Figure out what you want or where you want to be: this is the fifth thing you need to do.

After getting out of debt, take a moment and feel proud. Getting out of a hole is a good feeling. After getting out of the red and into the black, you should have a good understanding of how much money you can save a year. You will know how much money you make annually. Since your debts are gone, your monthly expenses should go down significantly.

After you have paid off your debts, you must have learned a very important lesson. Having to work for money to pay off debts is awful. Try to avoid that as much as possible. With excess money, you can decide what you want to do or achieve in life. Chances are, you will have to accumulate some amount of money over time.

If you can't figure out what you want out of life, at least set a goal for how much money you want to have saved up at a certain age in your life. For example, you can set the goal of accumulating $200,000 by the age of 45.

When you set this goal, you can then set a plan how to get there. The easiest way to do this is to find out how many years you have until your goal and do a little math.

For example, if you are at a $0 net worth at the age of 30 you need to save up a total of $200,000 within 15 years which is $13,333.33 per year.

Since everyone has a different situation, this goal may be too easy for one man and completely impossible for another.

Realize this, the more stuff you want, the more money you need to make. In pursuing a life of minimalism, you don't need to make as much money as a man who gets married, buys a mansion, vacations to Italy twice a year, and buys a few sports cars. A man that wants that sort of lifestyle will require a lot of money.

However, a single man that lives on his own and lives minimally can easily get by on $15,000 a year.

After you set your goals, go ahead and execute your plans. Remember that if you run into problems along the way, make sure to see if you can still reach your goals. You might have to reassess your goals.

By taking time to focus on personal financial planning, a man can make good decisions to make his life much easier and enjoyable.