I recently met with Bill and Vanessa for the first time. We were talking about their priorities, and their biggest concern was that they were worried they would run out of money. This meant they were putting off renovating their home to make it more livable and going on an overseas holiday, something they ideally wanted to be able to do every few years.
They were putting both off because they were approaching retirement and they wanted to feel secure, they wanted to feel like they had enough money.
Adding to their concerns was the tax they had to pay in income from their investment property which they were focused on trying to pay off. This meant their cashflow was poor, which made them feel like they didn’t have any money.
They were stressed about their finances but hoped that by just ploughing on things would eventually get better.
When we investigated their situation we found they had over $400K more in super than they had thought. We also found two opportunities they were missing that would save them over $7,000 in tax each year. Lastly, we modeled out their situation to show them that they were actually in quite a strong financial position both now and in the longer term – even after renovating their home and traveling
This means they can do things that are important to them NOW, rather than putting them off until some unknown point in the future where they may no longer be able to enjoy them.
We are all busy, and it's often easier to carry on with what you are doing than to stop and take a step back and look other available options.
But if you want to move out of the ranks of the Worried Well-Off and enjoy the lifestyle you desire it is important that you do something different.
If you know of any family or friends in this situation, I’ve developed a Free Guide to help start them down the road of getting rid of their money worries. They can access it here.
