You will be able to fund goals one after another, so each one gets full funding for its period.
Take the ranked list of goals you made in lesson 8.2 and write beside each goal the month it ends. The ranking shows which goals come first, but it doesn't show that goals end. When one does, the money it was using is freed for the others.
Mei and Daniel (an invented couple, with example figures carried over from earlier lessons) have S$1,500 a month for their goals. After they ranked their goals in lesson 8.2, their plan fully funded the wedding and the home. It gave Daniel's diploma S$150 of the S$250 a month it needed and gave the car nothing. Daniel asked whether his diploma would ever be funded. It will. It has to wait its turn, and that turn comes sooner than he expected.
The wedding is the clearest case. It takes S$850 a month for 30 months, which is more than half of what they save, but only for a limited time. Once the wedding is over, that money is free for the next goal.
Sequencing means giving one goal most of the available money until it is funded, then moving that money to the next goal. Each goal gets a large share for a shorter time. An even split gives every goal a small slice for the whole period, so the money stays spread thinly across all of them. The total saved is the same under both methods. With sequencing, each goal is fully funded on its date. With an even split, every goal is only partly funded on every date.
Splitting, which gives every goal a share of the money at the same time, suits goals with similar dates. If two fixed goals fall due in the same year, you can't fund one and then the other, because the second would have no time to build up. Both need money at the same time, and both get their full monthly figure. Sequencing suits goals whose dates are far apart or can move.
Mei and Daniel's wedding and home are both fixed goals with payments years apart. Both fit in the budget at once, so they run side by side. The diploma, the car and the child's pre-birth goal from lesson 6.4, "Build a child's first-years budget", wait behind them.
The diploma was planned to start in month 24. Daniel already has S$2,000 saved toward it. At S$150 a month, it would have S$5,600 by month 24 (S$150 x 24 = S$3,600, plus the S$2,000), and it needs S$8,000. Starting on the original date would have meant borrowing or taking money from the wedding.
Daniel's course has several intakes a year, so its start date is flexible. He moved it to month 40, a little over a year later than planned. His S$2,000 plus S$150 a month from today reaches S$8,000 in month 40 (S$150 x 40 = S$6,000, plus S$2,000). Moving this one flexible goal made the diploma fit without touching either fixed goal.
The same technique works whenever two goals clash: push one back by a year, or bring one forward if it is smaller. This can separate two goals that seemed impossible to fund together.
In the final timeline, the wedding money moves to the pre-birth goal, as lesson 6.4 planned. The diploma's money moves to the car once the diploma is funded. The pre-birth money moves to the car once that goal is funded, and so on.
Months 1 to 30: wedding S$850, home S$500, diploma S$150. Months 31 to 40: pre-birth goal S$850, home S$500, diploma S$150. The diploma reaches S$8,000 in month 40. Months 41 to 50: pre-birth goal S$850, home S$500, car S$150. The pre-birth goal reaches S$17,000 in month 50. Months 51 to 60: home S$500, car S$1,000. The home cash goal is complete by month 60. Months 61 to 66: car about S$1,416.67, CDA deposits about S$83.33. The car reaches S$20,000 in month 66.
Every period adds up to S$1,500. Under the even split from lesson 8.1, every goal would have been short on its date. Under the sequence, every goal is funded in full. The plan states in writing how much longer the delayed goals wait: the diploma 16 months longer than first planned, and the car six months longer.
To build your own sequence, start from your ranked goals and their scores from lesson 8.2. Run fixed goals with dates years apart side by side if they fit in the budget together, and split money between goals with similar dates so each gets its full figure at the same time. Line up flexible or later goals behind the fixed ones. If a flexible goal can't reach its target by its date, move its date, for example to a later course intake, instead of borrowing or taking from a fixed goal. When a goal is funded, move its monthly amount to the next goal in line. Check that every period adds up to your total monthly amount for goals, and write down how much longer each delayed goal waits.
A sequence is a plan for the life you expect. Life rarely follows it exactly, so check the order whenever something big changes. A new job with a higher salary might add money to every period or let the car come forward. A pregnancy earlier than planned would move the pre-birth goal ahead of the diploma and push the car back. A rise in COE prices, a higher renovation quote or a change in grants would change a target and the months after it.
When something like this happens, go back to your scores from lesson 8.2, rescore any goal whose answers have changed, and redraw the sequence. With the sheet open, this usually takes about ten minutes. Your own timeline will have different goals and dates, and a rough version on paper is enough to begin with.
Draw a simple timeline of your goals and mark which one you are funding in each year.
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