you & your money

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YOU AND YOUR MONEY

Written by

Chris Harris

Written by

Chris Harris

Financial Adviser

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You and Your Money © 2012, Chris Harris

Contents The roll of money! And the first law of wealth. ............................................................................................ 3

The power of compound interest and the second law of wealth................................................................. 7

You and your budget ..................................................................................................................................... 9

The third law ............................................................................................................................................... 12

Greed .......................................................................................................................................................... 13

The Fourth and Fifth Laws of Gold .............................................................................................................. 14

The Fifth Law of Gold .................................................................................................................................. 15

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 16

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The roll of money! And the first law of wealth. There have been many books on wealth creation and although this eBook is about

money and how to create wealth, we’ll look at what I believe are the basics, to help you

understand what money is, where it come from and the desire we have for it. After all, our life style is dictated by the wealth we have and the attitude we have towards money,

so let’s start at the beginning.

“You are an individual, with individual needs. Your dreams and desires are unique

because you are unique. You are a creation of a wonderful miracle. Nothing on earth can come close. Science actually states that we are a miracle with great abilities to either create or destroy. We can think and know that we think which sets us apart from other species. However, our deepest fears are that we are inadequate.

“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not the

darkness that frightens us and we ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant?" Famously

quoted by Nelson Mandela. Words from Marianne Williamson “A Return to love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in miracles” Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3 (Pg. 190-191).

That’s you, an individual, born to be brilliant. Now let’s look at money. We created it and

so it MUST be our servant. Let me ask you this question, in your present financial situation; are you in control of money? Does it come to you when you ask it to? Or are you constantly at its beck and call. Who is the true master or mistress? You or money? If you are totally honest with this question, you will be saying that money is the master or mistress and you are the servant. This has to be the most important question, we need to ask ourselves in this moment in time and we need to change the answer. You and only you are the master or mistress. You are in control of it and you are the one to summon it to you when it's needed. Please think hard about this and after you finish reading, you will have a better understanding of this principle. Just stop for 2 minutes and think...think where you are right now and what has just been stated. I will even go as far to say that money is nothing but a slave. Bound to us and committed to our commands. A puppy, if you will. When we click our fingers it must come running to us. A little bizarre perhaps, but the truth. What is truth? The dictionary states "that which is believed to be true. Factual or

genuine, a belief”... When I was growing up, my parents were of the belief that money comes from hard work (unless you are born into it). We were a close family and my parents, even though I loved them dearly, had no concept of wealth but they worked hard. We grew up in the northern suburbs of Adelaide so our neighbours and friends had the same belief system. If I or my two brothers wanted something that was either extravagant or

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ambitious, my parents would often say "we can’t afford it, we don't have that sort of

money.” So from childhood to my early twenties my belief was that if I truly wanted

something, I would either have to work hard for it or give up the idea as it was out of my financial reach. Let me say this, NEVER say to your children 'you can't afford anything'. It starts the belief system thinking that they can't, instead of they can. I will often suggest to my clients who have young children to bring their children with them, when they come in for their annual review. It often gives them a look into how to save and prepare for their adult life, on a financial level. So, now you are possibly thinking why? From a quote by Nelson Mandela, "who am I to

be so brilliant? “ He continues to say...

"Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You’re playing small doesn’t change the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that others won’t feel

insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us....but it’s in EVERYONE, and as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates us." Just a small hint here, be careful who you socialize with and have the belief that you are

worthy, of the life you desire. Don’t sell yourself short and have the belief that, to

achieve your desires, it’s just a matter of believing in yourself. This I know to be true, as

I have come from meager beginnings and have suffered much in the past because of wrong beliefs. Now I do enjoy a fruitful life. Still working, but that's my choice. However, happy knowing that money does come to me, with respect and hard work. I know who the master is and who the servant is. The 1st law of wealth. This and the other laws, come from one of the best books on wealth creation that I have read, "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Clayson. It was written about a time many thousands of years ago, when Babylon was the centre of the universe. The wealthiest city of the ancient world because it's citizens were the richest people of their time. They appreciated the value of money and they practiced the simple principles of making money, keeping money, making their money earn more money. They provided for themselves, what most of us desire today, an income for the future. The first law is, "Gold Cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put no less than one tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family". That is, for every dollar you earn, put 10% away. Please remember this was written thousands of years ago and we have to excuse the sexist side of the quote. But think about this, even back then, there was a city, which actually had money and ideas of how to save and prosper.

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Now let me ask you this, how much of your hard earned income, do you save? Most people would rather walk on a bed of hot coals than try to save because they say they can't. They have nothing left at the end of their pay to save. It's not that they have nothing at the end of the week, month, or fortnight; it's that they have the conditioning or belief to spend, and saving is totally foreign. They couldn't save simply because they don't know how and they have a subconscious belief to spend. Programmed to spend money, not save. Now there is a secret to saving, and it will change your life financially but first we need to look at your attitude to saving. My question to you is "do you truly want to change and

start the process of saving?” If you truly desire to get out of the "rut" and start to create

wealth, then you need to change your belief system. You need to look at the program you are running, through your mind and change your thinking. It's easily done. Just say

"you want to change". This is most important; it's the part of being the "master/mistress” I was discussing earlier about you being in control. I really need to emphasize this. If you have a problem with the idea it may be pointless going on. You see from change comes growth and we need to look at why or what it is, that has programmed these beliefs to spend, not save. Chances are you don't even know that you are doing it, or where your money goes. Do you have a budget? Are you aware of what your money is doing? There is an old but totally true saying, "if you do what you have always done, then you will get what you have always gotten." How true is that? Someone said to me the other day that the definition for insanity is "doing the same

thing every day and expecting a different result.” So, I will continue with the hope that you are now willing to do something about your thought process and you have decided that you WILL change. So here is the secret. This amazing idea, that changed my life and many others around this first law of wealth, which is "SAVE FIRST". The moment you receive your pay, before you do anything else, take 10% and put it away, somewhere safe. Set up a savings account separately, just for you. Pay yourself first, because it is your money. You are worth it and a part of what you earn is yours to keep. Being a financial planner, I have heard all the excuses

and I can well imagine what you are thinking now. "I have tried this and it didn't work,” or "sounds great in theory but in real life there are bills to pay and costs to cover." Once

again, look at your thinking and if it’s negative, change it. I love the expression that “you

can have excuses or you can have results, but you can't have both". I have been teaching this for more than 25 years and for those who have made the

change, it’s been extremely rewarding. What actually happens by paying yourself first is

that it becomes a subconscious thought. We are already conditioned to spend, and we want to save. So by putting 10% away first, we will have the same amount of cash at

the end of the week, as we did before. You will not even realize it’s gone and you won’t even miss it. I was reviewing a client at the beginning of this year. He is a pensioner who lives a reasonable life but every time I met with him, his credit card debt had grown.

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He loved to spend, although not huge amounts, it all added up. Not to mention, his thinking was all wrong and when he said to me "I have this debt again." I asked why? He said he didn't know and doesn't understand how it became out of control. I explained to him that he needs to change his thought process and to discipline himself into saving. I said he needs to take 10% out from every single fortnightly cheque and put it away. Well you can imagine what he was thinking and what he said to me at that moment. He outlined all the excuses I had heard before and made reference again that he is a pensioner and inflation is constantly eating into his money. That living is getting more expensive, and that he just could not commit to such an idea. I told him, if he doesn't do the 10% rule and learn to save and have some faith in my advice, his situation will not change. So, he did. He said he will give it a go. He will try hard and save first. In the next review, which was 3 months later. He sat down with me and with great enthusiasm, explained that he had now saved in a separate savings account, over $500. He said the credit card was still the same but he actually had some savings and the biggest point he made was, he didn't even miss it! That is what happens. Now he has saved over $1,000 and has actually paid off $1,000 from his credit card. Six months ago, I was out shopping and went to one of my favourite stores. The assistant serving, who I had got to know, made a comment about the cost of living. She

knew that I’m a financial planner and proceeded to have a conversation about her lack

of money. Naturally, I said she has the wrong idea. She has to change her thinking. She got a little annoyed about my comment and proceeded to tell me about her daughter

living with her, at the age of 23. She didn’t have any money to save and she was the

victim of hard luck! Sound familiar? I decided to take her up on a challenge. I said to her, if she continues to make these excuses, nothing in her life will change and that she needs to learn the art of saving. She said "how"? I then pointed out the first law of wealth and learn to do it first, before you do anything else. I asked how much she earns and takes home. She said approximately $700 per week. So I said to her, save $70 per week and do it every week. Have faith in the fact that this is savings and you can do it. You owe it to yourself.

Two months later, I returned and she came running out of the back office. She couldn’t wait to tell me she had saved over $390! She had passed on the advice to her daughter, who had also saved over $200. Once again the most amazing thing about saving first, she said was that neither she nor her daughter MISSED the money!! Now once you start you own saving program, you will start to gain an understanding that you can do it. There will be no more excuses and you will start to appreciate your money growing from pay to pay. You will see your bank balance grow and you may even start to look forward to the following pay days, to help build the balance. But be

warned; let’s take it one step at a time and do not get greedy, which we will discuss

later.

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The power of compound interest and the second law of wealth Einstein said that one of the most misunderstood theories of the modern world is compound interest. “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He, who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't pay’s it.” ― Albert Einstein So you are now saving a part of what you earn. You have turned the corner and you now have a bank balance. Now what? There are only two ways to make your money work! You work for it or it works for you. At the end of the day, I would imagine you would prefer to have your money working for you. For it to provide an easy "Passive" income. The end goal is to have your money working well and you work because you want to, not because you have to. This is the reward of saving and making your money work hard. Or at least, work in a way that has compounded growth over the years safely. But what is compound growth? Do we really know what it is and how effective it is? We know that it's interest grown on interest, but just how effective is it?

Let’s say, you are now 20 years of age. You have decided to put no less than one tenth

of your $200 pay away every week. You will do this first and you create the habit. After a full 12 months of savings, you now have a total of....$1,000 ($20 x 50 weeks). Now should you decide to do that for most of your adult life, say 40 years, you would have saved a grand total of $40,000. Not that inspiring, although you may have more than most. But still way behind what you need to provide a comfortable lifestyle. So you decide to go and see a competent adviser. Now this is where it gets really interesting. There are a number of factors to take into account, like the cost of money, inflation etc. So for this example, I am going to keep it simple and say that there is no inflation. So we can look at the benefits of compound growth in today's dollars value.

Let’s say we can get 8% growth on our money. After 40 years, how much do you now

think we would have? For all you mathematicians, we will say the term is 40, the interest rate is 8% and the payment is $1,000. So the future value of our money would be almost $260,000. Not bad, but not quite enough to stop working. We then decide to make our money work a little harder, expose our savings to some extra growth assets and risk (risk being the difference between your expected return and the actual return). We now average a rate of 10%, just 2% more. Not a whole lot more but realistically achievable under the right circumstances. You would now have a balance of over $440,000. That is an extra $200,000 just by getting an extra 2% growth. So what would the balance be if we could average out 12%? This is also possible. Looking at greater risk of course but you would need to have some sort of understanding of growth markets to feel comfortable. So the equation is now, still 40 years and the number, 12% as the interest rate and $1,000 as the payment. The future valuation is $767,000.00. Now we are getting close

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9810.Albert_Einstein

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to providing a passive income. Just from saving $20.00 per week. And if we were to add in CPI to our savings, that is increasing our $20 per week every year by the rate of inflation, we would have that same amount in tomorrow's dollar value. Please understand this is NOT advice. I have worked these figures based upon a basic mathematical equation, assuming a number of factors such as constant interest rate, rate of return and time period. Should you decide to expose your money to high growth areas, it is advisable to seek professional advice as a number of factors can affect the end value of an investment. Now you can see what Einstien was commenting on. The power of compound growth is amazing and we all need to have a better understanding of it. This is the second law of wealth, and the Richest Man in Babylon states that, "gold laboureth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field." Please remember that this is written in a language that was simple at that time so the book is a little like you would read in the bible. So when you have sufficient savings look at how your money is working and if necessary seek the advice of a competent, licensed adviser.

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You and your budget Knowing where your money is going and how and what you are spending your money on, is another key to the laws of wealth. I seriously suggest you have a plan, some form of map to guide you to where you are going and how you are going to get there. A budget gives us this, keeping in mind that you are now paying yourself first. For example, you may not think twice about buying your lunch every day or even those coffees that we have become so accustomed to having. However, if we add up the cost, you may find that over the course of a week, a month or even the whole year, this adds up to quite a large expense. I remember before I got married that buying a pie, pasty, or even a sandwich would cost in today's money at least $7 to $8, by the time I add in a drink, plus the coffees. By taking a sandwich or even leftovers from your dinner the night before, you can save $50 per week or $2,500 per year. Too smaller amount you think? Look at it this way, what would you prefer, buying your lunch, or having that $2,500 paid off your mortgage, go towards a better holiday, children's education, or your future retirement plan? If you have a partner, and even children, the savings from this one idea could be massive. Personally, I love to take my lunch to work. Both my wife and I do this every day and I am lucky enough to have a wife that shares my views on saving. She always makes enough from the evening meal to provide a lunch for both of us for the following day. To get serious about this, start a budget by downloading a spreadsheet from my website www.moneyworkspl.com.au and go through each category and add your last account, your last bill and the amount you spend from going to the supermarket. I am not suggesting going overboard and ceasing spending on anything for enjoyment, but to look at where it goes. You might find you can make some changes for your benefit. Don't keep your head in the sand, become the master or mistress you want to be. Continuing with this idea, here are some useful tips when doing the shopping:

1) Make a list before you go. It makes sense and I would imagine that most people would do this, but how many times have you made a list then gone out shopping and purchased a lot more than was on the list. Once again, you are the master/ mistress and buy only what's on the list. Supermarkets and large retail shops know how you shop. They plan on you over spending by placing certain items in

very accessible places, like the food checkout. If it’s not on the list, don't buy it.

2) If you have children, leave them at home with your partner, parent or trusted guardian. This, I know sounds a little harsh but if you think about this, and it is because we love our children and cherish their every being, we will succumb to any whim or desire they might have. You may have witnessed a child making a scene, demanding that you buy them that packet of chips, a bag of lollies or ice cream. It's the easiest way to blow a budget and you may be doing yourself and your child a favour, by not buying junk food.

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3) It’s amazing how many times we actually do go shopping. By using discount

cards or Flybys etc, (not credit cards unless it’s linked to cash) we can save quite

a bit. Having additional points added to an account that will go towards that dream holiday, help reduce our weekly shopping bill or help purchase that special gift for your partner, all helps. The old saying "a dollar saved is a dollar earned".

4) Sometimes I get the best ideas from clients and after talking about grocery shopping to a long standing client, she said that she never goes shopping hungry. How good is that? It makes sense, as I have gone out shopping hungry and naturally the smell of fresh bread or chicken just been cooked, is enough to drive me crazy and we end up, once again, blowing the budget. This is very clever marketing if you think about it so be warned. Fill yourself up with water or eat a piece of fruit to guard those hunger pains. Thanks Katrina.

5) Stick to your budget. Whatever amount you have decided or can afford for your groceries etc. NEVER use credit and stick within your means. If you have to use credit to buy the weekly shopping, you are just running around in circles, as you then have to pay interest for your weekly shopping.

6) Here's another idea to help with budgeting. Not only should you have a list with a set amount to spend, create a menu for the next week so you know exactly what to buy, as you know what you are cooking for the week. I don't feel this is going too far, simply because if you are not saving and in the mindset of spending, then you need to do these sorts of things to help you save. Otherwise nothing will

change. It’s called planning.

7) Finally, be aware of what's on your receipt. Check off your items, as check out

employees can make mistakes and often we don’t find out until we get home, or

even worse we don't even know because we didn't check the receipt. My beautiful wife is very good at this. She constantly reminds me to look at the invoice when we go out for dinner and has on the occasion picked out something that we didn't eat or order.

So what now,? ( investing your money ) Wouldn't it be wonderful, to wake up on a beautiful Monday morning and decide not to

go to work because you don’t have to. You are now working because you want to, not

because you have to. You have learnt to make your money work for you. I mentioned before, that unless you are born into money, the objective is to make it work for you. It will always be an education. Knowing the different asset classes and understanding how they move, when to buy, when to sell, the risk on your money and using various financial instruments, can be and is a daunting task. We are not given an education on financial awareness (although I have taught some of the ways of making money to high school students and I also think that the basics do need to be taught in the last year of high school). We are not given a manual on how money works and the effects of compound growth. When we receive our first pay

cheque, it is little wonder we end up forming bad financial habits. I don’t know about

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yours but I didn’t save mine. I didn’t learn the art of the 1st law of wealth, and a budget

was totally foreign. I guess if you were like me, you would be getting by, living from pay to pay and always having too much week to go at the end of your money. Money can make money and in the most interesting ways. It's not really rocket science but you need to have some basic understanding of the power of growth, as mentioned

above. Let’s suppose you have just won X Lotto, you have won first prize of $1,000,000.

What would you do with it? According to common theory, 70% of winners will lose the winnings within only a few years. Why? Well it's simple; they don't understand what to do with a large windfall or the benefits of investing. They want to buy the new car, the new house, pay off their children's mortgage. Basically they spend and spend and before they know what has happened, they are left with nothing. For example, say you won $1,000,000, which is not a lot of money in this day. If you decided to pay off your house or buy a new car, you would burn through it fairly quickly. However think about if you were to invest it. All of it at just 10%. As I stated before, there are investments that can obtain that ROI, (return on investment) that would return to you without touching the principle. $100,000 per annum or $2,000 per week every week before tax. So you could, after some time and obviously patience, live in the interest alone. You could buy your new car, your new home and help your children pay off their mortgage. You may still wish to remain in the work force in some capacity, as you decide that your wish is to work because you want to, not because you have to. Now, don't get greedy, that will most definitely cause you some grief. However, I would strongly suggest you seek the services of someone who does understand all markets and can make your money work for you, in ways that suit your investment style. My details are on the front page.

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The third law To continue and quoted from the book, the Richest Man in Babylon, "Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner when invests it under the

advice of men wise in its handling”. Through my time in this profession, I have seen

some non-client investors lose thousands because they had no idea of what they were doing. Back in 1987, before the crash in that year, it seemed that just about everyone was giving financial advice. Neighbours, friends and family were all experts; I have heard people were gearing the equity they held within their homes and buying shares because the markets were extremely bullish, (growth cycle). This was pure greed and global markets fell rapidly, dropping over 40% in Australia, 22% in the U.S.A., 45% in Hong Kong, and 26% in the United Kingdom. This was known as Black Monday, October 19th 1987. Investors were devastated and many lost their homes due to the massive correction. So it is worthwhile to seek professional advice here. Even though

as an adviser we don’t have a Crystal ball, it’s important to have a well constructed

portfolio that suits your risk profile and time frame. Investing your money takes time and experience, so that when markets do correct and there is always a chance of this happening as history has shown us, we have the strategy to take advantage of any decline.

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Greed I was discussing "greed" with a client just the other day, and he turned to me and stated

that 'greed is good, isn’t it?' I said that maybe a little greed is good because when we

invest we do want growth on our hard earned money. But always remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Let me be quite frank here, “a fool and his money are easily parted” is what my parents

taught me and this is so true. You may come across a great idea, for example we have seen a bright university student, Mark Zuckerberg made billions from an idea we now know as Facebook. This idea has earned him an estimated 14.9 billion according to Forbes magazine. We hear of x lotto winners winning fortunes and then losing their fortune in only a few years, because of; I believe GREED, pure and simple. They have no idea of how to look after that amount of money. Sure, I have said that either you are the master of it or it is

the master of you, but still you must have respect for it. If you don't, it won’t hang around

long. We have all heard about Ponzi schemes and received emails from faraway places saying you have won the lotto, or your mobile phone number is the winner of some

other massive lottery. It’s all fraud and as such they should be ignored.

Years ago, when I was involved in a cookware company in Perth, I had a very close friend who was reading a magazine article about metal detectors. This was in 1980, and the article was about the new age prospector. Armed with a metal detector and going out in the gold fields in W.A, finding gold nuggets. The article wrote about how people were finding these gold nuggets just under the surface and becoming wealthy. Well what do think happened then? We both did some research and looked at the cost of one of those detectors, where the gold was being found, and we were going to find our fortune. So I sold my car, a 1978 Holden Monaro that I absolutely loved. We bought 2 of those metal detectors and bought an old Holden, a 1968 station wagon. We purchased a massive roof rack, bulbar, and driving lights that could turn night into day, extra spare tyres, a 50 litre water container, food and supplies to feed us for weeks in the desert. We set off for the journey of a lifetime. To find our own gold mine and so we would never have to work again. I remember my sales manager saying, 'your gold mine is in you, in your own ability to work and make money.' Did I listen? No, still I went and got totally lost in the outback of Western Australia. I have some great stories and I don't necessarily wish I hadn't gone,

but my manager’s words still stayed with me and I did learn a valuable lesson. I was

actually being GREEDY, expecting to find that allusive gold nugget. My good friend actually found a piece, a small ounce attached to some Iron ore, at a place called Horseshoe, and the last I heard, he was still out there looking. So this brings me to the Fourth and Fifth laws of gold.

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The Fourth and Fifth Laws of Gold These two laws actually go hand in hand and are both about greed and inexperience of the handling of your money. Just as I was learning these laws myself (not knowing the importance of these 2 laws) I was I guess, fortunate not to have lost a significant amount in the exploration of gold, or in other business I had little knowledge of what I was doing. Truth is, we both almost lost our lives because of GREED. I mean, going out in the middle of the outback with no communication and no one knew where we were. So the fourth law is, "Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or PURPOSES with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep" I have this really great idea! I hear there is a world shortage of whale oil, which is used

in most women’s make up and in cooking. Now there is a plant called the Jojoba plant,

grown in the hot dry areas of California and has the same properties of the whale oil. All we need to do is grow the plant from seeds that we can purchase in California USA, and then buy some arid land here in Australia and start to grow these Jojoba plants. We would clean up. Make an absolute fortune. What do you think? All I need is $2 million to start and all you need to invest and get yourself involved is $30,000. Would you do it? Of course not. What do you know about Jojoba? What do you know about agriculture and the whale oil industry? Chances are nothing, but a lot of investors lost their life savings in the 70's and 80's from these types of schemes. Today these schemes are getting more clever. They are getting more skilled in taking your money away from you. Be aware and seek professional advice.

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The Fifth Law of Gold Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment. Recently we have witnessed the Global Financial Crisis. A time where money markets throughout the western world almost collapsed. Investors including retirees, losing a large amount of their superannuation or investment. We have seen property prices fall, share markets collapse to almost record levels, and still today we haven't recovered.

Although, there are some signs of growth in certain areas but it’s been a nightmare for a

lot of people and I often get asked when will we recover or even will markets ever recover? But my main point here is that the fifth law, although written thousands of years ago, it explains clearly that if you are looking for returns that are beyond the norm and exposing your money to unbelievable growth, the chances are that you will lose it. Not a particularly happy outcome and I am sure you are aware of someone you know, who has lost all or a large portion of their investment.

A wise old man said to me when I was studying Futures, “always leave enough for the

next investor”. By that he meant to accept a reasonable amount of growth, but never try

to pick a top of the market. Let the next owner of the property or equity, experience some growth. Be careful with the risk that you expose your money and investment to. One of the benefits of financial planning is to know and understand your risk profile. It's an important part of the process. As an experienced and authorised financial planner, I need to know your risk profile. To know how you feel if markets fall by 10%, 20% or even more. Your time frame, the amount of risk you are willing to make. Your own personal experience in investing, and if there are any styles of investments that you would prefer to have or not have. This is to help reduce unnecessary risk and to help you understand the risks involved.

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Conclusion We have covered what I feel are some very basic but very important areas of creating financial wealth, by discussing the 5 laws of gold from The Richest Man in Babylon. The most beneficial law being the first law, to save a part of your gross earnings but adding the idea of paying yourself first, before you pay for anything else. If you take one thing from this eBook, I sincerely hope it's the idea of saving. The other four laws are of course extremely important and should be adhered to. I sincerely hope you make the most of this book and when you are ready to seek financial advice go to the ASIC or the FPA website as they suggest a few pointers there when choosing a financial planner. Go to https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/investing/financial-advice and read through the help when needed section, it outlines what to look for in an advisor and where to start.

Don’t forget to make a plan, work out what it is you want financially.

As a very good client said to me the other day on her quarterly review, and I quote “you

must plan for your retirement, it doesn’t happen by leaving it and hoping for some

miracle.” I also suggest you seek testimonials from other clients that have used the

financial planner. Look at their website and ask questions about fees and commissions.

I don’t believe in commissions when advising on investments as it tends to lean towards

biased advice. There should be total disclosure in all areas of fees and charges, so you feel comfortable. On the subject of fees, don't be negative to pay a fee as the adviser/planner does this for a living and at the end of the day, when you realise the full benefit of reaching your objectives, you would be far better off than just winging it alone.

If you like this eBook, please forward it on to others who may also benefit as it’s

important to share and help our friends, relatives and colleagues to prosper, just like the Babylonians did. Also please feel free to call, email, or drop a line on our webpage to let me know what you think of the information here. It would help me when I write my next book. I thank you for taking the time to read this and I sincerely wish you a very prosperous future, hoping that your financial future is taken now in a different light.

https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/investing/financial-advice

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My Disclaimer: General Advice Warning: This eBook relates to Australian Residents only, the information (including taxation) is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider a Product Disclosure Statement. Money Works Financial Planning Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Ltd ABN 61094529987 AFSL 244252 Unit 7, 50 Borthwick Ave Murarrie Qld 4172

BY CHRIS HARRIS PHONE 08 8304 8088

Website: www.moneyworkspl.com.au Email: [email protected]

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