Your 2026 property success - Pt 2: Setting your SMART goals

0:02Hello again everyone, welcome. You are now a part two of a four-part series which we first broadcast a couple of years ago and we're helping you set up your new year for maximum success. In this part we're going to help you set brilliant goals which will help you in property and beyond.

0:25Yes, welcome back to this very special mini-series where we're dedicating ourselves to making sure your property year is awesome. If you haven't listened to part one yet, that was all about figuring out where you are now. You'll find that in your podcast feed, so you can go back and listen. But today, as Rob said, we're talking about goals. And this is probably just about the most important topic there is. Because over the last 10 years that we've been involved in property full-time, we've seen investors achieve incredible things, absolutely amazing, way beyond what we've done personally. But we've also seen a lot of people come in with a lot of enthusiasm, maybe make a little bit of progress, but then kind of fade away and not manage to get to the point where property has made a meaningful difference to their lives.

1:08And in almost every case, the difference is goals. It is. I personally started taking goal setting seriously back in 2008. I managed to dig out some of my old goals books from back then. And it's interesting to read back and see what I wanted to achieve back then and how I actually got on. And that's step one, is you have to write this down and do it properly. You can't just have some random goal in your head like I want to be rich or I want to retire early. First of all, it's not a very good goal and we're going to explain why that's a really poor goal. But also you need something to go back to and review and reflect.

1:47So let's give you a process that will help you set really good goals. So first of all, they have to be meaningful to you. So I want to be rich. Yeah, most people would probably want that. That's great. But what does that mean? Because what rich means to one person can mean something very different to somebody else. So what does that mean to you? So if that is your goal, what does it mean? Does it mean that you don't have to work anymore? Does it mean that you can do the work you love? Does it mean that you travel? It doesn't really matter. There is no right or wrong here. But if you have a finance-related goal, let it have meaning.

2:27The more meaningful it is, the more you can lock in and go through the tougher times to make it happen. By just saying I want to retire early or get rich, that's fine. But when it gets tough, will that be enough to keep you going. Whereas if you say, I want to retire early so I can spend more time with my children or my grandchildren, wherever your goal is, and that second part is the trigger, the emotional part, that's what's going to get you through. So first of all, put something meaningful down. Ask yourself, what does that throwaway comment mean to me? What does it really mean to me? What does my life look like?

3:03And when you have that, then you could start to price it. okay so how much would that life cost me so I want these things to happen to have these things it's going to cost x and that might be a lump sum or a recurring amount coming in it doesn't really matter but have that number once you have that number you have a start because you've got something meaningful and you've got a number to work towards and that is a good starting place but that's not enough. How do you know if a goal is a good goal? Well, there's a framework that you can test it against. You might have heard of it. It's called SMART.

3:41We've been talking about this for literally 10 years, but it's every bit as relevant today because it provides a test to see if your goal stands up. So the S stands for specific, and this is where I want to be rich would fail. What exactly do you want to do? And this doesn't have to be what you want to do in property, because there are different ways of getting there, but what do you want for your life? This is harder than it seems. Actually knowing what you want with a degree of specificity is not straightforward for most people. So give yourself the time to really work this out because it really is what everything else hinges on.

4:11The M is for measurable. So how will you know if you've set the goal? Again, this is where I want to be rich fails because how will you know when you're rich? In reality, every time you get more, your definition of rich will move further away. So instead, you can put a monetary target against it. It doesn't have to be monetary. There are other ways you can measure what you want to achieve. but money is the most common. So that might be a certain amount that you want to generate in profit per month, or it could be a certain amount of equity or a certain asset base that you want to have in time.

4:41Either way, if it's measurable, then it should be pass-fail. You get there and you've either done it or you haven't. That's the aim. Next, you need to make sure it's A, achievable. So are you able to do this? Do you have the right skill set and resources? So if you want to refurb Victoria Properties in Carlisle, but you have no practical skills and you live in Bournemouth and you're time poor, that's probably not a great match of strategies. So understand your situation and yes, it's not just your financial situation. So do you have the skills or the network to do the strategy that you have in mind?

5:19Do you have the right starting pot or the right time frame in place to achieve those goals. I've had many people sit in front of me over the years and many, many years who've been very good at doing this, but a surprisingly high number are not good at this. People will come to me and say, I've got£40 ,000 and I want to retire in four years. Now, unless the amount you retire on is very, very small, it's not going to happen. And you just need to be realistic. Property is not a get rich quick scheme. It's just not. If you need to understand what is and is impossible, speak to other property investors who've been there and done it.

6:04Speak to the team at Property Hub Invest. You don't have to work with them, but at least inquire what is and is impossible with them. If you're interested, go to propertyhub.net forward slash invest. But make sure you get a goal that is possible. Stretching, absolutely. You want something that will stretch you and push you, but achievable. Property Hub Invest is our business that sits behind the podcast and it's not for everyone. But if you're short of time and you want someone to help you build your portfolio using the same strategy that we talk about on this podcast, then it could just be for you.

6:37And it's how I've acquired all my properties for years now. The great news is you can find out if it's right for you by sitting down for a completely free one-on-one strategy meeting with a member of our team. So at the very least, you'll go away with way more knowledge and it will have cost you nothing at all. You can find out more and book that in by going to propertyhub.net slash invest.

6:58Next, you need to make sure it's R relevant. Do those goals align with the people you're going to do this with? So if you're flying solo, then great. But if you have a significant other in your life and this is going to really impact them, then do your goals align? Do you have the right goals? Is it relevant? Are you hoping to save for a deposit but they're hoping for that big blowout holiday? Doesn't mean that's wrong but you've got to find some alignment there and will buying a buy-to-let property actually get you closer to where you want to get to? You've got to make sure so going back through your goals saying okay if I do this is it the relevant?

7:37Is it the right thing? Is it going to get me closer to where I need to get to. And the final step, which is T, time. Putting a deadline on this is super important. Yes. And this really ties in with A, achievable. Because anything's achievable given an infinite amount of time. But realistically, you're going to have a deadline. You need some kind of deadline. Otherwise, nothing ever gets done. It's like your homework. You always did it the night before. Well, maybe that was just me. But putting a time against it and making sure that that time is suitable for what you want to achieve is super important.

8:09So can you have a property portfolio worth a million pounds in a year's time? A few people will be able to because they'll be starting with a lot of cash. But even if you're starting with a lot of cash, you might still not be able to get there in a year because of all the research you need to do and all the purchases you need to make. Can you get there in 10 years? Well, it depends, but chances are you can. So this is where you need to know, is 10 years too long? Do you need to push yourself a bit more? You don't want to set a time frame that's so easy that the whole property year can just pass you by and you're still thinking, ah, that's okay.

8:40I'll be able to do it next year. You need to feel the urgency. So set a time for achieving this overall goal, but then you'll probably also want to break it down into sub goals. So you might give yourself 10 years to achieve your overall goal, but you want to buy your first property this year. And within that, you might've wanted to decide on a location and a strategy within the next three months. So by the time you put this all together, you've got a goal that means something to you. You've got a goal that you can define super clearly using the SMART framework. And if you're an overachiever, you want to go above and beyond, then set some sub goals as well.

9:13Really start breaking this down. If property can seem overwhelming, even if you've been doing it for a little while, even if you've made your first purchase or you're close to it, the distance between where you are and where you want to go can seem huge. And there's lots of scary things you need to go to get there. But ultimately, it's just a series of tasks that you need to work through. So the more granular you can make it, the more you can break it down, the better. You can set subtasks that almost feel silly because of how small they are. But if it allows you to tick one off every single day and you build up some momentum, that's going to get you so much further than just having some lofty ambition that you want to have achieved one day.

9:48So that's part two. Goals. Go and do it. That's the important part now. You might be nuddling along going, yeah, this really resonates with me. I can see how this works. And I know that so many people will not actually sit down and do it because it's a nice to do rather than a need to do. But if you prioritize these actions and go through this process, I can promise you, I've looked back at what I set out all those years ago. It works. Putting down on paper or online your goals and then working towards them is a powerful thing to do. It's a powerful act. Make sure you do it and make sure you join us for the third part in this four-part series because once you've nailed this, your goals, you're going to need a strategy and that's what tomorrow's episode is going to give you.

10:36If you haven't subscribed to the podcast yet, make sure you do. It's super simple. You could do it however you listen to this podcast. There'll be a button there to make sure you never miss another episode and also make sure you follow that up with subscribing into our YouTube channel as well. Loads going on over there. Find it by searching for Property Hub UK. We'll be back with the third part of our four-part installment tomorrow. Make sure you join us then. Bye-bye.