2020: How about some New Decade resolutions?

Here come the 2020s! Starting an entirely new decade doesn’t happen every day – or even every year – so instead of New Year’s resolutions, why not some for the next 10 years? Care to take a look towards 2030?

Okay, so “new decade resolutions” may seem a bridge too far – somewhat of a stretch and a bit overwhelming. It may be more helpful to you to set “intentions” or “goals” instead. Where would you like to be by 2030?

We all know how time speeds up, especially with kids in the picture. You blink once, they’re walking. Blink twice, they’re scooting. But blink three times, and suddenly they’re driving (and taller than you). How did that even happen?

So it can help to have a longer-term view.

Of course, the other thing happening in households is that budgets are typically stretched with all the family expenses. Money is flowing in all sorts of directions at once.

That’s one more reason to be setting longer-term targets. We may feel overcommitted at the moment (especially after Christmas), but across bigger blocks of time, we can accomplish so much more than we realise.

Ten years ago your life might have been quite different to what it is now – what will the next 10 look like for you?

Use your “2020 vision” to see forward

New Year’s resolutions that are most popular with people tend to be these:

• Lose weight
• Get in shape
• Stop smoking
• Quit drinking alcohol
• Eat healthier
• Get out of debt
• Get organised

Do any of these appeal for the next 10 years? I think we can all agree that over a decade, they certainly should be achievable. Which would you pick?

Interestingly, only one – becoming debt-free – is directly linked to money. But indirectly speaking, and like most goals you can set, they will all typically take money to accomplish.

Getting in shape may mean some new exercise gear; eating healthier and getting organised also create different expenses and purchases. Yet on the plus side, drinking less and smoking less will free up thousands from a budget, especially over a decade! You can use Sorted’s savings calculator for motivation.

So having a 2030 perspective can help you decide on goals in a whole new way.

Set some short, medium and long-term goals

Looking ahead to the next decade helps us set some long-term goals, which generally are the hardest to get into focus. But we can also think about the nearer term.

The short-term stuff (three years or less) is easiest – the next holiday, next birthday, next gadget. It’s easy to visualise where you want to be.

Medium-term goals (four to nine years) take a bit more planning, but are doable: saving a house deposit, the kids’ education, becoming debt-free.

But the long-term goals (10 years plus) are truly a New Decade resolution: paying off a mortgage, investing for retirement, etc.

With a further horizon, time is on your side, so you can achieve much more than you’d ever anticipate.

Sorted’s goal planner gets you started spreading your goals through each of those three timeframes: short, medium and long term.

So let’s take 2020 as an opportunity to set some goals for the entire decade – we can get a lot more out of doing so.