Month: December 2021

As we finally head toward the holidays, I have been talking to many people who feel like they are ‘crawling to the finish line’.  There is no denying it’s been a tough year. The pandemic and the lockdowns this year had a different impact on people than in 2020 – and the joy that we all take from being social, and being together, was taken away for significant lengths of time.

Now that we are open and moving toward a world where we must live with COVID, I think it is time for us to start being hopeful again. Start planning for a world where we can deal with the unexpected and keep moving forward. Enjoy watching our kids be with their friends. Plan for things you always wanted to do and keep putting off.

Because if this pandemic has taught me anything, it is that shit happens. Yes, that seems obvious, but it is true. Things happen that are outside our control. The only thing we can control is our reaction to them. Which is why I encourage you this Christmas holidays to think about you. What makes you happy? What do you look forward to? What is on your bucket list? If you can take some time to really reflect on your life so far, and the things that have brought you joy, then you can start prioritising that joy in 2022 and beyond.

You deserve to pursue joy and happiness. No matter your responsibilities or who else you are looking after. Recognise how important your own happiness is and pursue it. This is not something that can be done by just taking a holiday then living as you normally do. It’s about really reflecting on joy. And, on the things that deplete your energy and take your joy away. How can this be changed?

Your energy levels are your life force.  They allow you to make others happy and achieve all you want in life. And if you keep allowing the things that are sucking your energy to remain, without moving toward change, then you are losing your own life force, perhaps permanently.

Of course, your financial situation is very much a part of this life force. If money (or lack of it) is a constant negative energy in your life, then it is time to change. How can you relieve the pressure? There are a few levers you can pull in your financial life, but the two biggest to change your situation are this – Can you lower your overheads? Can you bring more money in?

There is not one answer to each of these questions – there are hundreds of answers. And they may involve you making decisions that are initially tough. They also might affect others in your family. But at the end of the day, you must make decisions that protect your life force, your energy and your joy. Because they are things that look after everyone else in turn.

So, enjoy your Christmas. Enjoy the spirit this time of year brings. Do random acts of kindness. Taste things you haven’t tried before. Tell people you love how much you care. Because while we don’t know what’s ahead, we do know that love, connection and caring are the force we all thrive on. I wish this for you, and for your families.

Thanks for being with me this year. I have had the greatest privilege of being able to focus on what I bring to everyday people, to make them see their money and their life opportunities differently. It’s my life purpose and I can’t wait to share our stories with you in 2022 and beyond.

Until next time,

We strive in our working lives to create a comfortable lifestyle, indulge in a few rewards here and there, and provide for our family to ‘enjoy life’ in the moment. There’ll be plenty of time to work out a retirement plan when you’re older, right?

That countdown of days to when you finish up work may be closer than you think:

Elyse relaxed back into the camp chair and stared into the fire. She was so happy she’d let Caitlyn talk her into spending this weekend in wine country – meeting new people, indulging in cheese antipasto platters, expanding her wine palate and the eye candy on the tour wasn’t bad either.

Her thoughts made their way back to Clint who she happened to sit next to at one of the wine tastings, and somehow they kept being within each other’s eyeline all afternoon.

He’d definitely caught her attention and his smile was still occupying her mind.

He approached herdown by the fire, wine bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other.

He read thebottle’s label out to her, “a warming full-bodied blend, with dusky notes and smooth yet strong character.” The description was just as apt for him as it was the wine. Both of them perfect to uncork here by the fire.

Clint moved a chair next to Elyse and poured her a glass of the cabernet sauvignon.The fire crackled as their fingertips touched when he handed her the glass, an appropriate response to the excitement the fleeting touch of each other’s skin elicited.

As small talk was made so were small advances in affection, with Clint now toying with Elyse’s fingertips as they got cosy by the fire. He enquired about a conversation he’d overheard her having earlier today. “Sounded like a lot of heavy-duty figures; about as much as I’ve spent on wine this weekend,” he quipped.

Elyse smiled and conceded she too had bought a lot of wine, and then explained, “I was telling Caitlyn about my numbers,” he looked intrigued. She turned to face him, not once looking to relinquish her hand from his.

“9,125, that’s my number. And I’ve got 7,300 to go,” she knew that would mean nothing without context, so she elaborated:

“I started work at 18, and I’m 40 now. That means I’ve worked 8,030 days so far, and I’ve only got 7,300 left ‘til I retire. I’m already past halfway, I’m well into the second half of my working life.”

She paused, took a sip of her wine and allowed Clint to reflect on what she had said.

He nodded, and she continued, “And that’s not the end of it … I expect to live to at least 85, that’s 25 years, or 9,125 days, beyond age 60 … I want to make sure I can have experiences like this then too, not just now.”

Clint raised an eyebrow at her words and a coy smile occupied across his face.“Experiences, such as,” he paused and leant in towards Elyse, and they shared a delicate kiss by the fire. It was a warming, full-bodied kiss with dusky notes and smooth yet strong character, just like the bottle promised.

“I like your numbers,” he said breathily, and he poured them both more wine to share.

“Here I was thinking of how many years I had to keep working, not really aware of how long it’s been already,” he smiled and drank some more wine, “I’d be interested in more experiences like this,” and he looked at her longingly, “now, and in the future.”

The fire crackled again as they shared another delectable moment near the flames.

“So Elyse, I don’t suppose you’d consider sharing any other numbers with me?”

Elyse toyed with handing over her phone number, but her room number was so much more succinct.

Things were heating up and it wasn’t just the campfire.

Unlearn Principle

Time is one of our greatest assets in investing and creating wealth. Time collaborates with compound interest to reward us in saving and investing. Paying attention to our future sooner rather than later helps us to make the most of the benefits of investing for the long term. Retirement can feel like it’s a long way off, anything more than 10 years can seem intangible.

A psychological study in 2015 found that when time is expressed in smaller units (like days instead of years), despite the numbers sounding bigger (in the thousands instead of between 10 – 100), the future feels closer. The question is, what’s your number?

Until next time,

Mick Horne is the clever animator behind our one-minute fables including The Golden Bird, a short animation that reminds us to spend our money on a life that brings freedom and happiness instead of possessions. A creative discovery changed Mick’s life trajectory from a serious 20-year career in the Australian Navy to doodling cartoons for newspapers.

Mick lives on a quiet street in Safety Bay, a small suburb along WA’s coastline in Perth, in a home he and his wife moved into more than four decades ago in the 70s. They were married for a decade by then after he first caught her eye at a ladies’ sports carnival outside of Sydney where they were both based in the navy.

Following an interest

Mick joined the navy when he was just 16 years old as an apprentice before being transferred to work on aircraft. “The navy was great because it pulled me into line,” he said. It taught him the value of teamwork and camaraderie – and he even got to live in San Diego in California for a year in the 60s.

While two decades in the navy brought lots of opportunities, Mick knew when it was time to step away when the responsibility of aircraft maintenance was weighing too heavily on him.

Back in WA, he joined the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and was doing an evening TAFE course in painting to balance the stress of work. Something that started as a hobby of “drawing, doodling and mucking around” turned into a career of publishing cartoons and comic strips in newspapers and creating digital animations.

One thing leads to another

It all started with a book his mum gave him back when he was younger: Paul Rigby’s Cartooning and Drawing Techniques, published in 1987. Not only did the book lead him to make cartoons and animations for a living, it also led him down a path to discover his biological father.

Mick joined the Australian Cartooning Association after the book spurred an interest in the art. He started going to events run by the association; one was in Canberra near the war memorial. “We wandered around and found out you could get hold of old documents, and my dad was in the Royal Australian Air Force. We got the documents and it showed where he was in the war, and he wasn’t in the right place for a few years to be my dad,” Mick recalls.

“If you don’t have a sense of humour after twenty years in the navy, then you weren’t paying attention.”

“At that stage both my mum and dad had died. But I did a lot of research and discovered who my father was. Mum had kept me, which was unusual at the time, then she met Dad who I didn’t know wasn’t my real father. I phoned around and discovered the secret that everyone else seemed to know except me.

“If she hadn’t bought me the cartooning book, I never would have found out the secret she kept from me and I never would have met my father a couple of years before he died. Every couple of months we would take him out to the local pub in Joondalup for a meal. I’ve got a couple of brothers in town I never knew I had too.”

Learning a new trade

Mick has been creating computer animations for around a decade now after drawing political cartoons for several newspapers since 1996. “I thought about reinventing myself. I like a challenge, so I thought I would try animation,” Mick says.

He says he’s a few generations behind today’s youth, but then he explains he’s built himself a Wix website and uses a tablet to create 2D animations. Quite impressive for a man who says he’s not that tech-savvy. “I try to keep up,” he says.

“If you like your job you’re not working.”

He got to meet his cartooning hero, Mr. Rigby, down in WA’s Margaret River when he interviewed him for a cartoon magazine. Mick explains Rigby ended up in Perth on his way to London many decades ago but never made it on the ship at the Fremantle port after a few too many beers. He worked for the local newspaper as a cartoonist before being poached by Murdoch in Sydney – and eventually as head cartoonist for the New YorkPost – but settled back into the slow slumber of Margs after a busy career before he passed away.

Finding the funny side of life

Mick knows how serious life can get sometimes – whether it’s bearing the responsibility of maintaining aircraft without fault or finding himself in Washington around the corner from the Pentagon when 911 unfolded. But it has given him the perspective of how important it is to enjoy the smaller moments. That thought cemented just a few years ago when he had sudden quadruple bypass surgery.

“If you don’t have a sense of humour after twenty years in the navy, then you weren’t paying attention,” Mick jokes.

Mick says he has “a weird sense of humour” and always looks for the funny side of everyday life as inspiration for his cartoons and drawing. “You’ve got to have that. If you don’t have a sense of humour you can’t see the bright side of life,” he says. “It’s across the board, whether it’s young kids or CEOs of big boards – don’t take it too seriously and lighten up.”

He and his wife just celebrated 53 years of marriage and are content living in the home they brought their three children up in. “We’ve been here in this house for 42 years. This will do us. The trees have grown a bit. The kids grew up here and the house has got a lot of nice memories,” he says.

Semi-retired, Mick says: “I’m quite happy doing cartoons. It’s something I like doing so it’s not really a job. If you like your job you’re not working. I sit back and take it as it comes.”