If not now, then when?

If kryptonite is the only chemical substance that could kill Superman, procrastination and fear is the only thing that can (and will) kill your wealth plans. Therefore my question to you is this, if not now… when? Let me explain…

Over the years, I have witnessed first hand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to making money. The saying is true, money (alone) doesn’t create happiness, but it can certainly create unnecessary stress in your life if you don’t have it, or if you don’t have enough of it.

If you think about it, money is necessary (rightly or wrongly) as it puts food in your mouth and a roof over your head. Your relationship with money, and your perception of it, will determine the quality of life you will live today, tomorrow, and in retirement.

Let’s go with the assumption that you want to live a life full of choices – you want that house, in that suburb, driving around in that car, holidaying to that destination, sending your kids to private school, and anything else that gives you joy… which could include helping the kids financially, your family, or donating to charity.

Having choices is a beautiful thing, but choices won’t get handed to you on a silver platter. The truth is you have to make it happen. Winning the lottery is not a strategy, it’s a 1-in-10 million chance of striking it rich… even then the stats say that a large percentage of winners lose the lot (or near enough to the lot). Why do you think this is the case? You guessed it, their relationship with money is in their DNA – winning the lottery doesn’t change that.

Back to my original question. If not now… when?

Procrastination and fear will hold you back… if you allow it.

In my daily work, I comes across people contemplating their next move. They want it, they can afford it, but they create this negative emotion in their mind that makes them feel insecure or guilty, or even worse they talk themselves out of it. For example…

• You’ve been wanting to upgrade your family home to give your family that much extra space, but the time is not right is it?
• You would love to live in that suburb that you regularly hang out at, but you think is it really necessary?
• You’ve always wanted to book a holiday to that destination and live it up for a couple of weeks, but you reconsider it thinking… can I really afford it right now?
• You’ve always wanted to own that car but your friends and family all say the same thing, it’s a waste of money as cars depreciate in value… isn’t that right?

I’m sure you get the drift. It’s never going to be the right time and those around you will put doubt in your mind – if you let it.

The truth is this. The hour glass of life doesn’t stop for anyone. If you want something bad enough, you can have it or you can experience it, but you must plan for it to make it happen and you have to act – thinking about it won’t bring it to life.

A good friend of mine wrote a book some time ago, which I love reading, and a quote he wrote is this… “Don’t die with music still left in you” (Jacob Galea – Birth of the Super You)

Making money is only hard if you think it is. The issue for many people is not their inability to make money, it’s the trap of thinking that making money has to be an overnight success. There are many businesses preying on the vulnerable promising the quick fix. Here’s a newsflash, it doesn’t happen that way and it certainly doesn’t work.

Making money and creating wealth takes a long time, in fact to create wealth in a predictable way you need to buy quality investment assets (like residential property), hold them, and then ride the ups and downs that comes with investment cycles over two to three decades – yep that’s 20 to 30 years. There is no short cut.

The sooner you start, and the more you accumulate (within your affordability), the more choices you will have over time as your wealth increases.

Of course you can make money from earning a wage or from running a business, but if you want to thrive and not just survive, you need to consider leveraging your household income and your equity position into assets that have a proven history of growing in value over time – like residential property. Only then will you have created more equity and more wealth to give you the money you need to have more choices.

Important information: This content has been prepared without taking account of the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular individual. It does not constitute formal advice. For this reason, any individual should, before acting, consider the appropriateness of the information, having regard to the individual’s objectives, financial situation and needs and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.