I can assure you that mentioning a million dollars out loud makes people listen. Try it one day whilst standing near agroup of people and check out their reactions, its priceless.
I admit I have bought a Tatts ticket on a regular basis, and have been since my dad and I first came up with ‘our’ numbers for a big draw years ago. Yes, even us financial types can live in hope of the big win! We just don’t make a habit of it. To date, although we have had a bit of fun and won a few good prizes I don’t look at it as my retirement plan.
You see the odds of winning a big prize is something like eight million to one, so it is inconceivable to understand why anyone would rely on winning to secure their financial future. If winning Tatts is your retirement plan start worrying as chances are you will be pushing up daisies or be old and in a retirement home with one foot in the grave by the time your numbers come up. Well, I guess by then you would be too old to know about it anyway, but that is not the point I’m trying to make. Worse, even if you do win, statistics say you will be broke three years after winning.
The reality is you are unlikely to ever win and as such you need to think like that as this will drive you to do what you know you need to, which is plan for your financial future.
Instead of just working hard for your money, get your money working hard for you by giving your investments some love so they grow. You do that for plants in your garden and your child so that they grow, after all, if you don’t pay attention to your garden you will have weeds, and without your love andattention a child will struggle in life.
Small steps in the right direction will get you started and before you know it, a few years down the track you are financially secure. The hard part isgetting started, however, I promise you that the probability of you achieving financial security through smart investing is much higher than the probability of winning Tattslotto!. Remember your financial future is in your control not in the six balls rolling around in a clear cement mixer.
I want you to know that you are not alone as I meet many women from very diverse backgrounds who want to grow their wealth, sadly, most don’t make a start. That is why I am writing to you as it only takes one person to change and for that person to influence someone else and everyone wins.
There is something else I would like to share with you. You have probably seen the pretty charts that show the beauty of compounding to growyour wealth. It is true that your investments can go up and up in value if you continue to let them grow, and I encourage you to make sure you understand well how the law of compounding works
For example:
Assuming you decide to save $6,000 each year for the next ten years. For the purposes of the example, you decide to invest in a term deposit and over ten years you receive a flat rate of 6 per cent per annum. By the end of that term your little nest egg will have grown to around $84,000.
Now let’s say you decided to invest in yourself and learn how you can make more by buying and selling growth assets like shares. You decide to keep it conservative and invest two thirds of your capital into shares and the rest in a term deposit. So that means $2,000 goes into the bank and the rest into some of the Top 20 shares on the market. With the skills you learned you have generated 15 per cent per annum over the same period buying and selling shares. Your nest egg is now $93,400 from shares and $28,000 from the term deposit totalling $121,400, which is around 44 per cent more. Ask yourself is around $40,000 worth the extra effort? I know it’s not a million dollars, but this is possible to achieve, and you can do it yourself!