“It is not until you change your identity to match your life blueprint that you will understand why everything in the past never worked.
— Shannon L Alder
WHAT IS A BLUEPRINT?
A blueprint is a plan that guides ones actions in a particular direction to achieving a pre-determined goal. Some of us have a financial blueprint plan for our life and finances, others do not. For those that do have a blueprint it may not always be designed in the right way. Our actions may be out of alignment with our goals. Or our goals could not be well established or accurate. We may even have a blueprint without realising it. If we grew up in a poor household for example, we may grow up to think that money is scarce and we don't deserve more. These type of limiting thoughts all affect the blueprint we make for ourselves.
WHY IS A BLUEPRINT NEEDED?
Without a blueprint, or with a disjointed blueprint, many of us go through the motions of going to school, getting a degree, working for 40 years and then retiring to hopefully enough money to last our remaining years. We generally live paycheck to paycheck and hope everything will be ok and that the government will take care of us. Or that we will receive a big inheritance. What works for one person does not work for another. We are all so very different with different wants and needs for life.
We all need our personal blueprints designed in a way that best suit our personal strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes, wants and needs. A well set blueprint will set the most efficient path for you to achieve all your life goals using money as the vehicle to achieve this. Money should not be the end goal. Money is just a vehicle that can be used to help you achieve your personal goals out of life. A good blueprint will make the most of every dollar to help you get there faster, without any sacrifice of happiness. If you are like me, your new money blueprint may even add to your life satisfaction.
MY PERSONAL BLUEPRINT
Hope is not a plan; neither is hanging out for the winning lotto ticket. I was well on this path deep into my 20’s. Staring down the barrel of working for 40 years until retirement, hopeful I would have enough money scraped together to last all my days. I was spending all my income each month; my worst vices were on CD’s (remember those?), drinking and food. I was single throughout my 20’s, yet often I was spending $1600 a month on food and eating out, $400 a month on CD’s and $400 a month on alcohol. With my student loan in tow, I had less money at age 25 than I had the day I was born. That was a very sobering thought.
It is not until I came across success stories of people like Pete over at Mr Money Mustache that I came to the realisation that I need a lot more money than I thought. At the same time I realised I don’t have to work for 40 years. Until this point I had assumed that this was a given. My blueprint that I grew up with had steered me in the wrong direction. Upon this realisation I proceeded to calculate how much I needed for retirement and how I can reduce my working years. It really just comes down to some math followed by a passion to achieve. I all of a sudden had a new blueprint forming. One that would help me to achieve a more fulfilling life not ruled by money.
Before I could get started on the journey though, I first needed to change my bad behaviours from my old blueprint of frivolously spending money, because my previous identity was not aligned to my new blueprint/plan. So instead of wasting $2,000 a month on non-essential expenses, I saved for 4 years to buy an apartment in my late 20’s. Your 20’s are a great opportunity to save a lot, as this is a time in your life where you have the least expenses. You probably don’t have a mortgage at this stage, no kids, and lifestyle inflation probably hasn’t crept in yet.
With a goal to have enough money to retire by age 50 and a detailed plan of how to get there I now had my own personal blueprint to early retirement. To see it in writing that it can be done really was a light bulb moment for me. My money now had a purpose, but more importantly my life had more purpose. I may or may not achieve my goal, but the fact I have a blueprint substantially increases the chances and makes the journey much more fulfilling.
Without a blueprint, I may have had the goal to retire early but I wouldn’t have had the plan on how to achieve the goal. You must have both the goal and the plan or the blueprint will never be achieved.
Read more on my story here.
WHY DO I NEED A FINANCIAL adviser?
Finances are very personal. What one person wants from their money, another person may want the opposite. No two blueprints are the same. What motivates one person, does not motivate another. A good adviser understands this and can give individualised advice tailored to someone’s personal situation and goals. There is so much advice on the internet and the news, and a lot of it is general in nature. “Buy this stock”. “Don’t buy a house now”. “Save this much for retirement”. They don’t know your situation. They don’t know what you want. It is hard to select from ALL the information a few nuggets that apply to you. What is good advice for one person may be terrible advice for another person.
I can help you filter through all the information to help you make the best decisions for your own personal situation. Whether you already have your own blueprint but just need a couple of questions answered, or you need to start from the beginning setting your goals and drawing your blueprint. Thinking of retirement, but unsure on how much money you need and where to allocate your funds? I can help regardless of what stage you are on your journey. All I need from you is an open mind to make changes and apply yourself. Maybe you just need someone to tell you that you are on the right path.
Reasons for an adviser summarised:
You don’t know where to start with your finances
You are wanting to get out of debt
You want to learn how to make your money work harder for you
You need help with your budget
You need help setting your goals
You don’t have time
You have an idea of where you want to end up but don’t know the specifics of how to get there
You have spare cash but you don’t know where best to put it to use
You have a specific financial question you want answered
You need confirmation that you are on the right path
You want a sounding board for your thoughts
You want education on particular financial subjects
You want to the learn the tools required to be confident with your money
You want to know why you can’t seem to get ahead
Un-biased, objective advice. Great for disagreeing couples
Personal advice suitable to only you
Help with big life decisions and the impact on your finances
Investment advice
Retirement planning
Can tell you where you are going wrong
Will keep you motivated when you are down
Will save you multiple times more money than the cost of the advice
FINAL THOUGHTS
Blueprints are a necessary part to reach all your financial goals. Every blueprint will have roadblocks and detours. Life happens. A good financial adviser will be able to help you identify these before they actually happen and be equipped for when they do happen. Even if you have gone way off track it is never too late to ask for help. You can get back on the path. If you never even had a plan, an adviser can help you build one.
Even if you have a blueprint, an adviser may be able to help you make improvements so that your journey is in more of straight line with less detours so that you can reach your goals even faster.
Everyone has different blueprints so it is not a simple copy and paste job. Someone who has a retire early goal will have a much different blueprint to someone who wants to travel or someone that wants low risk security. Your unique goals and situation will determine your own personal path to health, wealth and happiness.
I have no affiliation to any products. You won’t receive any sales pitches for any products that won’t help you. Your progress is the best reward.
I will update my blog regularly with plenty of general information to help you along on your financial journey.
For further information, or to have a free 30 minute consultation contact me here.