there is a good chance that one of your investing goals (if not the main one) is a solid retirement nest egg, why not focus on some specifics about that time to come that excite and inspire you?
It doesn’t make any difference what about retirement (or whatever other goal you are focusing on) excites you – playing golf every day of the week, travel, going back to college, a cabin in the woods or on the beach.

All you need is that tangible goal to focus on to get you motivated.

If you want to sail the South Seas, don’t just think about it, shop for a boat, plan your route, look up destinations on the Internet, and, most important of all, figure what you will need to make it happen financially.

Condos on the golf course cost how much? A trip to Europe every other year will cost how much if you stay in the small towns you always wanted to visit?
The point is set a goal for something tangible besides a sterile 8.5 percent annual return.
You’ll need a good return to make your dream come alive and that is where the motivation to fully fund your investment program comes from.

It’s much easier to put that extra $300 a month into your investment account and forgo the new car when the three-year-old model runs just fine, if you have a dream to build toward.
Not many people will sacrifice for an extra one-half percent return on their investments, but for their dreams, that’s different.

Article Resource : http://stocks.about.com/od/investingstrategies/a/101706Goals.htm