A question we've heard countless times over the years is "What's the most common mistake people make when managing their finances?" Our answer: making spending and investment decisions apart from a personalized financial plan. No matter how good your investing choices are, if they're made outside the framework of a larger plan, you're inviting trouble.

Imagine that you're preparing to build your dream home. Over the years, you've accumulated scores of ideas that you'd like to see incorporated into it. Before construction begins, you sit down with your builder to review your design goals. You ask him how long before the blueprints will be ready, but to your surprise, he tells you he doesn't work that way. Rather than planning everything ahead of time, he prefers to develop the design as he goes along. He'll keep your ideas in mind, but "blueprints are so restricting," he says-he wants to have the freedom to be spontaneously creative as the house is being built.

Most of us would be reluctant to hire a builder like that! When building a house, we recognize it's a good thing to have a carefully considered blueprint for action before taking on a challenging task. In fact, the more important the project (e.g., having open heart surgery), the more emphasis we place on careful planning.

Unfortunately, too many people use the "we'll work out the details as we go along" approach when it comes to one of the most important projects they'll ever take on-building a secure financial future. Yet, in much the same way that we live in a physical home, we each "live" in a financial home as well, one that has been created by our past decisions. Just as our dream house could end up poorly designed due to a lack of planning, many people reach retirement and find their financial home isn't what they've always hoped for. That's usually what results from a lifetime of making financial decisions independent of a master blueprint. The good news is this doesn't have to happen to you. Get 2007 off to a good start by setting aside time this month to create a personalized financial plan that's designed to build the kind of future financial home you'll enjoy living in.

In a moment, we'll look at typical planning situations for people at three various stages of life. But before we do, let's examine two basics common to every financial plan. The first is the necessity of developing a clearly defined set of God-given goals. Clearly defined goals establish your financial priorities. In his book, Storm Shelter, Ron Blue lists the following five steps for setting good goals: List your goals, consolidate and refine them, prioritize them, make them measurable, and keep them visible. The monthly surplus established by your budget (which I'll get to in a moment) is the wind in your sails, but your goals are the compass you navigate with. Set good goals and keep them in front of you-you'll be surprised at how much more productive and focused you'll feel as you start living with a clearer purpose.