Imagine a Peaceful Money Life

In the movie “Miss Congeniality” (stay with me, there is a point), there is a scene where each of the beauty pageant entrants are asked what they want most, and nearly all say “World Peace”.  
While wanting everywhere in the World to be peaceful is a lovely idea, it’s a pretty tricky concept to make a reality.  What is less tricky is working on making YOUR OWN world peaceful.  The one you live in every day.

One of the biggest causes of stress in a person’s life and relationships is money.

Image your world where money isn’t the cause of stress.  Instead, money is contributing to the peace you have in your life.  There are then other things you can focus your time and energy on!
There will always be something that worries you, so work on taking money out of the equation.  Here are some things to ask yourself:

1. Is there anyway I can increase my income? Either through asking for a pay rise, or upskilling and getting another job, or even just selling unwanted things around your home.
2. How can I reduce my expenses – do I need all those streaming/pay TV services?  Are there any subscriptions I no longer use/need?  Am I over-insured, or could I increase my excess?  Can I reduce the data on my mobile phone plan, or data share with a tablet instead of having another data plan?  These are just a few areas to look at (if you want to know more, you can download my Free Guide here).
3. How can I decrease my debts faster? Is it possible to refinance and include all your credit card debt (then cut up those credit cards so their balances don’t go up again)?  If you can’t do this, can you take advantage of a 0% interest rate for a fixed term on credit card balance transfers? Could you look at an offset account for your mortgage and paying your home loan repayments fortnightly instead of monthly?  Paying off a bit extra on your home loan can also have a positive impact on reducing the interest you’re paying (assuming you have a Principal and Interest home loan).
4. Am I saving money for an emergency/rainy day? Even if you are saving for a house or paying a house off, it’s still important to put money aside to help you through difficult times. 
5. Will I need to save for my kids’ education in the future? If you think your kids might want to study at a tertiary institution, and you would like to help them pay for it, you might want to think about putting small amounts aside now, so you aren’t faced with a sudden large expense.
6. Would I like to start investing? Even if you’re still focused on points 1 to 5, you are still an investor.  Your superannuation account invests money on your behalf.  If you want to understand more about investing you could start learning about investing here (https://moneysmart.gov.au/how-to-invest/investor-toolkit).
7. Look into micro-investing. There are platforms out there that allow you to invest small amounts (https://www.spaceship.com.au/). There is even the possibility to invest your spending “round ups” and put in additional amounts if you want to (https://raizinvest.com.au/).

You don’t need to do all of these at once.  Just pick ONE to start with.  Then, once you have actioned that ONE THING, you can move onto the next thing.  Then the next.  Then the next.

You will soon gain momentum, and many of these things can be put on autopilot – meaning that you don’t even have to think about doing them after the initial set up.

Imagine how wonderful it would be to get all these things sorted!  A peaceful money life 😊