What Do You Want From Your Money?

What do you want from your money? Think about that for a minute. It's a loaded question, a difficult question, and a question with an infinite number of answers. But it's a question you need to address.

Some of it won't be easy. It's important that you understand that up front. Setting financial goals means making at least some temporary decisions (and I say "temporary" because you'll certainly revise them along the way) about not just your money but your life. It means thinking about how big a family you want to raise, how you wish to retire, and whether your aging mother should live with you or in a nursing home. It means dealing with the queasy subjects of who should be the guardians for your minor children and how and when you need to write a will.

But the payoff will be enormous. Just think about how good it would feel to have a plan in place to deal with all the "what-if" scenarios in your life (what if I lose my job, what if I get divorced, what if I become disabled, etc.) And the rewards won't just be emotional. Once you leap in and get hold of your finances, there are a number of small moves you can makes that will pay off big in the wallet.