Financial Archives - Page 11 of 12

Making Adjustments In Our Life

Posted on November 19, 2020

Conscious changes can be difficult to make. Not all of them of course. But making adjustments in our life can be quite difficult and mentally challenging.

A few examples of things many people try to do, and often struggle with and stop are, losing weight, quitting smoking, drinking less, waking up early, meditating, exercising, saving and finding a better job. There is a formula for each one of these, though few people want to follow it.

Often people want to do it their own way. Or they will adjust the body and not the mind. You can simply quit smoking, but if you still see yourself (your self image) as a smoker, you are very likely to pick up the habit again.

Changes that happen naturally are sometimes easier to accept. Examples are growing up, ageing and progressing through primary school. So try to make things happen naturally or set up your environment so it feels natural.

Remember to modify your self image so you can accept the changes before or while they are happening. For example, immerse yourself in the daily thought that you are an early morning person and soon you will find waking up early is a breeze. Set up your environment to assist with this with a good wake up system and earlier bedtime.

Making adjustments in our life is worthwhile and easier than we want to acknowledge.

Financial Think About It

The Cost Of Watching TV

Posted on November 15, 2020

You would be surprised how much your TV costs you. And I am not talking about the purchase price. The cost of watching TV may be higher than you think.

There are many ways to look at this whole TV watching scenario. It has really been brought home to me several times in my life. However, it may have had its biggest impact years ago, when I heard this idea from Jim Rohn.

For most people it is not the cost of the TV, even if it was £3,000. The real cost is higher, even if you add in the cable cost, movie channels and streaming services at £150 per month. It is the time you spend in front of the TV that costs you dearly.

First, that time could be spent with children, loved ones or on other engaging endeavours. Secondly, what is the financial opportunity cost of the TV? If you are paid £20 per hour (£40k per year) and watch three hours of TV on five of the seven days a week for 52 week, that would equate to an additional £15,600 if you were working. That is almost 40% more income.

Imagine if you turned your nightly TV watching into a profitable hobby that generated an extra £15,000 of income a year from now.

Ah, the cost of watching TV.

Action Financial Gratitude Health & Fitness Observe Reframe your thoughts Think About It Time

Looking Back At 80

Posted on October 19, 2020

How will you look back on your life? What will be in it? What will have been worth the price you paid? Looking back at 80 is an important exercise to do many times when you are younger.

Imagine you are 80 years old. Can you look back over the span of 80 years and be filled with joy and contentment? There are a lot of tough questions in there. You will have to face your expectations versus reality gap and hope there is positive gap (reality ended up better) rather than a negative one.

It raises some helpful thoughts that should be considered throughout our lives. You might ask yourself the following questions. Am I living a good life? Should I spend more time and energy on family, career, finances, mental health, physical fitness or my community? How can I do more for others or myself? What will I accept or be happy with?

Its going to be harder to achieve anything once you reach your 80’s. There are many that keep going like Warren Buffett. However, you’ll have to have good genes, stay healthy and have a little luck on your side.

You may wish you had worked harder, studied more, saved more money or maintained better fitness. There is still time to change the outcome but you’ll have to put the effort in.

Looking back at 80 should be a delightful experience.

Financial Health & Fitness Reframe your thoughts Weight Weight loss

You Are What You Think

Posted on October 14, 2020

Do you even know what you think about yourself? It’s time to give this some thought. You are what you think, so you had better being thinking some good and useful things.

One reason people are not achieving what they want in life is their mismatched mindset. They know what they want, which is great. However, they can’t see themselves in that picture.

This can be the problem for people who want to lose weight and keep it off. Rather than think of themselves as a slim person, they see themselves as overweight or heavy, etc. So they tend to do what many heavier people do. They tend to move less and eat more.

Although if they saw themselves as a slim person, their mind would adopt the habits of a slim person. They would eat less and move more. In addition, if they saw themselves as a slim and athletic person, they may even develop greater muscle mass or at least stronger muscles.

The same can be said for people and money. If you want to be wealthier, but can’t see yourself as wealthy, you are likely to struggle to build a prosperous financial future. You must take on the role of being wealthy. This means acting appropriately with your money, not just spending it to look wealthier than you currently are.

You are what you think. Make sure your thoughts are working for you.

Action Financial Health & Fitness Time

Your Two Week Sprint

Posted on August 17, 2020

Let the games begin! What habits could you start? What changes could you get underway? Your two week sprint starts today! In 14 days you will have lived through what is probably the oddest first 2/3rds of a year in your life.

Your goals may be all over the place, like the airline industry. Or they may be laying in tatters after having achieved them all and then some, like Amazon.

Whichever it is, there are only a couple of weeks left in August before the world tries something it hasn’t done in 102 years. During the 1918 Pandemic the world tried to get back to normal over the summer and through the usual autumn activities. Back to work, school and life in general.

Now what can you commit to for the next two weeks? It’s not forever, its simply your two week sprint. Get yourself in decision mode. Make an unbreakable commitment to yourself. Resolve to do your 14 day habit to put you on the road to ever greater success.

We’re coming into the home stretch of this zany 2020 year. Get yourself into great shape in at least one area you’ve been thinking about all year. My sprint has goals and habits focused on food, fitness, finances, fun and non-fiction.

What are you going to achieve during this sprint?

Action Financial Observe Reframe your thoughts

Becoming A Billionaire

Posted on July 30, 2020

Now, you may be the type that is curious as to how to do it or seething that becoming a billionaire is even allowed. Either way, or somewhere in between, it seems everyone has a view on billionaires.

Your reaction to the idea of a billionaire will say a lot about you and your relationship with money. That may or may not be a good thing. You will have to think it through. Be brutally honest about how money makes you feel.

There are generally two roads you can take if you are intent on becoming a billionaire. The first is to have the money given to you. This can be from inheritance, divorce, donation, charity or a very good friend. Alternatively, you can earn the money through providing a product or service for a very large number of people (c. 87% of billionaires).

Bill Gates sold software. Many estimates suggest that there are over one billion PC’s running a version of Windows. If it cost $100 each to have that software on the PC’s, the company’s revenues would be $100 billion from that one software alone. Not only has he provided a valuable service to many people, hundreds of thousands of people have earned their livelihood with his company.

I’ve willingly given more than $100 to Microsoft, from which Mr Gates has benefitted. It has definitely been worth it and then some.

Action Financial Health & Fitness Think About It Time

Plan Ahead

Posted on July 27, 2020

It’s a good idea to look out beyond the hour, day and week. Some people plan important events years in advance. When you plan ahead, it changes your perspective on life, time and prioritisation.

Our life insurance broker rang me today. He wanted to check that I was happy with the cover we had. Was it the right amount, coverage and term (length of time)? All seemed fine.

However, it did get us running a few scenarios. How old would we be in 10, 20 and 30 years? We also needed to calculate how old the kids would be on those dates. The other point to consider was specific life moments falling in those time periods. Big events we considered were; helping with the children’s university costs, business start up costs and/or potential wedding costs.

Planning ahead does make you confront some brutal truths. In particular, it reminds you that you will either be much older one day, or the alternative. And you should consider that ‘much older’ comes with more than simply more candles on your birthday cake. Your health and wellness is likely to change somewhat.

You plan ahead for things that you want such as holidays, concerts and sporting events. So you should also plan ahead for those events that are inevitable, like ageing and the alternative.

Do it now.

Financial Gratitude Think About It

Winning £1 million

Posted on July 25, 2020

It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Most people would be pretty pleased with that sum of money. Winning £1 million seems to be the magic number for a lot of people.

Songs have been written about having a million dollars. People talk about how life would be different if they could just, ‘win a million’. And many people have dreamt about what they would do if they had a million dollars, pounds or euros show up in their life unexpectedly.

Although today £1 million wouldn’t put you in the exclusive group it would have in 1970, it is still an exciting amount of money to most people. Even for someone who has a net worth of £30 million (i.e. assets less liabilities), this amount would probably be warmly received. This is in part because those assets might produce £3 million in income. So an extra 33% more would likely be welcome.

What would you do if you had £1 million turn up in your bank account? Whether it was from an inheritance (long lost Auntie?), a lottery ticket or some fascinating philanthropist doing things differently.

Wouldn’t winning £1 million be an exciting thing? Would you do something exciting and novel? Or something sensible and pragmatic? Perhaps you would do a little of both.

Well, I hope you get to find out sometime soon!

Financial Health & Fitness Reframe your thoughts Weight loss

Becoming One Of Them

Posted on July 21, 2020

If you have been trying to change something in your life, without success, check your perceptions. The ‘becoming one of them’ way of thinking might be holding you back.

We all have certain perceptions, stereotypes or biases about things and people. Some of these are very mild and some awaken deep feelings in us.

Some examples where perceptions can be stronger could be; how you see parenthood, a university degree, body weight, a political party, wealth or being organised.

These examples, or others, may not elicit any strong emotion in you. Though some people will have a noticeable level of tension around a few of these subjects.

This tension is good to be aware of and explore. It often comes out in the language used when discussing the topic. Some common phrases are; the wealthy are greedy or being organised is boring.

I’ve been researching and thinking a lot about this movement between tribes and the challenges people encounter. After discussing it with a friend on our run this morning, I heard this episode (#950) of the Quote Of The Day show. It’s a great podcast and this episode was timely.

Although Lisa Jimenez is talking about millionaires, I believe that the ‘becoming one of them‘ thinking applies to most changes a person would like to make.

Remember, say good things about the tribe you’re trying to become a part of. When you don’t, your mind won’t let you join them and have their benefits.