Get rich quick schemes abound. They sound great don’t they?

I invested $10,000 in XYZ company and now they’re worth $2 million!!!

They trigger our greed glands and even better, we don’t have to work for it. Think about the latest billion dollar US Powerball Jackpot that saw record numbers of people shell out their hard earned money for a hope and a dream.

Unfortunately for the vast majority, the reality of making money can be a lot slower than we would like it to be. How many millionaires do you know who made their fortunes instantly? Maybe the odd one or two whose savvy investor parents left them with a substantial inheritance, but not many. Popularised in the media, we hear of a few great business people who ‘made it’ on a stroke of luck. We seldom hear of the years of study, research and work well into the wee hours that occurred behind the scenes.

Everyone needs to start somewhere. A house is built one brick at a time. A child learns to read by first learning the alphabet. A person seeking to lose weight does so kilo by kilo. Why would the road to wealth be any different?

That may be a downer for some to read, but an alternate view is that a house is a prized possession because it takes such a long time to build. Reading is celebrated because it is an incredible skill that takes a young child years to develop. A person who is overweight astounds everyone by shedding kilos and reaching their goal weight through hard effort and dedication. Working towards your wealth creation is no different and it is something to be celebrated every step of the way.

This post is about creating a habit that will dramatically reshape your financial future.
I would like to suggest one little, tiny change that you could make to your everyday circumstances that would have a huge long term effect on where you are in the future.

Allocate 5% of your income per week towards your retirement fund.

I can hear some already saying that there is no way they could possibly contribute 5%. Others might be saying that it is not enough.

In Australia, the average income for 2015 was $1,545.60 per week or $80,371.20 per annum.
Let’s take a look at what 5% would look like over the course of a working lifetime.

I’m sticking with the average wage as a basis, but it would be fair to assume that it would be less when you commence your career and slightly more as you gain seniority in your profession. 5% equates to $4,018.56 per year or just $77.28 per week.
If you saved $4,018.56 per year from the age of 20 until the age of 65 you would have $180,835.20. This is a good start to have towards your retirement, but would you just keep that amount of money in an account bearing no interest? Unlikely. Most of us have some form of superannuation or a 401K retirement fund encouraged by our government and our work places. These tend to be invested in global markets, local markets and in cash.

In fact the Australian share market has returned 10.8% on average over the past 30 years. The beauty of this is that by leaving your money in that account, making regular contributions, receiving positive (and occasionally negative) returns that compound over time, this money drastically grows from your deposited amount.
I’ve written about this previously in a previous post but compound interest really is, as Albert Einstein said, the eighth wonder of the world. It is a way to grow wealth slowly and it should be in everyone’s plan for wealth generation. Those $77 you deposit, directly from your paycheck into your retirement fund, compound and compound and compound over time. Incredibly, at retirement age you are left with a whopping $4,125,880!

Use ASICs Money Calculator tool to try it out for yourself.


I’ve included a screenshot to show you what happens over time. Notice how your investment really begins to pick up momentum in the final years. Bear in mind, however, that the final figure does not take into account management fees, taxation or inflation.

$77 dollars per week may seem unattainable for some but consider getting all your insurance and utilities requoted, maybe only eat out once this month or perhaps give Aldi or Costco a go? A suggestion would be to not focus on that $77 as a punitive measure, but to focus on the cool $4.1 mill that is gained at the conclusion of your working career. Think of how much better you’ll sleep each night knowing that you are financially secure.

I know we all have a tendency to gravitate towards a get rich quick scheme but there is something truly beautiful about having worked and saved for your financial future. The marathon is the most well regarded of all endurance races for a reason. Start today and save towards your financial future.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015). Average Weekly Earnings. Retrieved January 18, 2016 from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0/
Source: Fidelity Worldwide Investment (2015). 30 Years in Australian and Global Shares. Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://www.fidelity.com.au/fidelityP2/?LinkServID=B91D14A6-B125-E8DC-BB83AAD60C35BC5A
Australian Securities and Investment Commission (2015). Compound Interest Calculator. Retrieved September 18, 2015, from https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-apps/compound-interest-calculator

I've always been fascinated by the concept of minimalism. Carrying everything you own in just one or two bags certainly has its appeal. The increase in mobility. To spend less time tending to things. The savings made from avoiding every latest marketing gimmick. To have bought only things of high use and that are necessary.
This appeal, which admittedly borders on an obsession at times for me, is exacerbated by the daily ritual of packing and unpacking the minivan with bottles, jumpers, shoes, toys, books for my fours kids.
Occasionally, I get hit by the decluttering virus and almost everything is up for grabs. My wife, Hayley, might argue that this occurs more regularly than I'd care to admit. Entire cupboards emptied onto the floor, a waste bin piled high, back and forth car trips to goodwill collections or strangers knocking at the door to collect various items are symptoms that I am hit from the decluttering bug.
From my perspective, the benefits of decluttering are as follows:
1. There is less to clean up, tend to, fix and maintain.
2. It gives you a perspective on the ever diminishing value of an object and prompts you to be a selective spender. Ever thought "Man, I paid $1,200 for this computer and now I'm lucky to get $50 for it"?
3. You have a more visibly appealing home.
4. The clutter can be sold to recoup some of your prior spending or to bless someone who might need it.
As Joshua Becker of 'Clutterfree With Kids' says "Owning less is better than organising more."
Post-Christmas I was again hit with the declutter bug and Hayley patiently supported me through the latest wave of house upending. I was able to piece together the substantial pile shown in the picture above.
It's actually not the largest of piles and some of you might be able to easily discard triple the amount without so much as a second thought. Bear in mind that this is something I tend to do quite regularly. About double the items in the photograph ended up being given to goodwill or thrown out entirely, and about 30% of the items have yet to be sold.
I use Gumtree as my sales vehicle of choice for two reasons:
1. No postage hassles. People come and inspect the item and pay on the spot.
2. No sales fees.
Reason Number 1 is my favourite. I often just tell the buyer my address, leave it by the door and ask them to put the money under the door. It keeps things simple for both of us and have never had a buyer betray my trust. Gumtree is great for its simplicity. Give a brief description, photograph on your phone and then your ad gets posted.
When I talk to people about on selling their old iPhone 4, their dusty gym equipment or their old set of rollerblades, people cite hassle as one of the greatest reasons. Gumtree is about as pain free as it gets. For example, I wanted to get rid of an unused swing set. Take a photo, post the ad and it's gone and picked up within an hour from an extremely grateful buyer.
You'd be incredibly surprised how the things that you think have no value are actually sought after by someone out there. The haul you see above netted $525 with a few remaining items still up for grabs. I was able to bless people like my new buddy Mamman (I guarantee I spelt this wrong), a student from Bangladesh, who needed the free electric frypan I posted. I chucked in one of my unused laptops too which felt substantially more fulfilling than the $525 I'd earned.
It would be an understatement to say that I'm a big fan of Gumtree and decluttering. My house is back to the stage where I am proud of it again. I met some great people. I blessed people and was in turn incredibly blessed. The $525 is really just an added bonus.
Some Takeaways:
• If you haven't tried Gumtree, consider giving it a go. It's really easy to set up and to use. If you don’t have the time to wait for buyers, just allocate a set time and say you'll leave it out by the front door.
• Items that you view as unusable items are completely usable to someone else. For example our older concrete tiles would have cost over $300 to dispose of at the tip. Instead someone came to collect them for use outside their onsite van.
• My decluttering advice is to consider getting rid of anything that hasn't been used in 12 months or more. Are you really going to wear that Hawaiian shirt again? Do you still need all your old CDs when you have a Spotify account? Will you use any one of the 5 old mobile phones that you have sitting in your drawers?

Further Reading:
If you'd like to read a little more about decluttering, Leo Babauta has some great tips you might find interesting.

http://zenhabits.net/15-great-decluttering-tips/