Do I actually have a long-term financial goal?

Smart people always say you need a clear goal in life to know which direction you're heading. Without one, you just end up drifting aimlessly... nowhere at all.

I’ve been chatting with friends and colleagues lately, and honestly, most of them admit they have no idea what they actually want out of life. They aren't sure where they want to be financially down the road, yet almost everyone says they aren't happy with where they are right now... they aren't doing what they love... etc. A lot of people even say that once they finally figure out what they want, they still don't take any actual steps to make it happen.

In my view, we really need goals—short-term, mid-term, and long-term. Once you pinpoint where you want to land, you have to map out the journey and then actually TAKE those necessary steps to get there.

I'm putting together a presentation for a management seminar soon and I'm covering this exact topic, so I'd love to gather as many insights and opinions as possible.

Thanks!

There’s also a slightly different issue at play—people don't actually want to do the work required to level up. That specific grind is supposed to be a catapult to a higher tier, but since the process drags on indefinitely, they just settle into the status quo. It isn't necessarily laziness—it's more of a calculation. They aren't passionate about the role, but they stick with it just to get the job done. There’s no real fulfillment there, yet when you're pulling in a massive paycheck from a firm like Goldman Sachs, you start convincing yourself that being comfortable is better than chasing some "dream job" with a meager salary. So, people stay exactly where they are, calling it satisfaction.

Too many options. Enough to make you think you see yourself in there somewhere, but honestly... feels like those dumb personality tests where it’s just YES or NO, when we all know the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Let's say I'm actually making moves. Let's assume I know what needs doing, and I definitely know exactly where I don't want to be.

Sean Grant85 hit the nail on the head—there are people who absolutely hate their companies but stay because the paycheck is too good to walk away from. My story? A few years back, I quit my job. I had a great title and amazing pay, but the stuff that sucked wasn't changing—it was actually getting worse. The office culture turned toxic. The people doing the least were the ones thriving by gossiping and playing politics. Honestly, I could write a whole book on the bullying I dealt with. It was all about nepotism; people were getting roles regardless of whether they actually knew what they were doing...
Most people at my old firm are doing fine, but no amount of money could make up for how miserable I was.
Since then, I've bounced through two different companies only to realize—hey, some places are even worse! Now I'm back in the hunt for something new. Even if I haven't nailed down exactly what I want, I am 100% certain about what I don't want.
(Someone tell me if this is just the classic "woman's cliché" or whatever).

My goal is total financial independence within five years. I'm taking the necessary steps—primarily aggressive saving and strategic investing. It’s a test of patience 🙄.
If I can just land the right side hustle, I'll be set.

"...three main drivers of satisfaction: taking pride in your work, the friendships you build on the job, and actually helping people while teaching them how to get things done. Status? Way lower on the list. Money? Even lower."
— Emotional Intelligence in Business - Daniel Goleman, discussing a survey of 70-year-olds regarding their careers.

Clearly, the goalposts move once you finally reach the finish line.

My big goal is hitting full financial independence within 5 years. I’m already making moves to get there—which basically means aggressive saving, getting my money into investments, and mostly just learning how not to lose my mind waiting for things to grow... practicing that patience.

And here I was thinking my 10-year roadmap was being overly ambitious...
Wait, help me out here—did you set this goal years ago so you're actually only 5 years away from the finish line, or are you saying you want to pull this whole thing off in just 5 years from today? I won't pry into the specifics since everyone's situation is different, but when you mention "...saving..." it really piques my curiosity... because honestly, I haven't seen anyone reach FI just by putting cash under a mattress. Kudos to you for the investing part, though.
Just so we're on the same page, when I say financial independence, I mean having enough passive income that you can actually walk away from the grind entirely... just so there's no misunderstanding...

It’s pretty much the same for me, stormylynx14... my goal is identical. The only difference is that I’m looking at a 15 to 20-year timeline. I haven't quite figured out how to compress all that into less than a decade yet. Not that it's impossible, far from it...

I think I got lucky—with a little help from my parents—to knock out two major milestones: finishing college and landing a solid career. I eventually decided to bet on myself and start my own business, and now, honestly, the sky's the limit. My goal is to scale up and diversify into different sectors like hospitality, maritime, and real estate, all following the old "make money work for you" mantra. I have no interest in being a slave to the grind; I’m looking for that sweet spot where business and pleasure actually balance out. In my experience, maintaining that balance is much harder than just making the cash itself.

About six months ago, I decided to go on this weird little journey to find myself. Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure if I actually found what I was looking for, but hey, I gave it a shot. In my book, there’s no shame in trying something and failing miserably—it’s way worse to just sit around and never even try at all.

The road to making it big is obviously a massive trek, but I feel like I’ve finally managed to take a few solid steps forward.

So, what’s the payoff?

If you want to see what I've been up to, you can check out the work over at www.balloon-decor-usa.com

Ronald Castillo5 said:Exactly, stormylynx14. That’s my target too. My timeline is just longer—maybe 15 to 20 years. I haven't figured out how to compress that into a decade yet. Not saying it's impossible, just hasn't happened.

Here is the math: A gross rental yield on residential property at about 7%, minus 2% in interest, leaves you with 5% net. If you define financial independence as $120,000 a year, you need $2.4 million in real estate. To get there, you need an initial $800,000 investment. Solid properties here start at $1 million, so once you save up $330,000, you can pull the trigger. Buy one property that nets you roughly $40,000 annually after taxes (calculated for a corporation). Keep working, save what you can, and hopefully, in a few years, you'll have another $500,000 ready to buy a second $1.5 million property. That’s the path to freedom.

Am I missing something?

Well done, darkbadger132. I wish you nothing but success. 👋

stormylynx14 said:My whole goal is hitting financial independence within five years. I'm making moves toward that right now, which basically means saving up and getting into investing. Also just trying to learn how to be patient, I guess 🙄.
If I could somehow pull off starting my own business too, man, where would it go from there?

Yeah, that's my goal too. Honestly, I don't even do it alone—I've got some joint investments going with someone else... It's way easier to grind and cut back on stuff when you actually have specific plans for the future.

My goal is pretty simple—I just want to do what I love and make enough money
to get by. Nothing crazy, just a standard, solid living. I really just want to be happy with what I’ve got.

There is a fundamental distinction between taking actual productive steps and merely believing you are taking the right ones.
For instance, saving money—that’s a misguided move whether you’re stashing cash under a mattress or keeping it in a savings account at Chase.

What I mean is that even if you have a clear goal and you think you know what needs to be done, if you start by just hoarding cash, you're actually moving in the wrong direction; it proves you don't truly grasp the mechanics of building wealth.
First, you need to establish an LLC or a corporation so you can take advantage of sales tax credits. Sales tax is a great tool because you essentially hold onto government funds for a few months before passing them along to the IRS.
Second, you have to actually engage in some form of business activity to generate income. Once you do, you can write off all your expenses—phone bills, electricity, gas, and so on—directly through the company, which effectively shields those costs from taxes.
Third, I won't spoil all my secrets here; you really need to exercise a little creativity.
Ultimately, my point is that if you set up a business entity, your cost of living effectively drops by about 22%, which is far more efficient than simply saving pennies.
When you look at the survey results, keep in mind that most people have no idea if they are actually making progress or just spinning their wheels.

But honestly, for some people, just saving their money is a better move than starting a small business... because without any experience, they'd probably just blow through all their cash in no time.

...that’s exactly where I’m headed too. Here’s how I see my roadmap:
For the next five years, I’m going into beast mode on savings. I'll stick to my day job—which pays pretty well—while knocking out a master's program over the next four years. It's all about aggressive saving (think high-yield savings accounts and CDs) while quietly grinding away at business ideas and side hustle possibilities...
Then comes the five-year "hybrid" phase. Once I’ve built up a decent nest egg from those first five years, I’ll start scaling up a private business or diving into investments alongside my main career. This is going to be the grind, though. Between the mortgage hanging over my head and needing to set aside a few thousand bucks every year just to keep the bank off my back, things will get tight. But hey, I'll make it work...
And then: 🙂 No more dragging myself out of bed every morning just to clock 40 hours a week on someone else's schedule! By then, the money should have started working for itself, allowing for bigger moves that yield even better returns... Once the pile is big enough, I might just kill off that mortgage entirely! Though, honestly, maybe that's not even the smartest move—sometimes it's better to keep that capital moving and growing rather than tying it all up in equity...
Anyway, long story short:
1. 5 years of hardcore saving
2. 5 years of the "hybrid" grind
-----------------
After a decade total (ha, by then I probably won't even have four different bank accounts 🙂): FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE.

And I haven't even touched the actual numbers... the figures Second mentioned sound like straight-up science fiction to me. I’m thinking on a much smaller scale... but then again, Second is living in Western Europe, so the cost of living and the math are obviously on a different level...

You really need a solid blueprint. Having a high-quality plan is half the battle; even if things don't go exactly according to script, having that direction makes all the difference!👍

I really dig your plan. I’m totally on board with your goal to pay off your home as fast as possible—that’s actually my main focus too. Personally, I think it makes more sense to prioritize paying down the roof over your head while using maxed-out credit for everything else. It just gives you that extra bit of breathing room if things ever get rocky...

Whatever anyone else says, one thing is absolutely certain... there are three distinct ways money flows in...

1. The paycheck you get when you're working for someone else
2. The income you manage yourself if you run your own business
3. The cash coming in from your investments

It would be great to have all three sources hitting your account. Ideally, you'd live solely off that third one. But make no mistake, if you're relying strictly on that first option, financial freedom will always stay out of reach...

Job stands for Just Over Broke

Job stands for Just Over Broke

First off, you have to understand where you came from to figure out where you’re headed. That matters way more than just picking a target, because knowing your roots allows you to leverage your past experiences to reach whatever goal you set for yourself. Take modern obsessions like "financial independence," for example. These goals are largely pushed on us by a culture and media machine run by people who are already financially independent—yet they remain miserable and restless because they’re constantly chasing the next thing that feels missing...

Why does the vast majority of the wealthy continue to grind away like pack animals, even after securing their own freedom and that of their great-grandchildren?

If you truly believe humans were designed or evolved to spend their entire lives sweating through their shirts just to hit some arbitrary milestone, I suggest you rethink things. Whose goal is it, really? Is it yours? Your parents'? Your friends'? Or perhaps it belongs to the collective society at large? Maybe it actually serves a self-sustaining economic system that prioritizes raw profit over the actual well-being of individuals and communities.
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If you don't stop to ask why these goals are treated as so vital—given that everyone we know seems to be chasing them—you'll find yourself sprinting toward a horizon you can never actually reach.

I realize it's incredibly difficult to just relax and enjoy life when you're staring down a mountain of debt or a massive mortgage, but that's just how this civilization operates. We are living on credit borrowed from an ecological system that we are part of, and those installments are going to come due very soon if we don't start acting a bit more sensibly...