A lot of people get in touch with me asking how to get started and how to stay consistent with money. Because that’s the thing, you can start with a hiss and a roar but lose momentum and stop and that is a bit of a disaster for your money. So you want to create good, long-lasting routines and habits that set you up financially, which become so ingrained they are automatic.
I’ve had my millionaire questionnaire available since July and I thought I’d look at a couple of the questions in particular and see if there are any common threads that we can draw on and I’ve read through each response and gleaned the following advice for you.
I had a nice surprise on the 16th of October. I logged onto PocketSmith and saw that my bank account had an additional $684 in there. When people talk about “passive income” this is what it actually looks like. Money, deposited in my account, without me having to actually do anything except investing in a company and trusting that they will work hard on my behalf.
Have you noticed that I never really talk much about real estate? Except to say that I own the house I live in and I have never really gone too far down the path of writing about property as an investment. With the equity that we have in our house, the ‘obvious’ thing to many Kiwis would be to borrow against it and buy more property that I then rent out to other people. For many this has been a way to successfully grow their wealth. To many, it has not.
It was inevitable that one day I would write a blog post about Dave Ramsey, but it has taken me over three years to get around to it. This month I finally read his book The Total Money Makeover. He created a simple plan which he called The 7 Baby Steps to help others change the behaviours that were keeping them poor and to help them get out of debt and stay out of debt, forever.
I’ve been interviewing people for my podcast and every time I do this I learn something new from each and every person I speak with. But a recent conversation really had me thinking because it presented a completely new and different view on how I could help my daughter (or you could help your child) through her tertiary study once she finishes school.
This week I received an email from someone who has stumbled upon the big wide world of investing and at the age of 40 has suddenly had their mind blown with the possibilities. He specifically asked about index funds and I also knew I had met a kindred spirit when he said: “compound interest is a new favourite term”.
So far, in 2019, we have spent exactly $240 on eggs. We buy them from a woman who lives up the road who has chickens (obviously) and every Monday she drops them (or places them gently) in my mailbox, then I jump online and pay her $5 a dozen. That means we have eaten 48 dozen or 576 eggs this year to date. The moral of the story? PocketSmith can give you some detailed figures IF that is what you are looking for.
