A development journey towards financial independence and leadership in a 100 steps.
Today’s challenge will be a crash course on investing. Since there is a lot to go through and not much blog post length to use, let’s dive straight into this…
Shares
Any company is made up of shares and each share is essentially a very small part of a company. If you have a share, it means you own a part of that very business. The more shares you have, the bigger the part you own of that company. Continue reading “Day 21 / 31 Learn about Shares and Bonds”
Now that little by little you are improving your financial life, it is equally important to understand how people succeed and how people fail in this area. Why exactly do so many people still have debt or not enough pension or no financial plan for their future?
Ask anybody in your environment and a vast majority will say that they just do not have enough money to pay off their debt or to throw at their pension fund. But even when those same people get a pay rise, chances are they still won’t be using that money to pay off their debt, nor will they tuck it away and use it to invest in their pension. They will simply spend it on new things and without them even realizing it, their lifestyle will gradually inflate to a new level. Continue reading “Day 20 / 31 Calculate your Savings Rate”
Now that you are getting ready to take full control of your finances and future goals, this is a good moment to discuss and share your financial planning with your partner – if you have not done so already.
Discussing money matters and making sure you have the same short-term and long-term goals in mind is essential to not only achieving your financial goals but also keeping your relationship healthy and happy. At the end of the day if you are trying to save, invest or grow your capital whilst your partner is more of the “let’s spend it all now” school, you likely both wind up frustrated with each other, meaning both your financial goals and your relationship happiness will take a hit and suffer sooner or later. Continue reading “Day 19 / 31 Discuss Finances with your Partner”
One of the most fun parts of setting goals is seeing yourself getting closer to them with each step that you take. By tracking your progress, achieving financial excellence is not just a great end goal in itself, it will also become a fun journey with many smaller milestones to work towards to and keep track of along the way.
You can track your progress for many different financial aspects, such as your net worth, your savings, the debt you are paying off, your emergency fund or your pensions. The options are endless. Continue reading “Day 18 / 31 Track your Progress”
Although it is nearly impossible to predict how your pension will develop over time and how much pension schemes will change, especially if you are still many years, if not decades, away from your retirement, calculating your pension regularly and setting pension goals is a key habit to develop and establish if you do not want to be taken by surprise when you finally get to retirement age and start needing to rely on these payments to replace your regular income.
For today you are going to take control over your pension and start putting in a plan to make sure that by the time you retire you have enough money coming in. Continue reading “Day 17 / 31 Plan your Pension”
A pension is a fund into which the state, an organization and/ or an employee pay money, in order to finance retirement. This allows people to stop working when they are older, whilst still being able to have access to a monthly income or alternatively a lump sum of money that has been saved over the years.
Pension schemes can generally be divided into three different types, although each type can have different characteristics depending on the country, state or industry you are in. Continue reading “Day 16 / 31 Check your Pensions”
Paying yourself first is about setting priorities for your finances and determining ways to always make sure you invest in your financial future. If you look at your list of monthly expenses for a moment try to find out where YOUR payment is.
Of course you are probably able to buy yourself a shelter over your head by paying off your mortgage or paying the rent, to buy food and clothes and financial security through your insurance, but whilst you are purchasing these items, somebody else is also benefiting from you buying these products through your payment. Sometimes the one person who does not seem to be getting paid in any way is YOU. Continue reading “Day 15 / 31 Pay yourself First”
In yesterday’s challenge you worked out your yearly income for each of the 7 sources of income. Today you will take that one step further and investigate which of these you might be able to develop (further) to generate some extra income.
Below are some ideas to get you started for each of the sources: Continue reading “Day 14 / 31 Increase your Income”
Did you know there are a total of 7 income streams? That is 7(!) different ways to make money, of which your job is just one… In today’s challenge you are going to find out about these seven types of income and then discover which one of these might appeal to you most to develop further and start generating some extra money.
The seven income streams are: Continue reading “Day 13 / 31 Your 7 Income Streams”
Have you ever noticed when you get a pay rise that even only a few months later you have no idea where that extra money is actually going? While at first you might have fantasized about all the great things you would be able to do with that increase in monthly income, the reality is this money often seems to magically disappear in just a short time and get absorbed into your regular budget.
This phenomenon is commonly known as lifestyle inflation and it means that every time you get more money, you also generally increase your minimum required lifestyle standard. Where at first you were happy with a second-hand car, that later needs to become a brand new car. And that brand new car needs to be handed in for a SUV just a few years later… Similarly your level of luxury on holidays, fancy clothes, expensive meals out etc. all increases, and likely any extra income is simply used for these purchases. Continue reading “Day 12 / 31 Stop Lifestyle Inflation”
100 Steps Mission 