Live for now ... or save for the future?
In the past couple of years, many of us have spent a lot of time considering how we want to live. The question most of us wrestle with is – “Should I live for the moment? Or save for the future?” And it’s not always an easy question to answer. The good news is you can strike a balance between the two.
By Paul Rattray
Sleepless nights?
Whether you’re an individual or a small business owner or an investor, chances are you’re concerned about your finances right now.
We’re on the back of two very disrupted years characterised here in Australia by Covid-19 and of course a number of severe natural disasters. As we emerge from this, the global outlook is uncertain too. Markets are fluctuating, inflation is rising, interest rates are on the up, there’s uncertainty in supply chains, critical skills shortages across a number of industries … and the list goes on.
Concerns around money, saving, getting ahead, preparing for retirement and planning for the future are keeping a lot of people up at night.
What's motivating your wealth strategy?
Stress is never good, but the truth is, each of these can be powerful motivators to undertake a personal audit across the board – a good hard look at how you’re doing financially and where you want to be.
The next step then, is getting professional advice so you can make the most of where you are, and take the right steps towards the future.
What we offer here at ATB Partners is professional skills and experience in tax, accounting and financial planning. What this means is that we can look over your business, we can look at it in conjunction with your personal finances and investments too.
Taking the broader view, rather than looking at each in isolation means that we can offer you strategies that will complement each other. We might see better ways to structure your business to maximise tax savings, cut overheads or stem ‘leakages’ you might not be aware of.
We may be able to provide you with some ideas about how to better use the equity in your mortgage, or how to use a lender’s money instead of your own, without being heavily chained to debt, how to restructure your debt, or suggest some investments that will do better over the medium-to-long term, so you can slowly build wealth.
Of course, if you really want to get ahead and spend a few years knuckling down and building up financial reserves, then there will be sacrifices, but typically, having the right financial strategy is not about living on baked beans and toast – it is about finding the right balance between enjoying life now, while planning for the future and structuring your finances to afford you this balance. The benefit of having professional advice is that not only will we see opportunities you might not, we’ll also keep you accountable.
The best plans often go astray, even despite fierce motivation and a strong commitment, if there is no accountability.
It’s quite normal to get stressed about finances or even fearful – that’s because if you’re not trained, or you don’t have experience in the area of finance, then you won’t be able to identify all the ways you can make changes. This is where professional advice really pays off and when you have a team that’s looking over your finances from an accounting, tax and financial planning perspective you’re getting help that has both depth and breadth.
Not only will get you valuable advice – and options to choose from – BUT, most importantly, you’ll instantly reduce your stress. Because a problem shared is a problem halved.
There's no need to stress -- help is at hand
The important thing to remember is that often these changes don’t pay dividends immediately, but when you look back after six, twelve, eighteen months you will see a significant difference.
The fact of the matter is that you work hard for your money, and in turn, it should also work for you. So if we can help, then please give us a call.
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