I came across this graphic earlier this week (shared by Mridula Amin and Alex Lim from ABC news) and it was such a great example of why sitting on your laurels in a place of fear has such a detriment to your financial future.

There is so much out there in the media sharing about the financial struggles of today in entering the property market, cost of living, mortgage rates and being poverty stricken in retirement.

A lot of this boils down to trying to set up oneself financially in the same manner past generations did.

News flash – it’s not working. People are doing the EXACT same thing and expecting the same results as our parents or grandparents.

However;

The world is not the same.
Wages are not the same.
Cost of living is not the same.

So why would we try and secure our financial future in the same manner? It just seems crazy to me.

Pensioners were never meant to have a home loan in retirement. They were never meat to rent in retirement. Our system is not cut out for it and unfortunately that’s the path many are taking by delaying buying property.

When your parents bought the family home in Melbourne, Sydney or even Brisbane – life was different back then.  So why are you trying to buy in the same place?  One of my team members was just telling me that when her parents bought a block of land and built the family home in the northern suburbs of Melbourne they were the ONLY house on the street! It was about 20min from the patriarchal home of inner Melbourne (and all the grandparents and family thought they have moved so far away) but it was what they could afford at the time.

That property today is certainly not in the middle of nowhere anymore and is worth a hell of a lot of money.

So why are you trying to buy and invest in locations where everyone has already made the big bucks?

You can still live in these locations if its better for school access for children, closer to work etc – but you should be concentrating on investing in regional areas across the entire country that suit your budget.

It's not like you won’t find a tenant (hello national rental crisis).

It's completely unreasonable to try and set yourself up financially the way your parents did. There are better ways out there to take, albeit a slightly different looking path.

The same will be said for generations to come – we must learn to adapt, pivot and change with the times to identify new pathways to achieve our goals.

If you don’t do something different you WILL miss out and I promise you – when you retire you will have 110% regret.
Yes this seems rather pushy but I felt the need to really make sure you are aware of the impact of your decisions (or your children if they are at buying age) Feel free to make a time to chat here if you want to explore what options are available in your budget.

Christine

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