For many people—if not most of us—money is mysterious. One second you just got paid and feel like a billionaire, the next moment you feel flat broke and are Googling how to make ketchup soup or how much 22-cent ramen someone can consume before dying of sodium poisoning.
The continuing success of lotteries and casinos proves that few of us understand money, but it’s not actually as complicated as it might seem. You don’t need to understand math or how to short a stock in order to master the fundamentals of money: All you need is a set of clear goals.
Every time a New Year rolls around, it’s an opportunity to set those goals with a clean slate and a lot of runway ahead of you, so this is the ideal moment to consider the short-, medium-, and long-term financial goals that will benefit you.
Short-term goals will benefit you almost immediately—at least within the next year. Medium-term goals will make your life easier in the next few years. And Long-term goals will chiefly benefit Future You, resplendent in some sort of shiny futuristic unitard, blaster strapped to their hip. But trust me: Future You will appreciate your work. Think about how much you resent Past You for their dietary and romantic decisions, and invert it: That’s how much Future You will love you for making smart money decisions today.