How to Set your Investment Goals for 2025: Zimbabwe and Beyond

Hi everyone and welcome to 2025. I know I haven't been around for a while and I haven't blogged for longer. This post comes more from a place of necessity than a "New Year's resolution" so I hope necessity does not go away this year so that I can continue blogging. One of my primary objectives this year, objectives, not resolutions, is to invest.

How to Set Your Investing Goals for 2025

As we step into a new year, 2025 offers a fresh opportunity to reevaluate your financial journey and set clear investing goals that align with your aspirations. I'm setting my goals now, at least a few core goals but I will let the goals be adaptive to allow me to add, not take away from my objectives this way. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, defining your goals is critical to achieving financial success. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting effective investing goals for 2025.

1. Reflect on Your Financial Journey So Far

Before setting new goals, take time to assess your current financial situation and the progress you made in 2024. I didn't do much in 2024 and that's why this year is important. If I am being totally honest, the past two years have been a blur but I know the importance of investing for the future I wish to achieve. So there are a few questions you need to ask yourself:

• Did you achieve the goals you set last year? I know I didn't. How did you do?
• What challenges did you face in meeting those goals? The Budget was my enemy in 2024, investing just felt like a luxury.
• Are there investments that performed exceptionally well or underwhelmed? Too embarrassed to even try to respond to this.

Understanding your past performance will help you identify what worked and what needs improvement. It also provides valuable insights for crafting realistic and achievable goals for 2025.

2. Define Your Financial Objectives

Investing goals should always serve a purpose. Start by clarifying your broader financial objectives. Are you investing for:

• Short-term needs (are you trying to go on vacation, is the goal to buy a car)?
• Mid-term milestones (e.g., purchasing a home, building a home, buying a stand, funding your child’s education because those kindergarten fees are deadly)?
• Long-term security (e.g., retirement, building generational wealth)?

Once you’ve identified these objectives, assign a timeline and a monetary value to each. For instance, if you’re planning to buy/build a house in five years, determine how much you’ll need for a down payment and start working backward to calculate annual savings targets.

3. Set SMART Investing Goals

To make your investing goals actionable, use the SMART framework:

• Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve (e.g., “Invest $10,000 in index funds by December 2025” Don't ask what currency I'm speaking in, life in Zim is hard for us all).
• Measurable: Quantify your progress to stay motivated.
• Achievable: Ensure your goals are realistic based on your income, expenses, and financial commitments.
• Relevant: Align your goals with your life stage and priorities.
• Time-bound: Set a deadline to create urgency and accountability.

For example, instead of just saying it as, “I want to save for retirement,” a SMART goal would be: “Contribute $6,000 to my retirement account by the end of 2025.”

4. Assess Your Risk Tolerance

Your risk tolerance plays a significant role in determining how you invest. As you set your 2025 goals, ask yourself:

• Am I comfortable with high-risk, high-reward investments like stocks?
• Would I prefer safer options like bonds or fixed deposits?

Remember, your risk appetite may change depending on your age, financial situation, and market conditions. Tailor your portfolio to align with both your goals and your risk tolerance. When I first started blogging and podcasting about investing I had one child, rentals were fairly low and my medical insurance bill was negligible. Now things are different, the family is bigger, the home and rentals have also expanded and as a result not only do I have less disposable income, but I also stand to lose more when I invest so I am more cautious. Remember that when you invest you must be ready to lose as well. Investing isn't just a win-win situation.

5. Diversify Your Portfolio

A well-diversified portfolio is essential for managing risk and optimizing returns. Evaluate your current investments and ensure you’re spreading your capital across:

• Asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities).
• Sectors (technology, healthcare, finance).
• Geographic regions (domestic and international markets).

For 2025, consider exploring newer opportunities like ETFs focused on emerging markets or green energy and AI, while still maintaining a core portfolio of stable, long-term assets.

6. Automate Your Investing

One of the best ways to stick to your investing goals is to automate the process. Use tools like automated contributions to retirement accounts, recurring investments in mutual funds, or robo-advisors. Automation ensures consistency and reduces the emotional decision-making that can derail your plans during market fluctuations. Tools like EasyEquities do make this a little easy to do. I would need to see if Ctrade has automation functions.

7. Monitor and Adjust as Needed

Setting your goals is just the beginning. Regularly reviewing your portfolio is essential to staying on track. Schedule quarterly or semi-annual check-ins to evaluate:

• Whether your investments are performing as expected.
• If your goals or priorities have shifted.
• How changes in the market might affect your strategy.

Don’t hesitate to rebalance your portfolio if certain assets become over- or underweighted compared to your target allocation.

8. Stay Educated and Informed

The investing landscape evolves constantly, with new trends, tools, and challenges emerging every year. Make it a goal in 2025 to stay informed about market conditions, investment strategies, and personal finance best practices. Resources like financial blogs, podcasts, and workshops can keep you updated and inspired. You and I are going to have a lot of reading to do. I'll write a separate post about the social media accounts I am following to surround myself with investment talk in 2025.

Conclusion

Setting your investing goals for 2025 is an opportunity to take control of your financial future. By reflecting on your progress, defining SMART goals, and building a diversified and automated investment plan, you can make steady strides toward your financial aspirations. Remember, investing is a marathon, not a sprint, so stay disciplined and adaptable as you work toward achieving your dreams.

Here’s to a prosperous and goal-oriented 2025! Investment tools I am using this year: EasyEquities - For investing in the American stock exchange Ctrade - For investing in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and Victoria Falls Stock exchange