Nine simple tips you must know if you want full control of your finances right now

Hi, welcome to my new financial column. I’m looking forward to sharing my expertise and experience of the financial world with you. Each week I’ll cover topics to help you get the best from your money, making it work as hard for you as you do to earn it.

This week I’m starting with why setting goals is such an important first step to get your finances on track so you can end up exactly where you want to be.

Saving and setting money aside for the future is important but it’s vital that you know what you are saving for and how much you need to save or invest to make your dreams and goals a reality.

Knowing where you want to head will help you to stay focused and ensure you target the right amount of money to reach each goal, within the time scale you want.

To achieve success with your finances you need to know where you are heading for the short, medium and longer term.

Short term goals can range from the basics of paying off credit card debts to saving up an emergency fund to give a financial cushion to fall back on should an unexpected event or bill land. Having at least three to six months of regular bills in savings that are easily accessible is something everyone should have before they start putting money away for other goals.

Medium term goals may be saving a home deposit, a wedding fund, holiday of a lifetime fund, the dream of buying a home abroad or setting up a business.

While longer term goals include getting pension savings on track and investing for older age and for younger family members.

Once you have decided your goals, you can plan the best way to achieve them. A sort of map to reach your financial destinations.

Different financial goals will take different strategies. Some smaller goals like building up a savings pot may be the simple task of just putting a bit more away each month. While bigger goals will need various strategies such as finding ways to make more money, cut back on spending and looking at investments to help your money grow faster.

The key to success is to push yourself a little but not too much by ensuring your goals are realistic and achievable – and give yourself sufficient time to reach them.

If you push too hard and give up everything with no fun, it will get dull and relentless. You are more likely to give up before you get there.

Taking things at a pace that suits your finances and lifestyle, while still having a life along the way, will mean you are more likely to get there or even exceed your goals.

Time spent deciding and planning your goals can be the best investment you can make in yourself.

Be realistic so you can reach your goals or you may risk losing interest and failing.

Be specific about how much it will take to reach your goal and then you can work out how much you need to save or invest to achieve that. You will come back to your goals as things change in your life and you can re-set them as you go along to accommodate that.

Set some deadlines to start your journey to reach each goal. It can be so easy to say “I’ll start tomorrow” but that will simply delay things and could mean it’s tougher to reach dreams and goals.

Don’t try and do everything at once, take it step by step. Decide your top priorities and work down your list.

Start small, get used to saving or investing that amount and have a plan to up it as you realise you don’t miss the money going out, or up amounts as you can afford more.

On payday each month allocate money into your different pots. If you do this as soon as it comes in your are more likely to keep on top of your goals/ objectives and not end up spending money which you have allocated to save, for example.

Next week I’ll be looking at Inheritance Tax and Pensions.

Frankie Smith runs FSWM (fswm.uk), one of a very few female-run, independent wealth management firms, and Frankie’s, a networking organisation that runs regular events where people can improve their financial know how.

She is passionate about moving the advice industry forward and making it accessible to a much wider audience.