Welcome to Favors Sample Life Plans!
The Favors Sample Life Plans support various book titles and topics under the Favors brand. You can find the titles by clicking “Books” and “About.” The titles may also be found under various tab topics. For example, the Favors Sample Life Plan Workbook: A Case Study for Addressing Chronic Homelessness is available under the “Homeless Recovery Research” tab. Click under any one of the financial or overcoming setback tabs for additional titles and access to links.
Published Works
Sample Life Plans & Workbook
The following book title is available on Amazon.
Favors Sample Life Plan: Using Psychology, SWOT, & SMART to Measure Financial Progress
Favors Sample Life Plan Workbook: A Case Study for Addressing Chronic Homelessness
Sample Life Plan Journal
The current title is now available on Amazon. Click the link for more information.
It is a companion to the Favors Sample Life Plan books and the financial recovery series.
Favors Sample Life Plan Journal: A Companion is a financial self-reflection and financial planning tool to help you gauge your financial goal setting, establish initial financial priorities, and set sustainable financial goals.
The objective is to move you out of a haphazard way of managing and maintaining your finances to a strategic method that includes periodically conducting a financial planning SWOT, adopting an action plan, and measuring your financial progress at both the initial and extended stages.
Favors Sample Life Plan Journal is the most useful resource to help you address your current financial challenges and resolve those challenges by adopting a goal to sustain financial stability.
Favors Sample Life Plan: Using Psychology, SWOT, & SMART to Measure Financial Progress
This is a book about helping you understand and close the gaps in your knowledge base concerning the proper use of money, finances, and financial management.
I wish we all could be great money and financial managers, but this may not be the capacity for everyone. Until you can address your own adult complicity with bad financial decision-making, you will never move forward. Reflection always begins with assessing the environment that nurtured your thinking.
Favors Sample Life Plan Workbook: A Case Study for Addressing Chronic Homelessness
This is an extension of the Overcoming Setback Series and Life Recovery Series that focus on encouraging readers to address their behavior behind the setback and recover from negative decision-making, respectively.
The Life Plan Concept
The Life Plan concept derives from the Overcoming Setback Workbook: Processing Towards Life Recovery. The book includes the introduction and development of a life plan necessary for anyone who needs a practical process leading towards sustaining life recovery. After completing the workbook elements of the book, i.e., the Life Recovery Spotlights, it is important to move knowledge forward into creating and sustaining a realistic life plan. Overcoming Setback Workbook briefly explores SWOT, utilizes SMART, and offers a sample life plan based on two types of financial planning goals. Readers are expected to reflect on the previous processes.
The Life Plan concept is also integrated into additional books. For example, Favors Sample Life Plan: Using Psychology, SWOT, & SMART to Measure Financial Progress extends the discussion to include psychology topics that provide insight into how people make financial decisions, focusing on previous exposure to financial management during childhood and how such nurtured environments affected adult understanding of money, money management, and general finances. The purpose of this book is to apply psychology concepts to finances and financial management using the sample life plan.
Lastly, Favors Sample Life Plan Workbook: A Case Study for Addressing Chronic Homelessness uniquely uses composition and pre-writing process principles to discuss and explore the topic of life planning and considers the special topic of addressing and exiting chronic homelessness for chronically homeless people as a case study by which to explore these ideas. The book also includes two sample life plans that precede the case study. These sample life plans offer insight on finances for individuals desiring to exit chronic homelessness; they are included within the previous books referenced above, and they are brought forward into this book to demonstrate the importance of managing finances for the chronically homeless individual.
To date, these three books represent companion texts for the Favors Life Recovery Curriculum. More books are in development. In addition, the sample life plan and the sample life worksheets below are included in the different books referenced. They are all available on Amazon. Material below is wholly adapted from one or more books.
The Life Plan Worksheets
The Life Plan Worksheets represent the task management part of the process. Completing the worksheets is important because it allows you the opportunity to outline your thinking before writing the life plan. You must take the time necessary to create a goal, preferably a financial goal, so that you can gauge whether you are financially stable or unstable; gauge your financial strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; and gauge whether you will be able to achieve the goal you set. There is nothing worse than to have floating goals without a true purpose and lack the discipline to see the goal you set all the way to the end of your process.
The task management part of life planning should take a little longer than the final writeup. If you complete all the worksheets prior to writing the life plan, you will have the content necessary for the life plan. The following represents an overview of the Life Plan Worksheets you will complete in the books referenced in preparation for the Sample Life Plan you will write. The completed life plan worksheets are available in one or more companion sources. See those books for more information.
Sample Life Plan-Initial (Concept)
The Sample Life Plan-Initial includes the following steps and worksheets.
- Step One: Initial Goal Questionnaire
- Step Two: SWOT Questionnaire-Initial
- Step Three: Life Plan Worksheet-Initial
- Step Four: SMART-Initial
- Step Five: Life Plan Checklist, Assessment-Initial
The Initial Goal Questionnaire gauges financial stability, probing questions that address why an individual is not financially stable, factors and relationships that led to instability, and issues with envisioning financial stability. A person who is not financially stable must have a reason. Without a reason, it would be difficult to resolve the problem.
The SWOT Questionnaire probes an individual’s financial planning strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Central to this questionnaire is the need to outline what makes you great at financial planning, what makes you bad at financial planning, where you can grow at financial planning, and what could possibly keep you from sustaining your financial planning goals.
Responses to the questionnaire can be open-ended and subjective based on your experiences with financial management through a job, financial management through dependency on family income, and financial management through other means, namely investing in the stock market. Investing is not discussed in this book, but you may reference the concept in your SWOT if that is an initial financial goal for you.
The Life Plan Worksheet for the initial goal is where developing a vision statement for your goal is important. The worksheet provides spaces for outlining your priorities for the goal as well as the core values. Unique to the worksheet is the use of SMART to assess whether the goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. There are immediate goals. Then there are mid-range and long-term goals. Understanding the type of goal or goals you want to set must come with a realistic perspective. You cannot accomplish everything you want to do within a short time frame. Some goals just require time to complete. Completing the worksheet is sobering.
The SMART Worksheet follows. Whereas you provide a quick outline of your goal using the acronym, you are expected to provide more details concerning the goal using the worksheet. This means that you must design a specific way you will be able to accomplish your goal. The goal must have a timetable. It must be an achievable, relevant goal. There are multiple factors that you must consider when applying SMART to your initial financial goal and to goal setting overall.
The Life Plan Checklist, Assessment Worksheet simply allows you to check off what you have completed before composing your life plan. This includes checking off whether you have an initial goal. This is important because you need an initial goal to create an extended goal, which is the second part of the Sample Life Plan process. The additional sections to check off include SWOT, SMART, and the Life Plan sections. There are additional questions that probe if you need to make changes or adjustments to your life plan.
The last part of the process is writing the Sample Life Plan with your initial goal. Remember that this is your life plan, but it is also a Sample Life Plan until you finalize your thoughts and planning process. The Sample Life Plan is composed in the next section, aptly titled.
Sample Life Plan Worksheets
The following sample life plan worksheets focus on the financial goal planning for both initial and extended goals. The full sheets are represented here. This gives you an idea of what is necessary to create an exit plan out of a life setback. Here is an overview of the Sample Life Plan-Initial. The Sample Life Plan-Extended, which applies psychology concepts, is available in the books referenced.
Instructions
Using the following Life Plan Worksheets, provide answers based on the goal you have set. You may use the sample goal or create your own goal. Refer to the previous step-by-step guide within Favors Sample Life Plan: Using Psychology, SWOT, & SMART to Measure Financial Progress if necessary.
Step One: Complete the initial goal questionnaire for the initial financial goal.
Figure. Creating Initial Goal Questionnaire
| Sample Goal: To become financially stable. |
| Why are you not financially stable? |
| What has led to you not being financially stable? |
| What does financial stability mean to you? |
| What relationships are hindering your financial stability? |
| Can you envision financial stability? |
Step Two: Complete the SWOT questionnaire for the initial financial goal.
Figure. SWOT Questionnaire-Initial
| Strengths What are your financial planning strengths? | Weaknesses What are your financial planning weaknesses? |
| Opportunities What are your financial planning opportunities? | Threats What are your financial planning threats? |
Step Three: Complete the life plan worksheet for the initial financial goal.
Figure. Life Plan Worksheet-Initial
| Goal: What is your goal? |
| Vision Statement: What is your vision for the goal? |
| Priorities: What are your priorities for the goal? |
| Values: What are your values for the goal? |
| SMART Goals: What is your SMART? Specific: Measurable: Achievable: Relevant: Time Bound: |
| Action Plan: What is your action plan? |
| Adjustment: What are the adjustments you may need to make? |
Step Four: Write out your SMART for the initial financial goal.
Figure. SMART Worksheet-Initial
Goal:
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Specific:
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Measurable:
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Achievable:
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Relevant:
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Time Bound:
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Step Five: Assess your life plan checklist for the initial financial goal.
Figure. Life Plan Checklist-Initial
Goal:
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| Initial Goal Do you have an initial goal? Did you change this initial goal? | SWOT Strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? |
| SMART Is your goal specific? Is your goal measurable? Is your goal achievable? Is your goal relevant? Is your goal timely? | Life Plan Do you have a vision statement? Have you performed a self-assessment? Have you prioritized your life? Have you identified your values? Have you established SMART goals? Have you outlined an action plan? Have you adjusted your life plan? |
Changes/Notes: Do you need to make changes to your life plan?
Initial Goal:
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SWOT:
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SMART:
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Life Plan:
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Step Six: Complete the extended goal questionnaire for the extended financial goal.
Figure. Completing the Extended Goal Questionnaire
| Sample Goal: To become financially stable (initial goal) and to sustain financial stability (extended goal). |
| Sample Child Rearing Style: ___________________________________________________ Explanation: |
| What is your attachment style? |
| What is your personality type? |
| What is your goal orientation? |
| What is your mindset? |
Step Seven: Complete the SWOT questionnaire for the extended financial goal.
Figure. SWOT Questionnaire-Extended
| Strengths What are your financial planning strengths when applying psychology concepts? | Weaknesses What are your financial planning weaknesses when applying psychology concepts? |
| Opportunities What are your financial planning opportunities when applying psychology concepts? | Threats What are your financial planning threats when applying psychology concepts? |
Step Eight: Complete the life plan worksheet for the extended financial goal.
Figure. Life Plan Worksheet-Extended
| Goal: What is your goal? |
| Vision Statement: What is your vision for the goal? |
| Priorities: What are your priorities for the goal? |
| Values: What are your values for the goal? |
| SMART Goals: What is your SMART? Specific: Measurable: Achievable: Relevant: Time Bound: |
| Action Plan: What is your action plan? |
| Adjustment: What are the adjustments you may need to make? |
Step Nine: Write out your SMART for the extended financial goal.
Figure. SMART Worksheet-Extended
Goal:
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Specific:
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Measurable:
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Achievable:
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Relevant:
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Time Bound:
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Step Ten: Assess your life plan checklist for the extended financial goal.
Figure. Life Plan Checklist-Extended
Goal: The goal is to become financially stable and sustain financial stability through creating branded products and digital literacy for customers and audience struggling to overcome setback.
| Initial Goal Do you have an initial goal? Did you change this initial goal? | SWOT Strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? |
| SMART Is your goal specific? Is your goal measurable? Is your goal achievable? Is your goal relevant? Is your goal timely? | Life Plan Do you have a vision statement? Have you performed a self-assessment? Have you prioritized your life? Have you identified your values? Have you established SMART goals? Have you outlined an action plan? Have you adjusted your life plan? |
| Attachment Have you addressed secure attachment? Have you addressed insecure attachment(s)? | Parenting Styles Have you addressed authoritative parenting style? Have you addressed authoritarian parenting style? Have you addressed permissive parenting style? Have you addressed uninvolved parenting style? |
| Personality Have you addressed one or more personality types under the Big Five? | Goal Orientation Have you addressed learning goal orientation? Have you addressed performance goal orientation? |
| Mindset Have you addressed your fixed mindset? | Mindset Have you addressed your growth mindset? |
Changes/Notes: Do you need to make changes to your life plan?
Initial Goal:
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SWOT:
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SMART:
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Life Plan:
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These are the life planning worksheets for both Sample Life Plan-Initial and Sample Life Plan-Extended for setting financial goals, whether to pursue financial stability or sustain financial stability.
Sample Life Plan-Initial (Written Response)
Overview
This sample life plan is based on a particular goal pursuing financial stability by creating branded products and digital literacy projects to generate passive income. Content is taken directly from the worksheets. The life plan is an extension of a previously set financial goal.
Life Plan Goal
The life plan goal is to become financially stable with base income and to sustain financial stability with passive income. The former goal was set in the past. The latter goal is now set in the present and for the future.
Background & Progress
I established the initial financial goal in 2013 to pursue financial stability, and it was completed by serving as an adjunct English instructor for a local community college for eight years. That goal ended in July 2021 with a resignation from the institution due to loss of classes. That financial goal produced income and payment into a local government retirement plan. It also produced better credit opportunities and the ability to reestablish positive credit history.
The goal ultimately kept me stable financially so that I could pay my shelter, food, clothing, and teaching costs, if applicable. This was important because in 2013, I was exiting homelessness and entering housed status by living at an extended stay motel. It was important to stay put, keep my head down at my job, continue receiving income, and move towards fulfilling the goal of financial stability by earning base income from a job, not merely from variable and/or freelance income. Previous freelance contractor income was insufficient, but it carried me through my homelessness and correction processes.
I paid taxes on this goal and ultimately resolved any tax debts early as financially feasible. Resolution of tax debts is complete and there is documentation on file.
There is one gap with this financial goal. I did not pay student loans, opting for forbearance by submitting paperwork. This was due to income contingency. I never made enough money to pay student loans. Maintaining shelter costs was the priority.
By 2020, this financial goal was hindered from fully progressing because of the pandemic and loss of sustainable income, which led to filing for unemployment December 2020, appealing the decision, and receiving the funds in their totality before December 11, 2021. The funds from the retirement and the unemployment funds helped to sustain my living financially. I still have the job with Educational Testing Service, which also helped to sustain me financially during the pandemic leading up to the release of unemployment funds.
Current Financial Instability
I am not financially stable because I have not yet received a full-time teaching opportunity or full-time job period. The adjunct instructor position was part-time, teaching three classes per semester and dwindling down to two classes and then to one class because of the pandemic and low student enrollment.
My initial issues with financial instability arguably began when I quit a full-time job in 1996 and then again in 1999 to enter college. Quitting a full-time job and entering college created financial instability. Working only part-time jobs during college studies perpetuated financial instability. Not planning for post-graduation hindered any progress towards financial stability. Although pursuing an education is always emotionally, psychologically, and professionally significant, it was not financially feasible for a person who is a 100% responsible adult.
In addition, giving money to family and friends without asking them the hard questions hindered my financial stability. This happened during college, which made it difficult to save money and create an emergency savings plan for post-graduation. Giving sporadically to friends and without a plan for receiving the funds back also created financial instability. I did not have the emotional wherewithal to set boundaries around my finances, which led to pouring finances into homes and environments that were unnecessary and detrimental to establishing and sustaining myself financially.
In reflecting on these financial habits, I have learned that financial stability represents consistent income from at least one base source. Allotment into a retirement plan and creating and sustaining an emergency savings plan also implies financial stability. Envisioning financial stability through consistent base income and through creating branded products and digital literary projects to generate passive income has become an extension of the existing financial planning goal set in 2013 and completed in 2021. No longer will I depend solely on campus-based teaching for the generation of base income. We are still in a pandemic, and there is no guarantee of consistent enrollment for classes. Instead, using branded products to create teaching and writing seminar activities and using my talent for writing to write and sell film scripts will add to the generation of sustainable base income. The branded products will also create passive income generation opportunities.
Therefore, taking the time to reflect on my SWOT begins the next journey of accomplishing sustained financial stability through generating base and passive income opportunities. The following discussions address SWOT, which is followed further by establishing the specifics of the goal and using SMART to aid in understanding.
SWOT
The following represents an understanding of my financial planning strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths
My financial planning strengths are that I am willing to stay on a job for years to build a record of sustainable income whether from part-time or full-time work. I do not jump from job-to-job. I believe in work stability and building a work ethic in my field so that I can sustain my financial planning strengths. I believe in contributing to my field and supporting the mission of the company and/or institution. I do not work against that mission. Instead, I also take courses for professional development to update teaching knowledge, student learning, and writing skills. These decisions aid in sustaining my financial planning strengths.
Weaknesses
My financial planning weaknesses are that I am lazy about learning other ways to increase financial opportunities. I am not as willing to learn about investments apart from money taken directly out of my base income and placed into a retirement vehicle connected to my job. I may read some books on money management and watch Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman video lessons, but I am not as consistent as I could be considering that I want to increase my income potential and create products to create passive income. I am a lazy financial planner around investments.
Opportunities
My financial planning opportunities include learning about investments, creating branded products to increase passive income opportunity, and staying consistent with remaining on one job to sustain base income. The one job could be outside the teaching environment to include film writing projects, i.e., writing and selling scripts and using my current scripts as portfolio items.
At present, I am developing book products on various topics, including financial, to create additional income priorities to add to my base income. I have self-published multiple books on topics related to rebounding and setback to develop a brand that will lead to seminars, conference participation, book fairs, and writing more books.
The opportunity includes primarily developing products for passive income. The opportunity also includes creating base income opportunities, using current products as digital portfolio items to obtain contracts with film production companies. Lastly, the most important opportunity is academic, using branded products to teach topics on overcoming setback with a local community college’s continuing education programming. All opportunities center on the development of products and digital literacy projects.
Threats
My financial planning threats are simply laziness and failing to close any knowledge gaps through extensive reading, financial coaching, failure to secure investment opportunities, and relying solely on base income that might change due to unforeseen circumstances. A most important threat is not having a sustainable emergency fund for such unforeseen circumstances.
This means that should the current pandemic or a future financial recession impact my job opportunities, I could be homeless again. Another threat might include relying on the passive income without any major marketing and promotion of branded products. Resolution of threats must include becoming proactive about financial planning with base income and passive income.
SMART
My life goal is to create teaching videos for the disciplines of English and psychology. I also want to write books on various academic topics as well as commercial-based topics. I want to be the preferred provider of branded products that encourage people to overcome their setback. I want to be the universally and globally perceived expert on overcoming setback.
Therefore, my vision is to become the preferred provider of products focusing on overcoming setback. The current priorities for this goal are to create branded products, both print and digital learning. The values for this goal include integrity, authenticity, resiliency, consistency, responsibility, and follow-through.
To achieve this life goal, I have utilized SMART to understand what I need to achieve and how I will achieve this goal. Here is an overview of the acronym. A full discussion follows.
- Specific: The plan is to write and publish branded products; to produce digital products for a specific audience struggling to overcome a life setback of any kind.
- Measurable: This is a two-year product planning goal, from 2022 to 2024.
- Achievable: Development of the products is realistic because most products are complete.
- Relevant: Many people are experiencing setback due to the pandemic and job loss.
- Time Bound: The continued development of branded products will take two years.
The life goal is to sustain financial stability by creating passive income through branded products, including books and digital literacy.
Specific
The goal is to write and publish branded products and to produce digital products for a specific audience struggling to overcome a life setback of any kind. Life setbacks include job loss, physical and health, and lack of financial planning.
Measurable
This is a two-year product planning goal, from 2022 to 2024. The development of content for the project began in 2014 with an exploration of rebounding followed by script writing, commercial books on the topic, and writing books on overcoming setback from 2020 to the present. The two-year plan will begin January 2022. This plan includes extending the development of current books and completing the digital learning project.
Achievable
Development of the products is realistic because most products are complete. The project is realistic because most people are struggling with overcoming setback. The project is important too because most commercial books focus on the concept of resilience and not necessarily setback. These Favors branded products directly address setback and overcoming setback.
Relevant
Many people are experiencing setback due to the pandemic and job loss. I also believe people who suffered through the recent financial recession struggled to recover and overcome that setback. Therefore, it is one setback on top of another setback. These branded products are timely and will have a greater impact post-pandemic.
The development of digital and audio lectures, print and eBooks, and companion resources will be helpful for different types of audience members and learning styles.
Time Bound
The continued development of branded products will take two years. This is in addition to the development of products from 2014 to the present. The project will include extending the current branded product base and setting the brands as preferred resources for people struggling with understanding and overcoming setback.
Action Plan
The action plan consists of continuing to write and develop content, create digital content projects, and publish and sell through Amazon.com, my website www.reginayfavors.com, and multiple YouTube channels.
Adjustment Plan
Any adjustment plan will be based on the initial goal of financial stability and the new goal of sustained financial stability through the generation of passive income. Any adjustments will be based on which product assumes greater priority, whether book, novel, or digital resource. Each product has its demands and requires researching and writing. In addition, the goal may be adjusted to consider the development of products and digital literacy. In other words, the development of branded products is connected to the life plan goal.
Conclusion
In sum, the initial financial stability goal has been extended from merely generating base income to reach the financial stability objective set in 2013 and accomplished by 2021 to generating passive income through the development of branded products, a project that started in 2014 and that is ongoing. This life plan goal was considered in 2021 but written in 2022. The current month and year are January 2022.
To accomplish the life plan goal, I do need to address my financial planning weaknesses to turn them into financial planning opportunities. As referenced within this life plan, the financial planning weaknesses include a reference to laziness concerning research and entry into the investment arena of finances. I am not as eager to learn how to invest into the stock market. I may read a book or an online article, and I may watch Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey videos, but I do not have a record of taking a focused, disciplined approach to investing. I am still of the mindset of money merely taken out of my paycheck and placed into a retirement investment vehicle and not necessarily of developing a mindset of taking the money myself, researching, strategizing, and placing it into a financial investment vehicle. I do not sense the need, yet.
Although developing an understanding of investing should be an opportunity for consideration, I would like to address the generation of passive income first, get that started, endure those processes, accomplish multiple levels including varying streams of income, and achieve that goal before beginning an investment journey. If I cannot use common sense principles to sustain base income and manage passive income, it would be hasty of me to enter the stock market given the fact that the stakes are higher, and I do not have a sufficient financial cushion from which to work and resolve pressing issues that may arise. In other words, entry into the stock market and investing industries could break me financially, and then I would be back where I started.
The current SMART does not need to change but adding more specifics in different areas would be beneficial to stay on the path of reaching the life plan goal. Therefore, the life plan goal is clear and sufficient to start, endure, and see all the way to the completion. The current measurable is two years, from 2022 to 2024. This measurable includes the continued writing and development of Favors branded products, publishing said products, and accepting any opportunity that would permit me to earn income and generate passive income.
**********End of Sample Life Plan**********
Appendices: Downloadable Documents
Add documents. Last revision 4/4/2022, 1/23/2023
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