We all have a money weakness and mine is skirts – coloured skirts, to be exact! Some of the skirts I own I haven’t even worn yet!
This festive season, I have made a commitment to not go shopping for clothes. And to wear all my coloured skirts!
Why? Well, since writing my book Money Intelligence®, I have focused on what’s truly important to me. And it’s not the skirts! I did a stock take of everything I own and concluded that I have too much “stuff”.
The most important thing to me in the second half of my life, I am over 40 now but not yet 50! is to make a difference.
Consumerism is now so ingrained that credit cards have become our cash accounts.
The maxed-out mortgage is another “account” we use to maintain our materialist lifestyles, forcing us to work in family-unfriendly jobs for 30 years or more.
I have had thousands of money conversations with people from all walks of life during the past 21 years. The one thing they all say is: “I need to pay off my big mortgage.”
But what worries me more than paying off the big mortgage is this:
How will you live in retirement?
Would you be able to live on the pension? If you are accustomed to a middle-class lifestyle with an annual household income of $150K to $250K, could you survive on $22,804.60 per single or $34,382.40 per couple?
And that’s assuming the pension will still be available in 15 to 20 years’ time.
You cannot rely on the pension in retirement. You need to plan.
The first step is to ask yourself:
- What is truly important to you?
- Is it spending your income on “stuff” – fine clothes, brand names, expensive dinners?
- Or is it nurturing relationships and investing your time in family and friends?
- Is it saving and investing your money wisely so you can retire in comfort?
