Is your financial future on track for a gold medal?

Another Olympic Games is underway, with the world tuned in to see the best athletes competing for medals across many different sports.

One of the greatest achievements in Olympic history was Usain Bolt winning the 100m and 200m at three successive Games! We may never see that feat achieved again.

Did it happen by accident though?

Usain Bolt was the youngest-ever winner of the 200m at the World Junior Athletic Championships as a 15-year-old in 2002. Bolt has since explained that back then, “Everything was easy for me, I didn’t have to train hard to be the best. It was really easy. I wasn’t ready. I was just enjoying life. And then after a time I figured, if you want to be in this work, if you want to be the best, you have to train to be the best.”
It can feel a bit the same in our financial lives. We turn up for work, we get paid. It all seems to work pretty smoothly.

However, while Bolt was blessed with the seemingly perfect physique to dominate sprinting, to reach the peak of the sport, and more importantly to stay there over three successive Olympic Games, required dedication, work and sacrifice that led to the results he has achieved. Thankfully, for him and the viewing public, he didn’t leave it too late to realise what he needed to do in order to achieve what he did.
When it comes to our financial futures, we’re not going to win gold medals, but if we just coast through life without aiming for the goals we want to achieve, then one day it will come time to retire and the money simply won’t be there for the retirement that could have been achieved with just a little planning along the way. If we can learn anything from the likes of Usain Bolt, it is that discipline and long-term planning can lead to fantastic results. What we can achieve is a golden financial future!

The Olympics come around every four years. It’s a good timeframe by which to do some reflection. When it comes to setting yourself up for the financial future you want, what have you achieved over the last four years? What do you want to achieve over the next four years and beyond? Now is the time to start making it happen.

• Will you have started creating wealth?
• Will your super have worked harder for you? Will you be on the path to a secure retirement?
• Will your debt situation be far better than it is now?
• Will you have made sure your most important assets are protected in case something goes wrong?

If you didn’t achieve in the last four years what you would have liked to, then don’t spend the next 4 years missing opportunities! Start acting now to get the best from the money you will earn between now and then.

With a solid financial plan, you don’t need to work anywhere near as hard as an Olympic athlete to achieve your dreams. But without one, it will almost be impossible to achieve them. Don’t waste another minute!

Cheers,

Dan and Dave