How do you eat an elephant?

The greatest lesson I have learnt in my life, and that goes for my money life as well, is that you're never too old to learn. But there's another strange associated lesson and that is that you should never be surprised who can teach you something!

The clients taught me
This week I learnt a lesson from a couple who came to my business for financial advice!
The lesson should not be a surprise, but it was because of the type of client I encountered. You see, most people who are in need of money help tend to suffer from two stand out problems.

Two lessons
The first is that they are chaos merchants when it comes to money and it leads to wealth accumulation failure. Of course, they haven't planned to fail, they have simply failed to plan.
The second issue, or challenge, is the fact that about 95% of us are procrastinators - a point I know I have made before in my columns. However, it is a big hurdle we have to beat to change the bad habits that hold us back.

Total control
The clients I have been referring to came in so well-planned that they were able to request exactly what they wanted in their future life. It was so refreshing to see someone asking the right questions, even if they didn't know the answers.

Questions lead to answers
By thinking about your future life as you want it to turn out, you can ask the right questions that boost your chances of getting the right answers now. Once you have an accurate picture of what you want, you then have to set out - on your own or with help - to make the dream come true.

What they wanted
The clients I am talking about asked for a plan:

• To meet short- and long-term goals
  
• To cover private school fees for their two children
  
• To provide a $10,000 gift for their kids at age 18
  
• To fund an overseas holiday costing $15,000 in two years time
  
• To legally reduce tax linked to investment structures, along with a full tax review
  
• To retire at age 60 with their current lifestyle and a holiday each year
  
• To find the best superannuation option
  
• To outline an effective wealth creation investment strategy
  
• To advise on inheritance
  
• To look at debt management
  
• To cover estate planning matters
  
• To evaluate asset allocation and advise accordingly
  
• To ensure maximum income protection, and
  
• To build in ongoing reviews and advice.
  

Covering all the angles
As you can see, this couple have thought just about everything through and it has only been visualised by them fighting the tendency to procrastinate and by putting in the time to think about what they care about. It is all about what is important.

Use their checklist
This is a great checklist for anyone who thinks that their money life is in chaos or at least unplanned.

I think when you consider this range of money questions we all have to answer, if it seems daunting then think about the question: How do you eat an elephant?

The answer of course is: "One bite at a time." And if you can't eat yourself, then get some help.

Click here to visit Peter Switzer's website