{"id":3079,"date":"2016-08-30T00:13:03","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T00:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raizinvest.com.au\/investors\/money-doesnt-make-life-better-money-management\/"},"modified":"2021-02-08T04:55:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T04:55:48","slug":"money-doesnt-make-life-better-money-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raizinvest.com.au\/investors\/blog\/money-doesnt-make-life-better-money-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Money Doesn\u2019t Make Life Better \u2013 Money Management Does"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image\"<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nhave a confession. Even though I\u2019m a personal finance guy – I still waste
\nmoney.<\/p>\n

Okay,
\nthat actually feels quite good to say out loud.<\/p>\n

I
\nmean, I do fairly well with my money management, but I am no Patron Saint of
\nSavings.<\/p>\n

I
\ndid however meet one last night. And while in some quarters this may be seen as
\na laudable pastime, I have to say by the sounds of it, the juice just isn\u2019t
\nworth the squeeze.<\/p>\n

Let
\nme share with you a conversation I had over dinner last night. As a bunch of
\nguys in our late twenties \/ early thirties, the topic of money came up as we
\ncritiqued the latest (and greatest) iteration of my upcoming book\u2019s cover. With
\nthat came questions about what my career has been in the personal finance space
\nover the last few years, and then one of them casually popped out this
\nsentence:<\/p>\n

\u2018I
\nsave 75% of my after tax income\u2019.<\/p>\n

What?
\nExcuse me? As the rest of us queried his definition, I sat in disbelief.<\/p>\n

How
\ncan someone in their late twenties, living in a capital city in Australia,
\nsurvive on 25% of their after tax income? But despite our best efforts to get
\nhim to \u2018fess up to his obviously incorrect calculations, he stuck by it. He
\nsaid his goal was to retire by 40, in which case he had 12 years to put money
\naside.<\/p>\n

Now,
\nI for one am not going to diminish his efforts. To his credit, he was the only
\none not to join us at\u00a0Baxter\u2019s Inn<\/a>\u00a0later that night, so perhaps he
\nwasn\u2019t facetious, but I will question one thing –\u00a0his intention of retiring
\nat age 40.<\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s
\nthis part of the story which makes the least sense to me. As someone used to
\nteasing out lifestyle plans, and bringing to light the inherent conflicts which
\nexist for everyone, I found the concept of someone young and full of ambition
\nputting forward the goal of ceasing to work as young as possible to be a
\ncomplete non-sequitur.<\/p>\n

And
\nhere in lies why money management is far more important than money itself. The
\nuncomfortable truth is \u2013 it\u2019s only those who can work hard enough and smart enough,
\nand are successful enough at an early age are able to retire at age 40. And if
\nI was to present to you the exact type of person who doesn\u2019t want to sit around
\nall day doing nothing \u2013 well it\u2019s the exact same type of person.<\/p>\n

So
\nthis young gent, earning lots of money, hard working, and not spending any
\nmoney is going to probably achieve his goal of retiring early. The only problem
\nis, when he gets there \u2013 he\u2019s not going to want it. There will be too many well
\ningrained habits of early mornings and full days for him to simply wave goodbye
\nto it all.<\/p>\n

I
\ndon\u2019t mean to call this guy out all alone, he is just another one of us. He\u2019s
\ncaught up in the emotional effects of money, has chosen a direction, but hasn\u2019t
\nreally played the end scenario out in his mind. At some point he learned of the
\nconcept of an early retirement and had been impressed with the idea. As anyone
\ndoes, he would have went about figuring out how to achieve it, and set the
\nprocess in motion.<\/p>\n

But
\nit\u2019s a half baked idea. Early retirement is certainly not what it\u2019s cracked up
\nto be. Infact most people are forced into retirement, they aren\u2019t looking for
\nit. Generally, people want to do whatever they can to stay active, stay
\nimportant, and be productive as long as possible.<\/p>\n

If
\nyour goal is to \u2018own 150 properties\u2019 by the time you\u2019re 50 so you can retire
\nearly \u2013 you can do it. Vendor leasing isn\u2019t exactly a dark art and I\u2019m sure you
\ncan figure it out. If your goal is to continuously travel the world and never
\nget swept up in the stress of city living \u2013 you can do it. There are endless
\nways to make a few bucks online these days.<\/p>\n

Whatever
\nyour plan is \u2013 that\u2019s great \u2013 just make sure your behavior and lifestyle
\nadjustments match the outcome. For our young and successful hero who wants to
\nretire at age 40, all that is going to happen is he is going to miss out of
\nsome pivotal life stages with friends while his asset base grows, only to find
\nit wasn\u2019t worth it when he gets to age 40.<\/p>\n

So
\nwhat does your ideal lifestyle look like? What is it you want to build an asset
\nbase for? Knowing this, and thinking it through clearly will not only give you
\na target to hit, but ensure you are spending your time as well as your money in
\na way that benefits you the most.<\/p>\n

First
\nthing is to decide what you want out of life without any external pressures
\npushing you in any direction. Then you figure out what to do with your money to
\nmake it happen.<\/p>\n

And
\nbuilding a large asset base will absolutely be a part of ensuring you live your
\nideal lifestyle in the future also, so how do you go about doing this.<\/p>\n

Well,
\nonce there was a time where you needed a real estate agents, solicitors, stock
\nbrokers, or financial planners to invest.<\/p>\n

These
\ndays you need a smart phone and the Raiz app.<\/p>\n

One
\nis expensive, time consuming, inaccessible, and overly complicated.<\/p>\n

One
\nis cheap, quick, transparent, and easy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll
\nlet you decide which one\u2019s which. For more information on Raiz fees, click here<\/span>.<\/a><\/p>\n

–
\nClayton<\/p>\n

Author
\nof upcoming book Fund Your Ideal Lifestyle<\/span><\/p>\n

www.fundyourideallifestyle.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Important Information<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person\u2019s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.<\/p>\n

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.<\/p>\n

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.<\/p>\n

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I have a confession. Even though I\u2019m a personal finance guy – I still waste money. Okay, that actually feels quite good to say out loud. I mean, I do fairly well with my money management, but I am no Patron Saint of Savings. I did however meet one last night. And while in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[2059,486,1408,3715,3716,321,1409,151,3713,2335,153,1412,1411,117,150,3717,1410,1407,3714,352]}