With summer travel in high gear and many folks taking driving vacations, the nearby Yogi Berra quote seemed appropriate.

GPS navigation systems sure help on the road, but what about trying to reach your financial destination?

This might be a good time to think about your financial goals— where you want to go, how to get there, and what you want to do when you arrive.

How long has it been since you sat down and thought about your goals, and discussed them with your significant other?

In a previous column, I talked about “SMART” goal setting: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound.

If you didn’t do it then, how about now? Note, life isn’t a dress rehearsal; this is the real thing, so make the most of it.

My interest in revisiting this issue was the result of a conversation with friends who are thinking about moving to Santa Barbara from Seattle.

They have loved two month-long visits to Santa Barbara and are being wooed by the prospect of living here in paradise, but weren’t sure about the financial viability of such a change.

My answer was to do some serious financial planning that would provide solid answers. But I also suggested that how and where they’d like to live the rest of their lives was as important as the financial factors.

As Michelangelo said, “there is not greater harm than time wasted”.

Like the Federal Reserve, my friends have a “dual mandate” in considering this kind of change.

First is the financial viability of the housing change: selling the Seattle home and buying a new place in Santa Barbara.

The second is being able to enjoy a secure and comfortable retirement.

Both are important, and setting specific and measurable targets is the first step. Laying out a plan — a roadmap — to reach them will help determine if the goals are attainable.

If the plan is successful, my friends could start looking for homes here in the sun. If not, they could see what kind of adjustments might make it work.

The key is taking the issue out of the world of worry into an actionable plan. 

Some of your goals may be learning to play a musical instrument, taking up a new sport or learning to sing, which all take time, training and commitment.

But you’ll note I didn’t use the word hope. I have long believed that “hope is not a plan.”

How many kids want to grow up to be star athletes like their favorite players? But think how few will put in the incredible amount of time and effort, training for hours and hours every single day.

Certainly, natural talent is key, but I’ve known lots of kids who had the size, strength and natural athletic ability—but lacked the burning desire that led to the hours of practice and training needed to succeed.

And they needed a caring coach who would create a long-range plan and keep them on track to become the best.

Given the financial focus of my columns, let’s talk about meeting long-term money goals.

Hoping to send your children or grandchildren to college — or to enjoy a fun, comfortable and secure retirement — isn’t enough. You need a roadmap to get you there.

Fortunately, there are excellent financial planning tools that can be used to lay out that roadmap to meet goals.

If you’ve followed the SMART approach, you’ll have very specific/measurable goals that aren’t just unrealistic “pie in the sky” — and the time horizons to meet them.

At that point, you carefully enter the goals and financial resources toward meeting them. Don’t forget to include current savings/investments, accurate Social Security and pension benefit estimates, and any other potential resources.

I always suggested that clients be cautious about including future inheritances as things have an amazing way of changing that could leave these unfulfilled,but that’s your call.

Finally, you need to make realistic assumptions in the planning software about things like inflation, rates of return, taxes and how long you expect to live.

If you’ve done a really good job, push the button and let the software do its magic. You should have a clear picture of how likely — or unlikely — achieving your goals are.

Unfavorable outcomes may require going back to the drawing board by reassessing your goals, or determining what changes you’ll have to make in order for success.

Maybe you’ll have to save more money, think about lower cost colleges, or push back your retirement date to get a plan that works.

And note, even the best-laid plans will almost certainly need to be reviewed and updated along the way.

There’s an old saying, “man plans, and God laughs,” and life can have an amazing way of throwing us surprises.

Good surprises might make your plan work better, but no one worries about that kind of luck.

But what about bad surprises? Maybe you lose your job (perhaps replaced by AI?). Big economic events (major recessions?).

Maybe your investments didn’t perform as hoped. Or you just didn’t actually save as much as you projected.

The key is to accept the facts — good or bad — and deal with them by making prudent midcourse corrections.

As noted, there are many different financial planning tools out there. Many 401(k) retirement plan providers offer free planning software for participants. Some mutual fund companies do, too.

And there are software products you can buy. Some of these are pretty rudimentary while others can be quite sophisticated. The better systems include Monte Carlo simulations that can randomize returns and life expectancy to produce a range of outcomes rather than just one best guess — something I believe is very important.

But like many do-it-yourself projects, results may be less than spectacular, or even downright wrong.

I learned a long time ago that hiring an experienced professional — whether an electrician, plumber, barber, lawyer, doctor, etc. — can be so important in getting most jobs done right.

So, you may find it worthwhile to hire an adviser whose practice includes a serious commitment to planning. Some CPAs do financial planning. Most is done by financial/investment professionals.

My bias is toward fee-only advisers to avoid planning that is sometimes just a conduit to product sales. In any case, ask about the adviser’s qualifications, experience and how they get paid before you start the process.

Find out how often they will review and help you update plans in the future. And decide if you like their “bedside manner.” Then, work closely with the adviser in providing well thought-out (SMART) goals, accurate information about your finances and in setting realistic planning assumptions.

Ask questions, and be prepared to go through more than one iteration to get a plan that make sense.

Then, you need to commit to following the plan. If it calls for more regular savings, you need to do it. If it calls for moderating spending (oh, who spends too much?), make the budget changes.

And follow investment plans. Discipline in each of these areas will be key to reaching your goals.

When done right, the payoff will be in reaching your goals. And won’t wind up somewhere else like Yogi Berra!