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Get_Off_Your_Butt_and_Create_Your_Financial_Future_Now
| Get Off Your Butt and Create Your Financial Future Now!
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 - Who's 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. 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 The Final Word
Looking after your financial well-being should be a top
priority. 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? Wouldn't it be great to
go to work because you want to, not because you have to?
If financial freedom is something you want in the not too
distant future (and it doesn't happen overnight), you have to
take action sometime... like right now!
Have a great week! Lorraine Pirihi
About the author:
Lorraine Pirihi is Australia's Personal Productivity Specialist,
Leading Life Coach and a dynamic presenter. She runs her own
business The Office Organiser specialising in working with Small
Business Owners and Managers helping them to dramatically
improve their productivity, reduce the stress and the mess and
have more time for living life!
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