When was the last time you got in the car to drive somewhere you hadn’t been before without looking up directions or having a map to follow?

Our financial futures are the same, yet most of us don’t have a financial roadmap to follow. Instead, most of us make regular financial decisions without really knowing where they are leading us.

For starters, where would you like your financial journey to take you? What is the financial future you would like to work towards? Once you know that, the steps can start to be put in place to work out how to get there.

When it comes to our finances, often we’ll need to take detours and sometimes use more fuel than at other times. Sometimes our financial ‘vehicles’ will need a few ‘repairs’ along the way. And sometimes we’ll need to make a few upgrades.

They key is know the destination you are trying to reach.

That’s why financial planning is so important. The reality is that most Australians have put more effort into planning their last holiday than they’ve put in to planning their financial futures. And that is why when it comes time to retire - the ultimate destination for financial freedom – so many people end up regretting not having had a financial plan to get them to the retirement destination they were hoping to reach.

Most of us have hobbies and interests that we’d happily be doing rather than working. Unfortunately, the reality is that once most people reach retirement, they have to reduce their lifestyle because they don’t have the money to fund the lifestyle they had while they were working. In a lot of cases that lifestyle reduction is dramatic.

Often, financial planning is new territory for most people. The first step is getting started. And just like is the case with many activities people might do while on holidays, it is useful to have a guide to help you navigate the best way to get to the destination you would like to reach. When it comes to money, that guide is a financial adviser.

Money isn’t hard, it’s not actually complicated at all.

The difficult part is getting hold of an accurate map and then getting started. Sadly, too many people don’t challenge the status quo and are slowly but surely veering further and further off course as each year passes.

The airline industry has a rule of thumb known as the 1 in 60 rule: for every 1 degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its target destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles you fly. This means that the further you travel, the further off course you are.

The flight distance from Sydney to Melbourne is 713 kilometres. Veering off course by just one degree would see the plane miss the airport by more than almost 12 kilometres!

In a plane, veering off course can be life-threatening… a mountain might end up being in the way! When it comes to your finances, veering off course is unlikely to be life-threatening, but it is almost certainly LIFESTYLE-threatening.

Don’t keep going through life on autopilot in potentially the wrong direction. If you are potentially veering off course, now is the time to start following the map to the destination you want to reach!

Do you have a roadmap for your finances or are you flying blind? If you don’t yet have a roadmap, is 2026 the time you make sure you’re not veering off course?

Cheers,

Daniel

If you’d like to find out more about how INDEPENDENT financial advice could help you manage cash flow, pay off the mortgage faster, get the most out of super and invest wisely, then get in touch on 0411 484 464 or head to wealthtrain.com.au.

This advice may not be suitable to you because it contains general advice which does not take into consideration any of your personal circumstances. All strategies and information provided are general advice only.

Daniel McGregor and Wealth Train are authorised representatives of Independent Financial Advice & Education AFSL 520963