As we’ve done the previous 2 years, this is our year end, or close to year end, attempt to get you looking at setting some financial goals for the upcoming year. Two years ago we talked about setting goals like budgeting, saving money and increasing income. Last year we looked at 2015 financial goals of generating more income, paying off a significant bill, and finding something to give up to help you grow your money.

Alan Cleaver via Compfight

Thus, it’s time for 3 more goals to look at, while still incorporating those old goals. After all, those are important, and if you worked on any of them you’re way ahead of the game by now. Yet you’re not done; not sure if we’re ever done. So, let’s look at 3 more things to shoot for in 2016.

1. It’s time to look at protecting your future. This could be seen as saving money but, though that’s a part of it, it’s not close to being enough. This time we’re talking about things like buying life insurance, possibly purchasing long term catastrophic life insurance, checking on your health and automobile insurance, and of course having someone talk to you about your pension or social security.

If you haven’t done any of these things you probably should. If you’re young you definitely need to do these things because they’ll cost you less to invest in now. If you’re older you need to know where you stand when you’re ready to retire.

2. This isn’t necessarily a financial goal for you but your family; it’s time to set up a will. This isn’t the easiest thing to have to deal with mentally but it’s potentially one of the most crucial. Many people think that their spouse will automatically get everything once they pass away and that the spouse will do “the right thing” in distributing assets to other family members.

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Even if there’s only one person who could possibly get all the assets the government is going to get involved. If there’s no will the process gets uglier and the potential recipient might not have the resources to hold out for as long as it could take.

Wills don’t have to be expensive or overly complicated, but they’re definitely necessary.

3. Time to think more about investing. Once you look at everything else, you need to think about ways to help grow the money you already have. You could put it in a bank and earn .5% a year on it but that’s not very significant. You need to think about better ways of growing your money and assessing your comfort level as it pertains to risk.

This is an area where accountants are great to work with. They can help you assess what you already have and where you want to go, then guide you to the proper people who can help you take it further, while helping you determine how much you can afford to risk. If you start early enough you’ll be amazed at how much money you could possibly have to live on in your old age.