I was in South America a month ago visiting Machu Picchu with my dad. The bloke is a mad dog old school traveller but was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s. As such we made plans to tick off the final item on his bucket-list together.
It was awesome. Although between the both of us we have nearly seen every corner of the globe, we had never travelled together. It meant a lot to both of us, and I hope we get to do it again.
Now before you hit the edge of the Amazon jungle and start the journey to the mountain top ruins, the last main city you come across is Cuzco. Cuzco is a strange melting pot of traditional Peruvian life, significant religious influence and tourists.
And even though there are tourists, the good news is the city doesn’t bend its own culture to appease us like Thailand or Bali. As such it still seems authentically Peruvian. It’s mostly safe (although I was robbed there five years previously on a backpacking sojourn under a higher level of inebriation – I consider it my own fault), and many of the buildings are from Inca times or early Spanish settlement.
I’m trying my best to set the scene because there was one massive difference between this visit and my first visit five years ago – large numbers of people standing in one corner of the town all on their phones.
Okay, so I’m sure you’ve heard of this Pokemon game. It took something like a week to become the most downloaded mobile game of all time. And I’m all for a video games getting people out of the house. The only problem was, I didn’t see anyone interested in their surroundings, all I saw was people looking down to an item right in front of them.
This event didn’t really impact me as it was the first time I had seen it, and thought it was a weird Peruvian anomaly. Alas, when I turned up in New York only a couple of weeks later I saw the exact same thing – just more people this time.
As I walked up to the south western entrance to Central Park, I noticed I was surrounded by hundreds of people staring at their phone. In disbelief I realised that again, everyone was playing Pokemon.
In my first ‘senior moment’ as a thirty-three-year-old, I pushed a small amount of air out of my nose which can only be described as respiratory disdain and thought to myself ‘why are these people so focused on the small thing in front of them, when they have all of this to experience’?
“The issue is what is constantly being taught by formal education, and by the media is that you have to ‘pay attention’ to your money”
Thankfully as I choose not to hold grudges towards large non-descript masses of people casually enjoying their lives, I was easily able to continue with my exploration plans, but I did take away this story as it works so wonderfully as an analogy for how we interact with money.
The issue is what is constantly being taught by formal education, and by the media is that you have to ‘pay attention’ to your money. Staring at the amount in front of you is more important than the bigger picture – the outcome of your money. The passive point being, the more attention you pay to your money, the better you will be with it.
“Of course if you pay attention to your money you will be better with it…. The big trick. The point every financial commentator misses is this: you don’t have to”
Now, caveat. This is actually correct. I can’t claim otherwise because I would be lying. Of course if you pay attention to your money you will be better with it. I’m a perfect example of this. Ten years ago I knew nothing about money. I dedicated my life to understanding it, and now I’m here.
But guess what. The big trick. The point every financial commentator misses is this: you don’t have to.
My entire life for the last decade has been dedicated to understanding money. I did an accounting degree, worked as an accountant before turning to financial advice. A decade later, I know a thing or two about dollar signs followed by numerals.
I had the type of personality to do so. But what if you don’t? What if you don’t want to pay attention? Does this have to mean you won’t be successful with your money?
“Thinking about money all the time on top of thinking about your career, your family, and your own personal goals adds up. It’s called decision fatigue and is the plague of our generation.”
I no longer subscribe to the concept you have to become a monetary version of a Pokemon player. To have your head down, only concentrating on the thing in front of you. And the reason is, you probably find it all sensationally boring. And that’s okay.
Thinking about money all the time on top of thinking about your career, your family, and your own personal goals adds up. It’s called decision fatigue and is the plague of our generation. In fact unless you work with money, you should be doing whatever you can to put as much distance between you and it so you can focus on things that are important to you.
Money is simply a facilitator of what you want out of life. What you want out of life – your ideal lifestyle – should be the focus. Your money will ultimately fill in the spaces to meet the direction you want to go.
If you want a family, mortgage, a new car on lease – you will get that.
If you want time to tick off a bucketlist with your old man before he shakes down the mountain – you will get that.
If you want to become rich at the sacrifice of family and time to yourself – you will get that.
“Whatever you choose to do with your life, the good news is you do not need to understand money as well as Warren Buffet in order to wield it….There are shortcuts”
We can’t have everything – you only get one life after all – but I’m a big believer in everyone getting what they want out of life. There’s no right, and no wrong, there is only those who have sat down to think about it, and those who let the decisions happen to them without much thought.
Whatever you choose to do with your life, the good news is you do not need to understand money as well as Warren Buffet in order to wield it. You don’t need to dedicate a decade of your life. You don’t need to stare at a screen infront of you and miss the bigger picture. There are shortcuts.
Firstly, decide what you want out of life. That’s a big point in a small sentence I know – but it still deserves your time. If you don’t, the easy and default answer is simply ‘more’.
Second, put aside an amount for yourself to spend each week to fund your ideal lifestyle today.
Lastly, put aside an amount for yourself to spend later in life when you no longer work. Medical science is getting quite good, so you’re not going to die anytime soon. You’ll want some money to fund your ideal lifestyle in the future also. And the best way to invest is low cost/low tax environments – but that’s an article for next time.
Clayton Daniel author of upcoming book Fund Your Ideal Lifestyle