by: Lorraine Pirihi
Most people have no idea where their money goes. They earn it and they spend it.
That's fine if you want to live from week to week and are not concerned about your financial future. However if you want to increase your wealth and have more options, action needs to be taken by you otherwise you could end up like most people further down the track, totally dependant on a pension.
Karen's Story
Karen is the Marketing Manager for a well-known organisation. She's 39 yrs old, single and earns over $80k a year. She is paying off a mortgage and that's all the debt she has.
Karen buys whatever she likes and says she has more than enough money for her lifestyle…or so she thought. And that's a very important point - Karen 'thought' she had plenty of money to splash around yet she had no real idea of where it went.
She was at the stage where she wanted to achieve more in her life including taking charge of her financial future.
One of the exercises I gave her to do was to sort all her financial statements - visa card, bank accounts and any cash receipts and list her income and expenditure under specific headings ie: loans, clothing, utilities, food etc. Karen recorded everything that occurred for the past 6 months. She nearly fainted when she saw how much money she had wasted and how much she was overspending! She was going backwards fast and only realised it by doing this simple exercise.
In the past Karen hadn't put a high priority on her financial well-being as it was just too hard. Being a marketing manager, her life was busy at work and she had a hectic social life. She didn't want to bother doing something that wasn't exciting like working on her financial future. After all, she had a well-paid job, didn't she?
Karen has now come to her senses and knows her true financial situation. If she lost her job, financially she couldn't afford to be off work for more than a month. She realises that she is responsible for her future.
The area of wealth creation hadn't been of great interest to Karen in the past. Now that she was undertaking coaching, she was serious to making a change. Prior to writing down where her money was going, Karen was completely closed to any suggestion to read more about how she can accelerate her wealth (or lack of it), so I didn't pursue this with her. Her attitude had now changed so she was ready and willing to move to the next step.
The next move…I referred Karen to an organisation who would look at her total financial picture and be able to recommend what she could do. The reason I chose these people is because they take a holistic approach to wealth creation. They look at every aspect and provide an on-going education as well as a hand-holding service.
We met after her first session and Karen said she nearly had a heart attack at the meeting. She realised how much money she had been giving away to the tax office. Being on such a high income she was being taxed 47c for every dollar earned. She now realised that by making some small changes she could keep this money and have investments that over time would accelerate her financial situation dramatically.
She now had enough knowledge to make decisions and take actions that could make her financially independent over the next few years. Karen couldn't believe how simple it was!
Your Financial Future - Whose Responsibility?
Unfortunately you cannot leave your financial well-being in the hands of anyone else except yourself.
Of course, you can seek advice from professionals in that field like accountants and financial planners; however, it really is up to you to lead the way …to be proactive!
Having attended many seminars, spoken to wealthy people and to the financial professionals (many of whom aren't independently wealthy themselves), and read many books on the topic of wealth creation, I have found you cannot rely on any one person to delegate your financial affairs to. You need to be proactive and take control of your own life.
How to Take Control of Your Financial Future
Get your finances in order first: You need to know what you spend, what you earn, how much you owe and how much you own…Not in your head but in writing. What you think your situation is and what is reality, will more than likely be two totally different scenarios.
If you know where you are right now you can then seek out appropriate solutions to your specific financial needs.
How to Get Started
Speak with your accountant on the best way to set up your recording system.
Ask them how you can increase your wealth.
Ask your accountant and/or your financial advisor how they have created their wealth. What do they invest in?
Talk to people who are wealthy. Ask them how they accumulated their wealth.
Question everything.
Read books and attend seminars on wealth creation…the more informed you are the easier it is to make sound decisions. We regularly advertise these types of events in our Event Update: http://www.office-organiser.com.au/weeklyupdate.html
Don't believe everything you hear, see and read, particularly if the person advising you reaps financial benefit from you accepting their advice.
Only listen to people who "have rungs on the ladder". Once you've have done some research (and this can happen in a matter of days or weeks, depending on your efforts) then:
Take action
Sure you'll make mistakes along the way, however that's the only way you can progress. Learn from them and move on.
The Final Word
Looking after your financial well-being should be high on your priorities. It's about having choices in your life. Do you really want to work from dawn to dusk to support the lifestyle you and your family have become accustomed to? Perhaps you don't get to enjoy the lifestyle because you're too busy busting your guts at work.
Imagine what it would be like to work because you want to, not because you have to?
If financial freedom is something you desire in the not too distant future (and it doesn't happen overnight), you have to take action sometime... like right now!