Setting up an investment goal is the first step towards acquiring financial independence. One should start the process of setting goals by identifying the type of investment he is interested in. For example, find out if you want to generate income that can be used right now, you want to invest money for retirement, or the investment is being done to improve your net worth?

After setting up the investment goal, your next step should be to identify the investment products that will be helping you in reaching the investment goals. For doing this, you are required to use investment research tools like calculator, case study, list and table. All these tools are easily available online.

While investigating the investment products, you will automatically start selecting the investments that you are interested in. After having four or five investment products, you can also start researching about them. You can review their performance history, talk to the company offering the product or else you can also go through the product's promotional material.

The final step towards setting an investment goal is meeting an investment professional. He is the person who will tell your more about investment products that are best to meet your investment goals. An investment professional also tells about the viability of the investment products selected by you, and thus clarifies the doubts present in your mind. But, before you visit a professional, be sure that you have prepared a list of your investment goals, as well as a questionnaire about the investment products you have already researched about.