3 Key Investment Goals: Growth, Income and Stability

Discovering what’s important to you and what you are willing to invest time and money into is an important first step. Before you actually invest your money, you should spend some time considering and setting your personal financial goals. For example, do you want to retire early? Would you like to start your own business soon? Do you need to pay for your children's college education? Would you like to buy or build a new house?
Ask these 3 questions before starting your financial plan to help create a stronger plan for your short- and long-term goals. Once you've determined your financial goals and how your time horizon, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs affect them, it's time to think about how your investments might help you achieve those goals.
When considering any investment, you'll need to think about what it offers in terms of three key investment goals:
With each individual investment, there is a relationship between growth, income, and stability. The more an investment offers in one of those areas, the more you may have to trade off in terms of the other two. The key to setting investment goals is to tailor each investment to what you want it to do for you.
You may choose to have a single investment goal for a given financial goal, as in the example of making stability a priority for short-term money. Or you may prefer to combine several investments to achieve a balance among stability, income, and growth so that you maximize your overall returns at a level of risk that you're comfortable with and that suits your financial goal or goals.
Once you have identified appropriate financial and investment goals, you can then begin to select individual investments, and think about how to combine all your various goals and investments into an overall portfolio.
Contact a Farm Bureau financial advisor today to get started creating your customized plan and investment strategy. We’ll work together to help you create a roadmap for your future.