Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

I have just been talking with Paul, my mortgage broker.

He told me that in the past few weeks there has been aggressive discounting by the major banks (and the smaller funders as well) to compete for market position. They have been dropping variable rates to attract competition. However there is a trick to getting the discount.

To get a reduction in your interest rate you have to ask for it! Who would have thought it could be so easy?

Recently there has also been a rapid decrease in fixed rates, so for a 3 year fixed period you would be looking at a rate of about 6.43% which is nearly 1.4% under the current standard variable rate (not including any discounts).

Paul said that all this hints that we may see a decrease in the official variable rates over the next 6 months but will depend on other factors and unfortunately his crystal ball is a bit cloudy.

So with all this in mind you would have to be thinking it is a great time to review your situation and either approach you current bank to reduce your lending rates or talk to someone about reviewing your overall position to save a few $$. As a guide, if you have loans totaling over $250K you should be looking at a variable rate of around 6.9% and over $500K a rate of approx 6.8%

Why not contact your broker or bank today?

As you would know, I am not in the business of selling home loans but if you are not happy with who you are currently dealing with (or you don’t even know who to talk to) shoot me an e-mail and I can put you in touch with Paul.

I would love for you to leave a comment here to tell others of your experience with this as I am sure it will help them to get motivated and learn from your experience.

Regards

David Wright

Hi everyone, here is my next Big-‘E’ and today it is External Forces

I’m sure you can tell me what the acronym ‘GFC’ stands for. There are lots of things in your life that you have control over and then there are things that just happen that are outside your control. The ‘Global Financial Crisis’ was (or still is) an external force like that.

You have absolutely no control over these events. They’re not your fault, but you have to deal with whatever effect they have on you and you just have to make the best of them when they come your way.

Control What is Controllable

My motto is to control what is controllable so the uncontrollable things in life have less ability to bring you unstuck. Identifying things you can not control is important because it allows you to be aware of what could happen so you have a better chance of being prepared for when or if it occurs. It also makes you more conscious when you are considering taking on new commitments of what could possibly cause you grief. If you are aware of it you can monitor it!

I would say that good advice, savings and insurance are essential for managing things beyond your control!

If your finances are in a shambles and then something bad hits you from left field you may find it almost impossible to recover. On the other hand, if you have your finances in order and your money is organised so when the bills arrive the money is there waiting to pay them and something hits you from outside your control you will find it much easier to manage.

A Personal Example

Just over 10 years ago our then 18 yo daughter e-mailed us from Canada and invited us to her wedding. Maybe I should have seen that coming but I didn’t. It cost $10,000 that we did not have at the time to get the rest of the family to the wedding and back. However, we had our finances in order so this ‘surprise’ from beyond our control was not a knock-out blow. We were able to deal with it relatively painlessly by borrowing the money and putting the repayments into our budget.

(The week after we returned I sold the very first copy of Simply Budgets and within 6 months left my school teaching job for a much more exciting career.)

Crossing the Line

So, for thousands of people it is the inability to deal with these External Forces that bring them unstuck. Basically this is because they fail to have a ‘bottom line’ plan for those things that are within their control and as a result there is no boundary that says “If you cross this line you are in trouble”. If you don’t know where the line is it is way too easy to be on the wrong side of it!

(I remember my first date. I had very clear boundaries and knew exactly where the line was! That made it really easy for me to say NO when the pressure was on to start all that mushy stuff!)

Sorry, I digressed a little but you know what I mean!

‘Knowing’ makes all the difference

When external financial pressure comes your way you really have no protection against it if you do not know if you have surplus money or not. E.g if friends drop around and suggest you go out to dinner your financial success or failure for the day is about to be determined by External Forces.

If you knew you had surplus money, you could go out to dinner with no feelings of stress or guilt and have a good time. If you knew you had no spare money it would be just as easy to say “Yeah sure, let’s go but it’s your shout ‘cause I’m broke until next payday; or would you rather we knock something up here at home together this time and we’ll plan it better for next time”.

There is no embarrassment in that situation, you just made it clear that you know your position and what is possible right now. You also did not say NO, you just said we’ll plan it better for next time, which says you would love to go but it will be much better for you if it is planned right.

Of course if you don’t know you are already behind your safe bottom line target and you just agree to go because it was suggested, you might still have a good time, but soon enough you are going to feel ongoing stress over bills you can’t seem to pay on time, and they will just keep coming!

A ‘Bottom Line’ Plan

I mentioned having a ‘bottom line’ plan. The way I like to prepare a budget plan is to include only the expenses I absolutely must pay for. This is my ‘bottom line’ plan.

A bottom line plan is what you would fall back on if everything went to pieces because of some External Force. Your ‘bottom line’ plan requires as little income as possible and only includes absolute ‘must pay’ expenses. A plan like this will show your target bank balances for each day for the next year based on paying only your bottom line expenses and depositing JUST enough each pay to cover them.

On payday the amount that is deposited into your account is more than the plan is based on and so it is really easy to get ahead of target. You check your account balance on a weekly basis and compare it with your target account balance to see how much spare money you have. It is literally a 2 minute exercise to take control using this method where hours and hours of record keeping would not give the same peace of mind.

Defining ‘External Force’ Expense.

Many people will quote ‘the car blowing up’ as an external force type expense as if they have no control over that. Just this week I cooked the engine in one of my cars. I could fix it myself but have other things I need to do with my time so I had it towed to the mechanic.

The car is 19 years old and has done 200,000 km so my question is, was this an unexpected event or something I could have seen coming? There is an obvious answer to that question.

If your car is one week out of warranty and it blows up, you can say that was an unexpected out of your control, external force acting on your finances. My experience was NOT an ‘External Force’ event. It was predictable and fortunately I have money put away for External Force events like this just in case. (It was still annoying because a tiny hose no more than 12mm in diameter will gobble up a chunk of my ‘rainy day’ money and I should have been checking more diligently more often).

A child needing an operation on a broken bone or a tooth that was knocked out in a footy game are also valid External Force events and you need as much as possible to try to include money for these kind of events in your budget plan. If you do your best to keep the controllable things under control then, as I said earlier, the External Forces can not muck up your finances anywhere near as much as they otherwise might.

Hopefully you are enjoying and learning from my Big-‘E’s and you are gaining a better understanding of how to manage money. If you have any topics you want me to write about in the future please let me know via reply e-mail.

That’s all for now.

Don’t forget to be my ‘friend’ on Facebook. Go to www.facebook.com/simplybudgets.
David Wright

Hello again.

I don’t know about you but I’m really starting to get tired of all the press and other media warning of financial disaster ahead.

How long do we have to wait for all this bad stuff to happen? Let’s just get it all over and done with if it IS going to happen. Otherwise let’s get on with the recovery!

I am sick of getting e-mails talking about double dip recessions and property market crashes and such like. How long do we have to wait for all this stuff to happen? We’ve been hearing this for well over two years now. I’m getting a bit over it all. Let’s just get on with whatever is gonna happen rather than talking about it for years!

Personally I think we should all just decide to get back to normal and ignore all the soothsayers predicting disaster. I think they are starting to get a bit boring!

What do you reckon? I’d be interested to hear what you think.

 

That’s me for today!

David Wright

Money, Property and You

You may have seen that a few weeks ago Nhan Nguyen and I scheduled some mid-week workshops in Sydney and Melbourne on the topic of Money and Property.

This was a bit of an experiment on our part to see if people would attend workshops during the week. We got a pretty strong outcome. We did Brisbane on a Saturday and had a full house but the two mid week events did not work out well at all.

So, now we know we should stick to week-end events!!!!

Because we had so many people complain that they could not come mid-week Nhan and I have decided to schedule some additional events and have decided to make them bigger and better. We both felt we did not have enough time with one day between us to really do justice to our topics so we are going to make these new events 2 days over a week-end.

And the price will be exactly the same as for the 1 day events! How’s that?

Interested? It’s a really great opportunity to open up your mind to other possibilities!

Here’s what you can look forward to.

I will be focusing on helping you sort out your money. I know everyone has issues that are holding them back. We say one thing and we do another; we put up with financial hardship rather than refusing to accept it. Money gets our head and our heart out of whack and rather than working out what we need to do we try to hang on to stuff that is holding us back. I am going to do my best to help you deal with this without asking you to make impossible or unrealistic changes in your life.

Some questions I will be asking you to look at are:-

• Where are you now?
• What are you doing to improve on that?
• Is it working for you?
• What else could you be doing?
• What is your major stumbling block?
• How do beliefs and attitudes get in your way?
• What do you actually want?
• Do you know how to get that?
• How can you change when your life is driven by habits?
• Do you have a plan?
• What are the common mistakes people make with money?
• What can you do to overcome these?
• And More….

I really dislike seminars where you get lots of ‘sizzle’ but no ‘sausage’ and it leaves you on a high that lasts a few hours after which you may as well have spent the time at the beach. I will have you engaged and leaving with an action plan so make sure you bring a notepad, a calculator and a handful of pens.

Nhan Nguyen (aka ‘The No Money Down Man’)

Nhan will be making property investing simple easy to understand. He will deliver a turbo charged workshop filled with exciting interaction, cutting-edge information and results driven activities.

Nhan will train you In the following areas:

• Finding Deals in Short Periods of Time
• Buying Property Interest FREE for 2 years – Using OPTIONS
• NO MONEY PROPERTY DEALS
• The Magic of Property Renovation – Using Little Money
• The Lazy Man’s Way to Buy Property
• Ingenious & Simple Property Development Strategies
• “How can you make $50,000 to $250,000 every time you do a property deal?”
• Or if you’re already investing, “How can you replace your job income within the next 3 – 6 months” part time.
• “A smarter way to find deals that stack up”
• “How can you profitably work with sellers in a win/win situation where everyone benefits?”

Nhan will reveal his favourite strategies (and why they work regardless of what the property market is doing!)

Known for his generosity and giving spirit, Nhan always delivers more than you would expect; and his trademark at his events is giving away fantastic gifts of great value to attendees. Come prepared to be gifted with some life changing knowledge. Nhan has done over 20 million dollars in property deals, has a natural ability to teach what he knows and lives and breathes the property market.

His clients gladly pay him thousands of dollars for a one-on-one consultation (with complete faith they will make back many times the cost!). He is passionate about inspiring others and thrives on making a positive difference for everyone. No matter where you find yourself along your journey to financial freedom, the information he will share should literally be life-changing! If you’re ready for this we will love to see you there.

So what will it cost?

The good news is that it will only set you back $97 for the two days. Clearly at this price we do not want money to stop anyone from attending.

Don’t be fooled though; we should be asking a lot more. It is possible people will compare this event with a $2,000 workshop and think this one is pretty dodgy based on the low price.

I can assure you we will not be holding back at all. You will get a lot more value than the $97. If you have been on my mailing list for some time you know me well enough to know I deliver great value!

This information when applied will benefit you by thousands of dollars so please do not treat it as if it only worth what we are asking (otherwise I will have to put the price up next time).

Now for more good news; you can bring a friend for f’ree. Split the cost if you like but make sure you share this invitation with someone you feel would really benefit from the opportunity.

I am looking forward to meeting you there.

If you are feeling nervous about your financial future and wondering how bad things can get then I can assure you this workshop will give you some real comfort, answers and direction. There are things you can be doing right now to improve your financial well-being. You do have the ability to take control of your financial future right now and Nhan and I will be showing you how.

‘Money, Property & You’ Workshops

Sydney; Saturday & Sunday 24th & 25th September 2011 Click here to register
Melbourne; Saturday & Sunday 8th & 9th October 2011 Click here to register
Brisbane; Saturday & Sunday 22nd & 23rd October 2011 Click here to register

Seats are limited, so take this opportunity and register today!

Each event has an 8:30am registration for a 9:00am start and a 6pm finish.

Locations. I am sorry that some of you will feel like you have been excluded because of the locations. One reason the price is low is so you can afford to travel. I had people fly to Sydney from Perth last year and they were not disappointed. It would be well worth making the trip from wherever you live.

Early Bird Bonuses

If you book in the next three days you will receive a free copy of my new DVD, “Big Budgeting Mistakes – Even Bigger Solutions” and Nhan’s best selling book, “Property Millionaire”

Those two alone are almost worth the price to attend!!!!

That’s all for now.

Today’s Big-‘E’ is Expenses.

Most people would have expected me to start with this one rather than leave it to number 7. In fact, one person wrote on my Facebook Wall “The Australian retailers must be writing asking you to stop. Everyone is saving their money instead of spending it.”

That’s very flattering but I don’t think I have quite that much influence over so many people’s spending & saving habits just yet! I’ll keep working on it.

Today’s message is about this very topic though.

What happens to your income? Are you in control of your Expenses or are they in control of you? Do you save any of your money so you will have the ability to generate income without giving up your time in order to do so, or do you spend it all and more?

You can’t be perfect!

Let’s start by acknowledging that it is not possible to be perfect with your finances so it’s OK if you’re NOT completely in control right now. The fact that you are reading this tells me you are keen to improve and willing to do something about it. That’s a really good start though!

Cost of Living

So, what I have noticed is that for 95% of people. “Their Cost of Living is determined by their Income”. They spend all they earn and as their income goes up so do their Expenses.

Pay rises come and go and nothing seems to ever reduce the financial stress. In fact it seems to be getting worse, not better. Prices seem to be going up faster than income and it seems to be getting harder to make ends meet.

Why is this so?

It would be easy to blame everyone else, the government, the GFC, the boss and so on but the fact is that in your street there is someone who earns less than you who is doing better financially than you are. And, someone else earns more and they are doing worse!

If you interviewed 100 people at random and asked them what is their income and do they ever have difficulty with money, their responses would show that most people have difficulty with money regardless of their income!

Value your Money

In Big-‘E’ #6 (Earnings) I said you need to place more value on YOU if you want to increase your income. Now I’m going to tell you that you need to place more value on the money you earn if you want to become wealthy.

7 Key Questions

When you are about to part with your hard earned cash, stop and ask these questions.

1. Is what you are about to purchase a good exchange for the hours you worked to earn this much money (Is the benefit worth the pain you went through)?
2. Could you pay less for the same benefit?
3. Is there another way to get this benefit?
4. Is this purchase something you ‘want’ or ‘need’?
5. Do you need it right now? Before you spend $1 it has a million possibilities. Once spent it has one outcome! Make sure you don’t regret receiving that outcome over another.
6. Do you really need it at all? (Have you ever said something like “I need a new car” but kept driving the old one? We are all good at telling ourselves stories!)
7. If it is a ‘want’ rather than a need could you satisfy this emotion in a different way with a better financial outcome?

What is normal?

At a recent workshop I asked people to complete a sheet that listed 20 common household expenses. Their task was to enter amounts they thought were appropriate for an average family for each of the items and then tally up the total spend for 12 months.

When we looked at the totals, the spread for all the people in the room ranged from around $30k p.a. to $130k p.a.

Does this surprise you?

The amounts YOU think are reasonable for everyday expenses are not the same as the people around you. You might be feeling comfortable spending $50 at the butcher each week and yet someone else would be mortified if they spent more than $20. You might think it’s OK to spend $90 a month on pay TV and watch all the movies and sport while someone else watches a free movie on a Friday night and an occasional other program now and then and they spend their spare time on the week-end hiking and swimming and in the evenings prefer to interact with the kids, play board games, read books, go to meetings, play an instrument and learn a craft.

Always Other Ways

The important thing to note here is that there is ALWAYS another way of looking at everything. You might have read ‘play board games’ and nearly choked or you may be someone who would be happy to play board games. Your attitude is what makes the difference. (Pity it doesn’t start with an ‘E’ or ‘Attitude’ would be another of my Big-‘E’s).

There is ALWAYS another way to solve a problem.

For example, when I was 19 I had to hand my driver’s license in for a month because of a few speeding tickets I had picked up due to youthful exuberance. I should have had the problem of not being able to get to work or band practice or week-end events but I simply asked work mates to give me a lift to and from work and friends to take me other places. If that was not possible I simply rode my trusty old push bike!

And it is ALWAYS easier to make the more expensive choice.

For example, If you have money in your wallet and money in your account and you arrive home at meal time after a really hard day at work only to realise you forgot to take steps to prepare for your evening meal prior to leaving in the morning, most people will find it all too easy to ‘order in’, ‘take away’ or ‘dine out’.

If you put MOST people in the same situation but take away the money and it’s amazing how the choice to prepare a meal at home becomes so much easier to make.

A Different Angle

I am going to make it really clear here that whilst I am talking about being more frugal with your Expending, that is NOT what I specialise in. I have been on TV with the title ‘Budgeting Guru’ after my name and yet I don’t think I have ever written about how to save money on household items. There are plenty of web-sites you can go to for information on how to save on almost everything you could think of spending money on. I would recommend www.simplesavings.com.au as a good starting place. This is just NOT what I do.

I prefer to look at the topic of budgeting from a totally different angle.

The one thing that I know for sure when it comes to Expenses is that it is easy to overspend when there is no roadmap and no plan but when you isolate your ‘must pay’ predictable expenses and project them forward into the future so you can see what is coming long before you get there, making other spending choices is a much easier task. Nobody else seems to have worked this out, or at least they aren’t talking about it!

Almost every time I speak to one of my Simply Budgets software customers I hear the same story. They tell me ‘this has taken away all the guesswork and all the stress’.

My Hot Tips

So to finish off for today, my hot tips for managing Expenses are:

1. Set limits for your spending. E.g. allow a certain amount for food, fuel, entertainment etc. each week and stop when you have spent to your limit (to my surprise I discovered that not everyone does this. It is the most basic and crucial first step!).
2. Identify your regular predictable expenses and prepare a 12 month plan to pay them on time every time, looking not only at the ‘how much’ but also at the ‘when’ so you always know how much needs to be set aside to meet those payments on any given day of the year (that’s what my Simply Budgets software does).
3. List your essential aging possessions (fridge, car, washing machine, TV, Stereo etc) and prepare a 10 year plan to replace these items and put money aside for these as well (that’s also what my Simply Budgets software does). Note:- a $1,000 washing machine costs $2 a week if you have 10 years to save for it, $4 a week if you wait 5 yrs before starting and $20 a week if you only have 1yr left to go so start soon!
4. If you know you are at risk of spending the money from 2 & 3 above on other stuff, keep it in a separate account. If the only money in the account you have easy access to is for your weekly expenses it is really hard to accidentally spend money you need for paying larger less frequent bills!
5. Keep the 7 points I listed above at the top of your mind when you go shopping.

I could probably keep going on this topic for a lot longer than you have available right now. I think I have presented the key basics that will help you head off in the right direction though.

Happy ‘Expensing’!

David Wright

So, You may have noticed that I have invited Nhan Nguyen to be my guest speaker at a number of workshops over the last 12 months. Last week he spoke at two of my events.

I met Nhan about 6 or 7 years ago as a very young and very keen property investor. Our paths have crossed on a number of occasions since then. I could see that he was definitely someone on a mission!

Last year he invited me to speak at one of his week-end property workshops and I accepted his invitation. I was blown away by the energy and the way he got people to take action in a safe environment where important lessons could be learnt. It was not the place for someone who wanted to hide in the corner and pretend they were there to change their life!

It was an informative and empowering week-end.

It was immediately after that that I invited him to be my guest speaker at workshops around Australia.

I thought I should let you know that Nhan is holding another one of his week-end workshops this coming week-end 27^th and 28^th of August. You probably know that I don’t promote many events but I am very happy to promote this one because Nhan is the real deal and he walks his talk.

Just today I phoned him for his opinion on how to put together a potential property deal that I have in mind. He immediately presented me with some other great options that I had not considered.

He knows his stuff and I highly recommend him.

To find out more about his seminar go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1371162

If at all possible you should make the effort to attend this event.

It would be easy to be influenced by all the negative talk about how the economy is so bad and how the real estate market is very slow but it all depends on what you know and how you look at things.

I listened to Nhan last week-end at my Brisbane workshop and I immediately had ideas for potential property transactions that work regardless of what the market is doing.

Even if you are a renter and can’t see beyond that right now he will show you strategies to use that will have you very excited.

To attend one of his week-end events will normally set you back $597 but because of the relationship I have with Nhan you will get a huge discount.

Go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1371162 to find out more.

What more can I say?
Regards
David

We’re up to Big-‘E’ number 6 today and that is about Earnings.

So far we have looked at Emotions, Environment, Ego, Education and Expectations in previous blogs.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Earnings should have been the first Big-‘E’ because so many people think wealth comes from earning lots of money. They think that if they could just earn more their money problems would go away. I can assure you that for most people they will not!

I have worked with high income earners who are going broke and low income earners who are becoming wealthy.

If you were to survey 100 people at random and ask two questions.

1. How much do you Earn?
2. Do you ever have difficulty with money?

I will guarantee that there is no logical correlation between the responses you get from Q1 and Q2. The only connection you will find is that 90% of people have money difficulties regardless of their income.

There is a really good reason for this.

As income goes up, so does the ability to become wealthy but unfortunately so does the ability to borrow and spend more and the ability to get into more financial trouble. For most people, even though their income goes up, their wealth position does not improve.

I will cover off on this more in the next Big-‘E’ which is ‘Expenses’. For now though, let’s look at the principles behind what you Earn.

What determines your income?

In general, the amount you earn at work is determined by the benefit you bring to people multiplied by the number of people you bring it to, divided by the number of other people who can do what you do.

Sir Paul McCartney earns lots of money because millions of people get value from listening to his music and he is very unique.

A brain surgeon who removes tumours earns a lot because the benefit is life instead of death and not many people can perform the operation.

A cleaner earns less, not because they are worth less as a person than a brain surgeon, but because cleaning is not of life and death importance and almost anyone could be a cleaner.

Have a think about what you do and consider how many other people do it as well. Consider how much value people place on what you do. You will most likely find there is a strong correlation between your income and these factors.

Another Factor

However, you also need to be aware that there is another factor mixed up in all this that many people do not understand and as a result never reach their full income potential. The value you place on yourself determines the value others get from you.

If you undervalue yourself people will get less value from what you deliver and you will earn less as a result.

Here’s how crazy this is. If you sell a service for $10, your customer will place $10 value on what you do. If you sell the same service for $20, your customer will place $20 value on the same service.

Don’t believe me? I went into a bakery the other day to see what was going on. There were people everywhere, overflowing onto the footpath! When I finally got inside I found the food was twice as expensive as in your average bakery. However, the place was packed because the presentation of each item of food was just amazing (and the prices being charged matched). Everyone was happy to pay double price because they placed a higher value on the goods. Why? Because they were presented as having higher value.

Have a serious think about this and ask yourself what value you place on yourself and how you position yourself. You will earn accordingly.

Can you get your head around this?

My uncle advertised his car for sale at a low price because he just wanted to sell it quickly. He did not get one call. The next week he increased the price by $2,000 to be at the top end of what people might pay for this particular car. It sold very early on the day the newspaper came out!

When he offered his car at a low price people perceived low value. When he presented it at a high price they perceived high value! It was the same car but the person who purchased it felt $2,000 better about his purchase than if he had purchased it the week before!

No Pain; No Value, No Gain

I can think of so many times when I have felt sorry for someone who was in financial trouble and I’ve given them a free copy of Simply Budgets. What consistently happens when I do this is that they do nothing with it. They place value on it according to what they paid for it! Nothing! They were very happy to be given something of value for no cost but that’s where it ended. No pain; no gain!

On the other hand, tens of thousands of people who paid for my software have gotten great benefit from using it because they valued it accordingly. I have had people e-mail me in a panic when they have had a computer problem because (in their words) they can’t live without the benefit Simply Budgets gives them. In comparison, someone in financial trouble placed no value on it at all because of the value I presented it as having!

When you understand this you can increase what you earn. Simply place more value on YOU and present yourself as having more value.

It may not be easy to choose to place more value on you when you have allowed people to treat you at a lesser value for a long time but only you can change the situation. I would suggest that you will find it easier to create a new environment rather than trying to make huge changes in your current environment unless you are prepared for some fun!

Here is how I did it.

I disliked my teaching job and I was not earning what I knew I was worth. There was no way I wanted to pursue a promotion to earn more. I could have grumbled and griped about this and that and been miserable for 40 years but I valued my life and what I had to offer more than that so I made a decision that I would do something about it.

I knew I had more value than a room full of 14 year olds gave me credit for. I also knew how difficult it would have been to try presenting myself as having more value in that environment.

Instead I created a new environment outside of school teaching where I had the freedom to present myself to more people with more value and then in time I left the job behind.

I now love what I do and the value I place on me determines how successful I am now and will be in the future.

I hope this makes sense and helps you to see how you can increase your ability to deal with Big-’E’ number 6 your Earnings.

I will have more to say about Earnings in my next Blog.
Warm regards,

David Wright

Earlier in the year I flew to the UK to give a number of presentations to various audiences over there.

One of my presentations was recorded professionally and has made its way onto DVD and will be available for delivery next week.

If you have been following my Big-‘E’ series of e-mails then you will have some idea of the theme of this particular presentation.

The title was ‘Big Budgeting Mistakes & Even Bigger Solutions’

I encourage you to order a copy of this DVD and then take the time to view it and take it in because I know it will help you change your views on money and wealth and how to improve your own personal performance when it comes to both.

Change doesn’t ‘just happen’

I think a lot of people have the hope that one day something is going to happen that will open the door to the financial outcome they have been waiting for. However it is unlikely that it is going to just happen without some change on your part.

Unless you are able to see past the day to day events and pressures of life to see the bigger picture, what you experience now is what you will experience tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and beyond and the only changes that will occur will be ones that are not going to impress you.

Stepping back and looking at what is actually going on and what is causing the problems and then making appropriate changes to the way you think and behave over a long period of time will deliver a much better outcome.

Of course it is not always easy to see beyond today and today’s pressures.

It is far too easy to get lost in rising prices, high unemployment, global financial chaos, bad news on the radio and TV, all the media hype about how the sky is falling and a multitude of other things that limit our vision to a very short horizon.

In this presentation I reveal the basics that are easy to understand and follow if you are aware of them. I know everyone has good intentions to change but when life gets in the way, good intentions do not necessarily convert into desirable outcomes.

Have you ever wondered why this is?

I reckon it’s because we say things like “I’m gonna exercise more”, “I’m gonna save more”, I’m gonna eat better” & “I’m gonna spend more time with my kids” but rarely do these outcomes actually occur because we focus on trying to do these things rather than looking at what is currently blocking them.

You can’t bring something in without something going out!

The breakthrough becomes possible when you understand the underlying issues that are blocking the outcome you really want.

You can’t fix something when you are looking for the solution in the wrong place!

If this makes sense then you will have a good idea of why I believe the presentation on this DVD is one you should be viewing.

Could it be so simple?

I could easily tell everyone to earn more, spend less and save more but I know it is just not that simple!

On this DVD I simplified things and I believe I have explained what is going on in a way that you will be able to really understand the issues that make it hard to manage money.

As I said at the top, this DVD is just going into production and will be available for shipment early next week. Pre-order a copy now and I will also send you a link to download a copy of a very handy but powerful spreadsheet I created that helps you plan and forecast your retirement nest egg.

I call it my Wealth Planner and it allows you to compare where you are up to now with where you might have been had you started saving regularly when you were young.

Before you throw your arms up in the air in distress thinking that might not be a pretty picture, the good news is that it also allows you to experiment with different saving and investing options to see how quickly you can bring ‘where you are now’ into line with ‘where you might have been if you had started saving years ago’. I even recorded a video on how to use it and that will be included as well.

To take advantage of this opportunity, go to www.simplybudgets.com.au/orderdvd.html

I don’t usually send e-mails where I say you should order my product but I am pretty passionate about this one. I really believe this information will help you and all you have to do to take it in is turn on your TV system, sit back, relax, and in seconds you will be there with my audience in the UK getting the benefit of this information.

And don’t forget I always offer a 100% money back guarantee on all my products.

Go to www.simplybudgets.com.au/orderdvd.html to order your copy now and I’ll take the risk out of the purchase. If you don’t think it was any good, just send it back for a refund. You know nobody offers returns on DVD’s and CD’s because of piracy and illegal copies but I am happy to take that risk and I’m confident you will be very happy with my presentation AND the bonus which is yours to keep and use, even if you do request a refund.

I know it is easy to be sceptical, there are so many people out there offering money solutions but give it a go. I’m still here after almost 16 years helping people with money issues and if you think about it, nobody get’s invited half way around the world to give a number of presentations unless they have some runs on the board and know what they are talking about.

That’s all for now.

Have a great day.

Regards
David Wright

Good morning everyone! I am here in the beautiful city of Irvine, south of Los Angeles in the USA as I write this message and I have to say that today’s topic is extremely relevant for all of us and I just proved it.

However, I will explain later.

We’re up to Big-’E’ number 5 today and that is ‘Expectations‘.

What are your Expectations in life and what outcomes are you getting?

Have you ever wondered what it is that causes one person to earn one level of income while another person earns twice as much or more? Could it be related to expectations in some way?

So far we have looked at the Emotional, Environmental, Educational and Ego or Self Esteem factors that we all know have the potential to play a big part in our financial outcomes.

Let’s look at how Expectations have an impact.

Think of your friends and the people around you and consider what you think they expected out of life when they left school. (Not what they wanted, but what they expected).

What is it that sets our expectations and causes us to accept or reject our financial performance?

If you began your working life expecting to be successful I would be surprised if you are not there now, or if not, you are on your way there. For most of us our reality is within a short distance of our expectations.

Now you might be thinking that’s totally wrong. I expected to have an easy life and it is far from that. Please don’t confuse ‘expected’ with ‘accepted’. If your life sucks right now, have you accepted that? If you have and you are prepared to just go along with it then deep down inside you probably expected things to go wrong. Perhaps the reality is that you really only dreamed of an easy life!

Rarely do people get more than they expect! If you don’t expect to get offered a large increase when you approach your boss and ask for a pay rise then I’ll bet he or she has no problem reading your body language. You get what you expect!

If you have the Expectation that you are worth a lot, it is usually backed up with the Ego to go with it. If your Ego is low you are probably Emotionally unstable as well and your Expectation will be low to go with that. I expect you can see that all these are interrelated.

I could throw Education in here as well since we are looking at Big-‘E’s. If you have learnt skills and knowledge that is of value to your boss or your clients then you should have a higher Expectation of what you are worth. You should not hesitate to ask for more than you would if all these were missing.

So, you need to increase your expectations of yourself and of others if you want to achieve and receive more. Not just for one day, but for every day.

How do you raise your expectations and keep them raised? If you decide to expect more out of today and you get the same as you got yesterday it would be easy to say that does not work and forget all about it.

The best way I know of to raise your expectations and keep them higher is to sit down and consciously set some goals and then focus on them till they become sub-conscious. Never doubt you will achieve them. I guess the word confidence comes in here as well. It is closely related to what I am talking about (must be a Big-‘C’).

In the last 16 years that I have been doing Simply Budgets I have always had the expectation that it is going to have a major, positive impact on the finances of millions of people around the world. I just knew it the moment I stumbled on the system that changed my finances for the better. I didn’t know HOW it was going to come about but I have always expected it and pursued it with passion.

Have a look at this short video clip of a TV appearance I made here in the USA this week.

http://app.importantvideoemail.com/viewmail.asp?str=MTA3NzM5Ng==_6916450

I said at the top that I just proved today’s topic is relevant for all of us. I was referring to that TV interview and the business relationship that is growing between Simply Budgets and Trycera Financial based in the USA.

That will not be the last TV interview because I expect there will be more. I would go so far as to say I know there will be more even though I have not been invited to do more yet. And I have a high expectation that millions of people in the USA will be impacted in a positive way by the Simply Budgets software and training products I have developed over the years that are now coming available to them.

Now please don’t think that the last 16 years have all been smooth sailing and easy! I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to ignore the fact that my finances would have been in much better shape had I followed a different path. However my Expectation has always been that no matter what came my way I would help thousands of people and I would prosper as a result. There have been times when things happened that were way beyond my expectations and there have been times when things happened way below my expectations but I have been relentless just the same.

You need to have high expectations and you need to apply lots of tenacity.

So to finish off Big-’E’ number 5, I want you to look closely at your expectations or yourself and your life. Do you know what they are? What do expect to achieve in the next week, month, year and decade? What do you expect out of life?

If you don’t know, it is time you gave it some serious consideration or you can Expect to get less than you want!

That’s all for today. I hope you found something of benefit in today’s blog.

 

Regards
David Wright

www.simplybudgets.com.au
www.simplewealthsteps.com

Today’s Big-‘E’ is Education. (number 4 in a series based on words that start with the letter E and impact your financial future)

As I travel around Australia (and overseas) teaching people how to take control of their day to day cash flow the one common story people tell me is that “We never got taught this stuff in school!”

However, I expect you already know that some of the world’s richest people actually dropped out of primary school.

Education around money and financial matters is a huge factor in determining your financial journey (and destination) but clearly we need to go beyond the school gate when we look at the topic of financial education.

Where should you get it?

So what education do you need? Obviously schools let us down. So, do you need to do a university course and become a more highly qualified professional?

Here is a précis of an e-mail I received from an accountant who came to a recent CashFlow Clinic.

Hello David

Many thanks for the wonderful day on Saturday at the Cash Flow Clinic.

You might be a bit surprised to learn I am employed as an International Trade & Logistics Accountant for a large importer.

The reason I tell you all this is because I find it quite ironic, I am able to competently manage millions of dollars for the company I work for but have not been able to apply the same competence to my own personal funds! That is not until Saturday – my “Ah Ha Moment”

On Saturday I started a new journey ….. It is very exciting and I cannot thank you enough.

Many thanks, it is much appreciated.

Best Regards

Dawn

Obviously University education doesn’t do it either!

 

What’s the problem?

As I see it, the problem with all formal education is that it is focussed on preparing people for work. The higher up you go the more that is true. If you go to University it will be to study a specific skill so you can get employment or employ yourself in a specialised role (e.g become an accountant).

This might lead to a good income but not to wealth (If you read Rich dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, you will find more to back up this claim). In almost all cases I know of, high wages means high expenses and no wealth.

Desire is key

So how much do you know about money and financial matters? Do you know about finance; structures; property investing; share markets and business?

Most of the wealthy people I know learnt all about these things because they had a passion to learn what they needed to know and knew it was crucial to them succeeding in the area they were passionate about. Most of them actually chose a career early in life that educated them in the area they wanted to excel in. They learnt whatever they realised they needed to know in order to remove the barriers they found in front of them.

I’ll give you an example. My friend Nhan Nguyen from Advanced Property Strategies quit University and got a job with a property company because he wanted to learn all he could about property. Every day he was working he was learning. Every night he was testing out what he learnt and learning more, going to seminars and looking for deals. He also looked for a mentor who was already successful and who would agree to teach him everything he knew.

Why would someone agree to pass on their knowledge and skill like this you might ask?

Simple; because they love to teach what they love to do and when someone comes along who is clearly passionate and driven, motivated and relentless, they can’t help themselves from wanting to pass on their experience.

Education is one of the biggest Big-‘E’s but there is education and there is education!
Chalk and Cheese

Formal education is all very lovely and you can decorate your wall with certificates and earn a good income but as I already said, this rarely leads to wealth. Yep, you will see professionals driving around in fancy cars and living in fancy suburbs but you don’t see the real truth about their finances. I’m not knocking formal education, but I am saying to just be aware it may not be all it is cracked up to be.

I have worked with some really highly qualified really high income earners who were really broke!

On the other hand you can choose your passion and decide to learn all you can about it. All valuable education comes from having the need to know something in order to solve a problem that is holding you back or stopping you from going to the next level. It gets you out of your comfort zone and into a totally different learning environment.

Nobody is there to tell you that you passed and hand you a certificate. You print your own certificates. You know when you have the solution to what is blocking your way forward.

 

Learning through passion

When you are driven to reach a goal you are not going to give up on, learning takes on a whole new dimension, and it is fun!

I spent thousands of hours researching and experimenting to learn what would help me to achieve success in an area I passionately wanted to make a break-through in. I now love to pass on that knowledge to others to help them as well.

Nhan Nguyen spent all his work time and his spare time learning all he could about property investing. When he hit a hurdle he went and found a solution and nothing was getting in his way. He now teaches others what he knows because he wants to educate them so he can save them the time and pain he went through.

 

Comparisons

Formal education tells you what you need to know even if you don’t know at the time why you need to know it. It stops at a predetermined point regardless of whether you really have all the skills, the knowledge or the passion. You accept that you need to know what the course dictates, even if you are not sure about why. You end up with a piece of paper that says you are qualified for something and then you are ready to begin the journey.

With self education you actively find out what you need to know because you are on a journey and want to achieve a particular goal. If hurdles get in your way, the only way you can get them out of your way is to learn really quickly what to do to remove them, to go around them or to go through them. You learn what you need to learn. Removing a barrier that is in your way and getting to the prize is the motivation that produces the energy and you are on a mission.

The end goal is not the education but the education is the result of the end goal. All successful people have learnt as a result of pursuing success and they want to pass on that success.

 

Solve a Problem

Big-‘E’ number 4, ‘Education’ is really important and comes from seeking solutions to problems that hold you back, motivated by a passion to succeed. The passion is probably not so evident or intense in the beginning but it grows the closer you get to the goal.

Whatever you do, to improve your financial outcomes you must focus on Big-‘E’ number 4, and my belief is that the best education is that which comes from passionately pursuing a dream or a worthwhile goal.

If you would like to begin on the path to educating yourself around money and don’t know where to start, you should look for a problem to solve and make a decision to solve it. Make it one that is really annoying you so you will find the drive to pursue it when everyone else would have given up.

If you just can’t come up with something or you feel you need to get the basics right first I recommend my Simple Wealth Steps Program as a great place to start. It is a ‘wealth basics’ education program and is activity based. Every week you have a reading and a task to complete. I have you doing something every week because nothing happens until you do something. Thinking about change does not make change happen. Taking action makes change happen.

That’s all for today. I hope you found this helpful.

David Wright