I’ve been doing a lot of online research on personal finances lately. I realized that what I’ve been doing has not been working, and I figured there has to be a better way. One thing I discovered in an article at http://money.cnn.com is, I haven’t had any clear-cut financial goals. If you don’t have financial goals, it’s hard to assess how you are doing. Goals also force you to take an honest look at where you’re at. Now, I’m in the process of developing goals for the next six months, year, and 3 years. Then eventually I’ll move on, all the way up to 20-year goals and retirement.