470 | What Money Means to YOU!

And Ben Kingsley , chair of Property Investors Council of Australia and a back-to-back winner of the Property Investment Advisor of the Year Award , and both are partners of the multi-award winning Empower Well . Co-creators of Moor , the free lifestyle design app , as well as bestselling authors of the Arnche Guide to Property Investing and Make Money Simple Again .

Stay tuned as they bring you the Insiders Guide to Property Finance and Money Management .

So our costs have skyrocketed across households and I can give you a couple of indications in terms of how that's showing up in the research . I was reading a couple of things from NAB recently . One thing which was really interesting was this idea that four out of 10 households are trying budgeting for the first time .

Now , part of me says that's progress , but it also says to me , in a time of so-called crisis , where we've got a cost of living , crime and still only what happened ?

All bank apps have an attempt these days at sort of classifying spending Because , ultimately , if our bank balances are going down or our savings accounts are going down and that's definitely what we're seeing in the data people are starting to work out well , where does it all go ?

And that is what I wanted to highlight today in terms of the massive supercharging of our engine , because when you look at your bank apps , you get sort of really generic top line sort of insight . So an example would be what do I spend on the home , what do I spend on transport , what do I spend on food ?

And you really don't get any other insight , as that's a big number . But what do I do with that number ? Now ?

Obviously , through our best selling book in terms of Make Money Simple Again and the Money Smart System , we've always had a rules based system , and so we start off with in terms of financial classifications , and they are income expenditure , borrowings and assets , and then we have and we introduced as part of the Money Smart System , what we call financial items .

Okay , and they are rich , deeper categorizations , and we have got , effectively , usually two to three times more of those item layers and those category layers .

But what we've just done and this is the big announcement today , bruce is we've supercharged that engine and we've released a whole new sort of tool inside more called my Financials , and it's the engine room . So when we talked about releasing wealth clock and wealth speed , we did the car analogy .

That's the dashboard , you've got the speedometer and the odometer and that's giving us an indication . Well , we've taken the old engine out , which was a pretty good engine , mind you . It did the job .

But we're supercharged the engine now by introducing what we refer to as the next layer down , the next tier down , which we call card view , and so inside card view , by way of example , where is my spending going ?

So if I have something like recreational sport and hobbies and I have like $4,000 going to that , well , that's nice to know , but what's under that Like who's ? Where is that money going ? And so what I'm able to now do is to add a new card that links into the item .

So I might have say , in our case , I've got Jack's Taekwondo , I've got Jack's Swimming , I've got Harry's Basketball , harry's Football , james , whatever , my whatever and so I'm now able to get that next layer . That sums up to the item level , but in terms of this , we are going to be able to give deeper and richer insights .

So when you truly want to know where your money is actually going , you're going to be able to do it better on more than any of the other personal financial management apps and applications out there . So that's , from today , now available on both the mobile version as well as the web version . And this is just the start of it .

Bryce , at the end of summer series , we are going to be talking about what I'm going to refer to as a financial time machine , and that's the only clue . It's the only clue I'm going to give you . But if you think about where I'm going with that , I'm talking about these deep , richer insights .

So one the user experience will be a lot more efficient , a lot easier . You'll know where all your money is going , the dashboards will be richer and all those types of things . But this is a big step for us in terms of re-supercharging the engine , changing the engine out , bringing a new engine in and everything is built off this core .

So my financials will be the core engine that is basically going to run the platform . So , coming back to the story of doing budgeting and those types of things , I'll close out a little reminder in my closing comments , after we talk about what money means to people , because I think there's a nice little segue that brings all of that together .

And what we learned over the journey , ben , is a lot of people use mobile on the run on their desktop to do the grunt work , right , yeah , so it kind of makes sense that they can actually do that grunt work in the cards , which is really , really cool .

And also it's kind of nice to reflect at this point in time where we go this more platform up in the cloud that's now got a new engine that goes with the Speedo and the TACO .

It started out as a humble old Excel spreadsheet , ben , and then that spreadsheet grew some macros and some formulas and those macros and formulas took time to crunch the numbers and then over time we developed it into what it is now and it's kind of nice to know that , where the evolution's come from humble Excel spreadsheet .

But , folks , here's the call out to you , right ? We understand that ? To Ben's point earlier that six out of 10 people are not doing a budget . If you feel like you fall into that six out of 10 , there's an opportunity for you . You'll be listening to this . If you're listening to it as it comes out .

It'll be Thursday , the 30th of November If you're listening to it into December or into January , it's still wonderful opportunity , while everything starts to slow down , for you to actually go on . Get yourself a free more account and that's m-double-o-double-rcomau .

Get a free account , start putting your numbers in and actually trapping the surplus , because we've said it a few times , ben , but it's a simple game Spend less than you earn , and when you spend less than you earn , you actually have to know how much surplus is left over . At the end , because you have confidence around how much surplus is left over .

You can actually invest it in two ways one in your immediate lifestyle , ben , or you can invest it into your future , or perhaps a little hybrid of both , ben , and then all you need to do is get some assets and hold onto them and wait .

So it's really important that you get this opportunity in a free platform to actually get visibility in line of sight on your numbers , because you'll do all the grunt work on your desktop and then , lo and behold , as you're walking along , it'll be available on your mobile or whatever your sort of mobile application is , so that when you're actually at the point of

making the spending , you can actually record those expenses and then come back and analyze it .

And 2024 , we're saying it here , folks mark our words 2024 will be the best year yet for the more platform , for the insights and the amount of heavy lifting that you can actually see in your financial future and what you can actually do with your money and actually fulfill that very simple formula of spend less than you earn , trap the surplus and invest it for

your future .

I mean , there's a lot of people that just will keep their head in the sands no matter what we say , but the ones who are running spreadsheets or who are running other sort of platforms , I challenge them to actually compare the pair , put them side by side with each other and have a look at the features and the tool set that's available in there , because it's

obviously being built by an advisory business that serve thousands and thousands of clients . So we know the subject matter knowledge , we know what works and what doesn't work from a behavioral point of view , and so we're wedging all of that information into a platform to allow the general public to also use .

So it's definitely an opportunity for those people who want to get organized and get motivated and hopefully get inspired by summer series that's about to come up .

And , folks , if it sounds like we're laboring on this point , two points to that One we are and two it's for free . You can go and check it out for real , for free , folks . So go to M-O-R-E-BENcomau and check it out . Hey , today we've got a super exciting episode planned for you .

We are actually going to share some insights that we get from the privilege position that we get to see across 13,000 plus records that we've collated to get the data for today , to give you a little insight into the psyche of people and what money means to them .

And so , in terms of setting that up today , ben , in my mindset minute theme , the question is where are the clients , yachts ? So Fred Schwed , s-c-h-w-e-d . Fred Schwed I'm not making that up Jr was a professional trader who quit Wall Street after losing a lot of his money in the crash of 1929 .

So in 1940 , he wrote an investment classic called when Are the Customers , yachts . So the joke behind the title has been retold in many different ways over the years , but in Schwed's version a successful Wall Street broker named William Travers is admiring the many beautiful yachts whilst on vacation in Newport , rhode Island .

So after each yacht he inquires about happens to belong to a broker or a banker or a trader . So he then begs to sort of ask the question where are the customers yachts ? And that in therein lies the point of the story , then . So nearly 75 years have passed since this story was first published , but it could have been written yesterday .

So where are the customers yachts ? Important observation Bankers , traders , brokers had all these amazing yachts , but when asking the simple question of where are the clients yachts , it was silence . There was , of course , no clients yachts . So kind of made me think of my favorite scene from the Wolf of Wall Street , benz .

I'm just going to cut that scene in now and we'll have a little listen .

Move the money from your clients pocket into your pocket , Right , but if you can make clients money at the same time , it's advantageous to everyone , correct ? No ? Number one rule of Wall Street ? Nobody OK if you're a worn buffet or if you're a Jimmy Buffett .

Nobody knows If a stock is going to go up down sideways or in circles , at least of all stock brokers . It's all a fugazi . You know what a fugazi is ? It's a fake . Hey , fugazi , fugazi , it's a wazio , it's a wuzio , we're fairy dust . It doesn't exist , it's never landed , it is no matter , it's not on the elemental chart , it's not real .

We don't create shit , we don't build anything . So if you've got a client who bought stock at eight and it now sits at 16 , he's all happy . He wants to cash you out liquid eight , take this money and run home . You don't let him do that because that would make it real . But you and me , the brokers , we're taking home cold-heart cash via commission .

So Charlie Munger famously said people will ignore all sorts of facts if their paycheck depends on it , right ? So here's what we're hoping our legacy will be for many of the people who have listened to us , and that's that they are able to buy their proverbial boat , right ? We actually do want to know where the client's boats are .

So , in reflecting on our business , ben , we've been around for 16 years as a business and , given our game is a two-decade-plus game that we're playing with our clients , we're about five years away from that 20-year mark , so from those early clients who've been doing that for a decade .

So we get to tell the stories of our clients and our listeners that are already buying their boat . So we're kind of hoping that that's the space that we're playing in this podcast with our clients , with the information that we're sharing with the people who have acted on the advice that we give on this podcast . So we want you to have your proverbial boat .

So that's what we think is a contribution . We're looking forward to sharing those stories and that's lifestyle boat design , ben . So something there for us to think about around what the actual aim of the game is here , because there is an industry that is set up in a way for the people in the industry to do really well .

But at the end of the day , you've got to be measured . Your success is 100% going to be measured by the outcomes that you get for the people that you're trying to help , right ?

So , a lot of the time when you're sitting down in front of clients for the first time , and if you'll never have any professional advice done before , if someone asks you the question , what does money mean to you , a lot of people find it challenging to really articulate that in a refined way .

They're sort of like oh , I don't know , it just probably allows me to do the things that I want to do and all of that . So , as part of the discovery work that we do for our clients , we ask them that question as part of the sort of getting to know you stage .

So we know that we've got alignment around what's important for you and what you're trying to set about achieving . Now , since developing the platform from the my Wealth portal and then obviously branding it across to more , we have that discovery section still inside there .

So a lot of the public users as well as obviously , over the 16 years that we've been doing this work , we've been collecting that data and it's really important to align the monetary aspects of what we're trying to do to marry in with what it means to that individual customer . We've been all about tailored solutions from day one .

We want to make sure that that story takes part . So that's effectively what we try and do .

And in terms of doing that , we want to also start to think about well , if that then resonates with them and they connect with that story and we start to think about big rocks in the jar and all of those goals that they want to achieve , then all of a sudden we see that it's around that success and it's that success that leaves clues for us .

And so when we think about the summer series and how that's going to sort of play out , we know that they did take action right and we're big on action taking here and we know that how they took action was they spent less than they earned , they trapped the surplus and they had a clear plan in terms of doing that .

So I'll talk to that in closing comments later . And to Bryce's point he mentioned earlier they invest the surplus and they do that through a planning exercise . And there's two critical reasons why you do that . It reduces the number of mistakes . Number one and two your job is to maximize your money , to work harder for you .

So , by way of simple example , if you put your money into a bank account , a check account , an everyday check account or savings account , and you're earning 1% , but you could have money in a term deposit that's earning 5% , well , the power of compound means that that 5% is going to give you a maximum return .

And there's all different types of returns out there and there's higher risk things that you can get into . But we try to do sensible gearing through property so we get that leverage cash on cash return into what has traditionally been a low volatile asset , as long as we're buying in established areas where there's low risk of oversupply .

So that's the scene setter and you're gonna get that in spades throughout the course of the summer series . What it does lead into is then okay , well , what's there why ? Why have they gone about ? What has been those core motivations ?

And that's what we're going to be , as I said to you just unpacking today as part of these over 13,300 odd questionnaires that we've received . We've done the collation work and we're about to share that , aren't we Bross ?

The next layer of barb is your safety , so personal security , employment , your resources , your health , your property . The next layer up is love and belonging , so your friendships , your intimacy , family sense of connection . Next level up again is esteem , so your respect , your self-esteem , status , recognition , strength and freedom .

And then the final of those hierarchies is self-actualization , so that's the desire to become the most that one can be . That's that contribution level , right . So the top 10 , what we've tried to do , ben , is overlay the top 10 into where they rank here in Maslow's hierarchy of needs . So what does money mean to them ?

So interestingly , ben , there is I think there's one in each category here , at least one in each category . So if we go we count them down from 10 to one . Number 10 , ben , is lifestyle choices . Lifestyle by design kind of makes sense . So we've put that in the category of esteem .

So the fourth level of the hierarchy of needs , thinking of that from the perspective of freedom . So lifestyle choices . So I'll riff through the first five and then you can cover , drop them down to one , ben . So number nine is peace of mind . Again , we put that into the esteem category in terms of your need . Number eight is comfort .

People want comfort , so that's a physiological need . That's your first basic need . There been around that comfort . Number seven stability , stability . So I've put that as a safety need , so the second level in Maslow's needs . And then number six , ben , is time with family . So that's the third level of the needs around love and belonging .

So number ten was lifestyle choice . Number nine was peace of mind . Number eight was comfort . Number seven was stability and Ben . Number six was time with family .

So travel definitely fits into the esteem in terms of , you know , it does create that great sense of experience and memories created from that and that freedom element associated with that as well , and that's it's a part of that reward for effort in terms of being able to have those wonderful experiences . Number four is providing for family .

So that's that psychological and physiological sort of need in terms of connection and togetherness . So it's essential , you know , especially if you have a family , you want to protect them , you want to care for them . So that's a fundamental one . Then , moving on to number three , we've got work-life balance .

So then we come down to number two , and that is freedom . And obviously that's a clear winner in time . It is a powerful driver that most of us aspire to in terms of being in control of our own time and our own destiny as part of that particular story . And then , number one , drumroll for number one security .

So absolutely fundamental safety need in terms of being able to . So , once we've got that physical and psychological element of understanding , we move up into that safety need . So that and that was a clear winner . We're going to sort of talk about the numbers in a minute , but it's really .

You know , if I know that I'm safe , then I can explore the next ideas of what safety allows me . And so when we talk about lifestyle by design , there's a clear connection in the societies that we live in , that part of that does have a monetary component to it , right ?

So in terms of providing security and safety , that can come in housing , our own place , our own assets , our own things , and then also we talk about education and health for our kids .

So all of those things sort of become part of that overall security layer , and so by far it is the most powerful driver for people when they start thinking about well , if I want security and to get security I'll need to take action , and I know that I'll need some money to be able to do that .

So I won't be able to rely on governments or handouts or charity to be able to provide that for myself , and I certainly won't be able to provide freedom or work life balance as as part of that particular story .

You know , ranked that that highly right . So people get to choose multiple ones . But if we go again lifestyle choices , peace of mind , number eight is comfort . Number seven , stability . Number six , time with family . Number five is travel . Number four is providing for family . Number three is work life balance . Number two is freedom and number one is security .

So it's really interesting and that's that is a . That is a , that is a size of people that have been surveyed . That is significant . Like we are talking about 13,832 respondents here , we're not talking about a couple of hundred men . So we could definitely see the trends that have been identified .

So we're gonna we're gonna spend a bit of time unpacking those top two because clearly they're really important . You'll see soon , when we go through some of the numbers , that they were overwhelmingly voted for for the folks here . But what does security provide people , ben ? Well , it gives them .

It gives them a sense of resilience because they might get some unexpected setbacks , and also gives them a buffer against life's uncertainties .

So if you , if you have that security and you are faced with something that happens , with a job loss or health issues or some catastrophic financial crisis or what we have experienced been over the last 30 years , as in every decade , you can see some form of event that was an X event that no one could have predicted .

So as we , as we stand here in 2023 , and we look back at this exercise in 2033 , something will happen in this next 10 years that our minds cannot fathom right now . That will happen and in 10 years time , we'll look back and go wow , because I can promise you I never thought that I was going to go through a pandemic in my life .

So it's important for us . So security provides you with that resilience for those setbacks and life's uncertainties , ben . So it kind of makes sense , right .

So that's the classic case for us in terms of keep it simple , right , spend less than you earn in terms of what that looks like , and then avoid unnecessary complexity in your financial life . Now we've tried to teach people the Money Smart system . It's a pretty simple , rules based system less than 10 minutes a month to check in on that particular story .

And now that with , obviously , the more platform , giving greater depth of insight . But you don't necessarily have to go granular if you don't want to , you can still keep it really simple in terms of I know that recreational sports and hobbies I spend X number and I know where that's going , so I don't need to worry about it .

So do I need to make extra cards for that ? Those people who do make those extra cards because they want to track that history over time in terms of what they're spent on certain elements . So you can go deep if you want to go deep , or you can just basically keep it also at that sort of simple flight level .

But this also talks to from an investment point of view is keep it relatively simple . Property investment is okay . Well , I understand it . You know it's concrete , it's physical . I can understand what's involved in it . There's borrowings involved in it , there's repaying . That there's , you know , maintaining the asset , so it's not difficult .

If you start talking about companies involved in certain mining , exploration or or things like that , lots of compliance or risks , so you lose a lot of that simplicity . So that's why I think a lot of people like residential property , because they understand it , because of its simplicity .

So if you , if you feel like whatever comes at you , you have the ability to move and pivot and take another path , or if you've arrived at a fork of the road that was something outside of your control , that that flexibility and adaptability . Adaptability is definitely part of the security .

They're not necessarily super impulsive and as part of that , they're limiting the risk of making bad decisions . Okay , so that's about get educated , build trust and then build understanding and then take action as part of you know that empowering , you know sort of cycle that you go through .

But it takes away that , that niggle and that constant preoccupation that comes from financial worry .

So if you want to be free of that , it kind of makes sense that you want to have that sense of security , that you don't need to be worried about , that your mind is is better off freed up from a lot of that constant nag and worry , and that that really comes from security . So then , for that to , for that to poll at number one makes sense .

It provides resilience , it provides you with simplicity . There's the behavioral discipline element of that . It gives you that flexibility and adaptability . But overall , overwhelmingly and the reason that it's , in our view , that it became number one is just that sense of peace of mind , that mental peace , that financial peace that comes from having that security .

So if we can't have it yesterday , there's this sort of delayed gratification sort of story that we're talking about here , and so when people are thinking and talking about freedom , there is absolutely an impatience around what that looks like , and when they see on social media , they see social envy from everyone else doing all of those other things , they get a

resistance or frustration around what that freedom looks like . So it's high on desire , but it also has an impatient element to it .

So , as part of the work we try and do on this pod and any professional advice work that you get is you are talking , you've got to set expectations around this particular thing , because to have true freedom , you need to have financial independence , okay , and so there will be that element of working towards that outcome .

But when you get there , this is what it looks like . Number one it's true autonomy here , right , so you have , then , autonomy to make those decisions . You are ultimately , then , solely in control of where you allocate your money and how that money potentially works for you .

So you're not solely driven by the need to earn money , because what you've actually done there is you've created a nest egg big enough where the passive income is actually doing a lot of that work for you . So your exertion and your time has basically been freed up because you've been able to build that wealth base up .

And that's the vision of what well-speed's all about . That's about making you opportunity or problem aware , depending on your situation , to try and change those habits . And I'll tell you that freedom , that peace of mind that comes with that element of choice , is quite empowering .

But just be mindful that it's going to take time and that's why a lot of people the vast majority of Australians aren't prepared to put the effort in to make that outcome occur . So we really tap into the people who are saying , well , freedom's really high on our agenda then great .

Well , this is the work that's got to go into that particular approach , and you'll hear more about that in your life hack later .

Freedom gives you time wealth , right , so it gives you the ability to have that control over your time . So if you're someone now who has to go and work and the key point of that sentence was has to go and work well , then you do not have the time wealth .

So it kind of makes sense that a lot of people really want that and , interestingly , a lot of people don't necessarily not want to work . A lot of people still want some form of meaningful activity in their life . But it also means that they want that choice over how they spend their time so that they get to spend it on the things that matter most to them .

So for me , for me personally , this is the one that I think resonates with me the most . There's a bunch of others , we'll go through shortly , but if you actually think really about it , do you want another flashy thing more than you actually just want to be in control of your own time .

I reckon , when we really sort of marinate in that thought , I reckon a lot of people would love to have the destiny on whether they roll over or roll out each morning , based on what's required of them , based on what choices they have . So it's kind of the highest dividend money pays .

As Morgan Housel tells us , ben , to do what you want , when you want , with who you want , for as long as you want . So it's kind of critical that freedom talks about time .

A lot of people , when they're making decisions around big rocks in the jar in their life and their patience or impatience , situations will occur where they'll tell themselves a story , so story , state , strategy in their mind and they'll say , well , I want what these people have got and I don't want to have to build it up .

And so if I buy a home , I lose my freedoms because I'm going to be in the debt trap . And so they make a judgment in the short term , the here and now , that sort of says I'm going to have freedom , but it's not . They will never get into a position where they'll have true freedom .

And so they are putting themselves into a worse position by not actually choosing long term freedom as opposed to what they call short term , I suppose in their mind , happiness .

So we do a lot of work around those people who are coming to see us and obviously part of our mission on the pod is to tap into the thinking and the psychology and behavior of those people who make these justifications to say , well , if I have a family , I'll be happier .

Or if we rent and we do all these other things and I travel , I'll be happier , but the reality is still got to be grounded in . Ok , well , what's next ? And then ? How are you going to support that family , how are you going to get ahead and how are you going to create the true time freedom that we're talking about ?

So this is a good segue into reduced stress . I can promise you that when you are on the journey it's a slow , methodical journey . It is in decades , not in years .

But if you get to the other side of that and you are financially free , it has the ability to significantly reduce the financial stress and anxieties that people have , because you will be forever dealing with those financial stressors and anxieties .

If you put the order in the wrong or if you just focus on spending now , instant gratification , now looking at the material things , you will never be able to achieve true freedom , and I think that's an important message .

And then it niggles it away at how you interact with your kids or your friends or whatever .

It's just this silent little assassin that I think when people have that ultimate understanding that everything's covered , because if we go back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs , the first thing we need to do is make sure we've got physiological and safety needs in place , Right , so if you can make sure there's food on the table and school fees are paid and fuel in

the car and all those sorts of things , and without it having to be worried about because some people are in as you well know , ben , some people are in jobs that they don't like or in jobs where they are in bullying workplaces or they're in places that are just not joyful places of work .

For them to earn an income , however , they need to be there because they've got to , they're a slave to the mortgage or whatever . So that reduced stress that comes is cannot be underestimated , right , but it also gives you risk management . Right , because you know you've basically got a safety net or a contingency plan .

If you are in a position where you do choose to work and something comes up and you put in an environment where you get to choose , you get to choose whether you move on or you don't move on .

And for a lot of people they may be in a in a in a in a role that they don't like , ben , but because of the pressure of money , they don't feel the confidence to back themselves in . Because you say to someone that you're doing anything in life that you don't like , well , the obvious solution is to say , well , why don't you change it ?

Well , it kind of ignores some of the fundamental concerns and anxieties and insecurities that we have . So if you , if you actually have the freedom in place that comes from having financial security , well then you , just , you just make a contingency plan . I'm going to change , I'm going to do this .

I'm going to spend my time overseas , I'm going to spend more time with my family , I'm going to do more hobbies , and there's no ramifications from doing that . So risk management is a big part of freedom .

For me , it's really clear that once you tap into a household's core values or an individual's core values and you can then discover , okay , if that's what's important to you , you can then start to build the opportunities around that and so you can start to sort of put the layers on top of those core values .

And in a lot of cases , when you start to have more meaningful conversations with people about what brings them happiness , it actually relates to experiences . We've been talking a lot about that , you know , over the last 12 months on this pod and pretty much really from the beginning in terms of that .

So it's never around those extravagances and it's about building out that and enhancing that overall quality of life , and so that , to me , is a core element of what freedom means to people .

So , when you know , when you sit down and it's almost like you're doing a one-to-one focus group with you know , with the people in an interview sort of style , and they're starting to share that , and I would encourage households who are thinking about , you know , decisions around their money today , big decisions and small decisions about how they spend and what

they're planning for is ask yourself this question what is the quality of life for us ? What does it look like for us ? And then , how does that create the freedoms around that ? Because that will truly start to ground your actions , because you've got a clear idea and clear motivation around what you're trying to achieve . So I really like that question around .

Talk to me about what quality of life looks like and how does that fit in with the core values in your household , and I think you'll get to a really safe place where both of you can start to think about .

Well , that's why we're doing this , that's why we're making these sacrifices , that's why we're investing , you know , to be able to make sure we've got that available for us for a you know well-meaning and you know free retirement .

But if it's , if it's something you don't have to rely on , that's even better , right . So I think independence , financial independence , financial freedom these are the terms that are thrown around , ben . But ultimately , if you look under the bonnet , what does financial independence actually mean ? It means you are self-funded .

It means you are the , your ability to serve your basic of needs around your physiological needs and your safety needs , using Maslow's hierarchy of needs . You can do that on your own . You are not reliant on a boss or a paycheck or some other external event that you are out of control .

You've created an environment or an ecosystem that is self-funding , that allows you to do that . So I think this is best summarized as you get to work on your terms . There you go , folks . The first , the first two were security and freedom .

I'm going to quickly riff off , ben , the rest of the list because we actually went through one to 10 , but just to give some people some context , I'll go through it super quick so that people can get it , but I'll go from 11 to 20 here .

Improved lifestyle 11 , 12 was growth Choose what I want to do , work less , happiness , personal time , take care of yourself , success , relaxation , time for hobbies . That rounds out the top 20 . And then the next 10 , adventure , control , generosity , realizing dreams , better health , accomplishment , better education for kids , fulfillment , purposeful life and a better home .

So that gets us to the top 30 , ben , as we go to top 40 , this is only going to 50 folks , so just hang in there . Number 31 was the finer things in life Optimism , self-worth , volunteer work , self-confidence , help society , inspire others , pride , start your own business . Not wanting was number 40 . And as we round this out , ben will bring it home .

Number 41 was holiday home results , abundance , quiet times , power , better car compassion , more big kids , toys , study again and influence . So actually it's 54 . Actualization , style and grace , recognition and more jewelry . So that's the list , folks , now from a significant sample size of 13,682 , no , I've got that wrong 13,832 . So that's a significant size , folks .

That's what it means to people .

big boys , toys , more jewelry , you know those type of things I know that there is going to be a clash with the client that I'm potentially going to be advising , right , Because there is this expectation that all of those things mean that I'm successful and that I'm famous and I'm going to be , you know , admired by others , and so that's a real clash for me

in terms of wanting to be their trusted advisor , because there's no alignment there in terms of the work that I want to be able to do for them that has meaningful impact on them . So , and usually the irony there is from experience , is that they have these unrealistic ideas . They're living in a dream state .

They believe that , you know , it's all just going to magically appear for them , and so , you know , when I pop the balloon on their dreams and they have a massive reality check .

In the vast majority of cases , it's really clear that they're going to try and find somebody else who's going to be their advisor , who agrees with them , and potentially they're going to find themselves in the sprucker's hands . Who's going to say , sure , no problem , yeah , you want the car and the helicopter and the holiday home .

No , we can do all that for you . All you need to do is buy this off the plan apartment that I've got going and then buy another one , and then buy another one , and I'll show you a little system in terms of how you get to seven properties in seven years and they're just like bang , I'm in .

And so , ultimately , you know what you want out of a , out of an honest conversation around . What money means to you is to challenge that , and a trusted advisor shouldn't be someone who just agrees with you . They should be high-fiving on the things you're doing really well , but they should be eyeballing you on the things that .

That doesn't quite fit in that alignment or may not necessarily be a realistic outcome , and that's where , all right . Well , let's go to the numbers in terms of whether that's plausible and realistic and whether there's a possibility for those things to happen , and sometimes a reality check for some people is healthy .

Sometimes they'll go into denial , but in other cases you'll then know that you're going to be able to build a long-term relationship with that particular client to be able to take them on that journey . And I think that's an important connection point in terms of back to , obviously , your you know who's where are the customers yachts .

Well , if we hold up our end of the bargain in terms of making a plan for you to become what you plan to become and you hold up your end of the bargain in terms of doing the spending that you said you were going to do , then we increase that there's no guarantee you know there's never any guarantee in investing but it vastly increases the opportunity to get

to that final destination and the probability increases in terms of because you're doing what you said you were going to do , the market's doing what we predicted it to do and you get that marriage over the decades for that to happen .

And ultimately we then grade you through the seven grades of financial wellbeing and we see you move from , you know , financial stability to financial control , to financial peace , and then ultimately it's your choice in terms of whether you want to go to financial contribution . So that just gives you an essence in that .

And my final comments are these in terms of everything that we've been talking about and what we've been trying to provide a message on is really around this concept of if you don't know your cash flows , if you don't know roughly how much money you're going to save over the course of a 12 month period and you haven't done any work in that space to know that

answer , then you're already coming from a position of unlikely to be able to achieve what money means to you , right ? So align that to spend less than you earn , but then trap that surplus , and that's effectively what we've been talking about . That's why we've built a platform to help you with that .

And then , once you've trapped that surplus , it's about making that money work for you . And then you've got choices around how you invest that money whether you put it in term deposit , whether you put in bonds , shares , manage funds , sort of direct investments , commercial investments , whatever that looks like , or residential property .

That is a choice that you will then make . And if , obviously , you can control a higher value through sensible leverage because you're really clear on your cash flows and how that works , you start to then see that story playing out .

So my message here is simple as I close out Last-arbitre design is not possible , and realizing what money means to you in terms of putting all of that discovery story together in your core values just simply won't happen unless you're prepared to put the pieces of the puzzle in place to create a platform for success .

There's still no guarantees , but I'll tell you what . It vastly increases , because we see it in the thousands of people that we've seen . If they keep doing what they said they were gonna do , then you'll just see over time the magic of compound and all of that value growth will start to happen and you will become financially free .

Firstly you'll become financially secure so that's security and then you'll have that freedom story as part of that particular story . So that's all I wanted to finish on with this section , Ross .

If that ends at number one , that makes sense because 10,406 respondents selected it . So that reveals the that fundamental human desire for safety and protection and it represents a safety net and means a stable future . So that kind of makes sense .

But there was also an element of the quest for balance , right , Because work-life balance had 8,837 respondents and time with family had 7,623 . Both of them were in the top 10 . So that was showing time over things as a priority , which you and I just absolutely loved .

And I wonder if it just reflects the fast-paced world priorities that we've got now , because everything's sort of moving faster , it's speeds gone , you know , back post pandemic .

So work-life balance and time with family being in the top 10 , that warmed my heart , that we're talking to the right people and we're attracting the right people who love our message around that sort of thing . You know , experiences over things and money as a means to freedom , right . So freedom was the second most chosen category 9,692 respondents .

Lifestyle choices was 10th and choose what I want to do was 13th . So they say money is a tool to enable choice and autonomy in people's lives , ben , okay . Some other takeaways is the tangible benefit versus emotional fulfillment . Many respondents connected to money with tangible benefits . So travel , which was fifth , it's 7,842 people . That's a lot of people .

Ben Comfort 7,397 , so that was eighth . But also that emotional and personal fulfillment , peace of mind ninth , 6,959 people . Happiness came 15th , 5,117 people . And fulfillment came in at 28th and that's 3,396 . So that signifies a balance between the material and the emotional significance of money as well .

There was also some giving back and personal growth , which was really nice to see . So some noteworthy categories that emerged growth , generosity , volunteer work and help society . That's nice to see as well . Lovely . The materialism versus the intangible . So you had superficial or materialistic desires . They were actually low pollas , which was nice .

More jewelry 112 people . Out of all of those people , ben , 112 .

It's not about toys one or two properties that is right .

If that is your pursuit , same with jewelry , if your pursuit is collecting diamonds or whatever like . We don't wanna be judging those particular people , but just generally speaking , we love the fact that it's not a high motivator in terms of what money means to you .

But if you need to impress other people , you're dancing with the devil , because that's where you will . In our observations , ben , people start to get derailed , go off on track because they're chasing something from other people that generally won't come , because people aren't paying enough attention to them . But that is usually if money's simple behavior is hard .

That is a behavior that the quicker you can get to the peak financial asset of not trying to impress everyone and let's be honest , we're not all robots . We're all doing it in some form , or another . But if you can get onto the spectrum of not needing to do that , it's great so . But I doubled down on what you say , which is good .

Hey , here's another takeaway , ben around education and health . It didn't rank as high as we kind of expected . Better health was 3,861 , okay , but it's still well under 50% . Better education for the kids 3,430 . I think once you get some of those security and freedoms , I think they then become more of a priority .

Self-actualization , realization of that personal potential and self-fulfillment that actually ranks low on the list . It's actually high . On Maslow's list it's the very top . We had 707 people . But , as I said before , I reckon that stuff is likely to increase in priority as freedom is realized .

Yep , because once you can free up your mind from the day-to-day worries and concerns around making ends meet and kids' braces and are they at school and how do we make sure they're not on screens and all that sort of stuff , if you've got the freedom and headspace , I reckon that one can last 100% .

So it kind of emphasizes that our audience is a get rich , slow and conservative group , rather than needing to peak-hawk and show what they've got . All right , ben , let's round this out . I'm interested to know what surprised you the most and I'll share what surprised me the most . But there was a couple of late pollers that .

Did any late pollers catch your eye ?

But I mean , one of the biggest challenges I see in most households is they really do lack control . They think they're in control . They think , well , I got this , I know how to run money in my household , but there's slippages and there's laziness everywhere , and so I would have liked to have seen that a little bit higher in terms of being able to that .

But people might have also taken control in as right , so now I can be authoritarian , I've got all this money . So they may have interpreted control in a different light . And then the other one for me , which you mentioned a moment ago , was the better health .

I mean ultimately , you know , having a good healthy situation and being in a position where you can , if something does go wrong , being able to afford that and get the best medical care you can .

Obviously prevention is better than cure , but in terms of a focus around health , in terms of having the money to be able to provide that for you or your loved ones . I would have thought that might have gone up a little bit higher , but they were the sort of two surprising ones for me .

I think again , that's the whole analogy of you know , the plain uses most of its fuel when it's taking off and once it levels out we use less . And I think that comes back to the original point we're just making a second ago , that people will be able to spoke focus more time on hobbies , because who with a busy life right now gets time to prioritize that .

But I thought aspirationally people would have probably prioritized that at least in the top 20 , it's outside of the top 20 , it's at 21, . So interesting . But there you go , folks . A survey of 13,832 people over five years , just for the avoidance of doubt , so this is a long study gets to see what really matters to people .

So the top 10 were lifestyle choices at 10 , peace of mind at nine . Comfort at eight . Stability at seven . Time with family at six . Travel at five . Providing for family at four . Work-life balance at three . Freedom at two . And bringing it home at number one , with a whopping 10,406 of those 13 odd thousand people .

They all wanted to prioritize security , and so interesting , huh , that's what money means to folks .

I hope this starts a conversation with your loved one and your family about what it is that provides purpose , provides meaning to you and allows you to explore this , because if you do know what they are and those core drivers , it's amazing how motivated you will get off the back of that if you do have a clear understanding of what you're trying to achieve .

But if you're sitting there and all you're thinking about is there's water to the right and you hope you miss the trees and all that , that's the metaphor for life , right ? If we get distracted by the water and the trees and we're not focusing on where we want the ball to land , chances are the ball probably won't land there .

Chances are the ball will probably land in the water . So it's kind of important that we get this Now . Folks , in our summer series , we're going to ask each and every single person who we talk to what money means to them , because what you're going to see is stories of people who have taken action and are very clear on what their why is .

And because they're very clear on what their why is , you're going to hear some incredible stories of transformation . But most of all , you're going to hear stories of people being because we've had a brief chat with these people before .

We talked to them and they're all pretty clear on saying I'm not sure there's much in my story that people will find interesting , and I think that statement's really interesting to unpack , because we don't need it to be entertainment .

We actually just needed to know what were the highs and the lows , what were the things that got in your way when you needed to make a decision , to put one foot in front of the other . What were some of the niggling thoughts that were coming up in your mind , what were some of the things that you had to overcome in your life ?

What were some of the people in your world who were saying , yes , do that . No , that's not a good idea . That's what makes the stories interesting and from our experience from the last Summer Series , we know that once we just settle in and we dive into the layers and we see what the thoughts are going through , people get a chance to really understand .

Because , ben , you and I have enjoyed great success in our own portfolio . Some people can listen to this and say , well , that's all right for you too . Well , the whole point of the Summer Series is to say , well , there's other people who've actually been doing this . For sure , ben and I have been doing it for 20 plus years .

Some people have been doing it under a decade , but you see the steps they did , what they took and the results they've been getting , which is super , super powerful . So that's why , ben , we have been setting up this episode in the run up to our Summer Series , because it's important to focus on the why it's important to focus on .

We want the golf ball to land , ben , not on where the golf ball could be if you don't stay focused .

And I did something that very few people ever do . I went to the best sales people and I said how come you're so successful ? And they told me what they were doing and I did it . And I made more sales . And when I got into business , I asked managers , how do you manage in a business like this ? How do you organize it ?

And they told me and I did it . So one of the greatest success principles that you'll ever find is learn from the experts . Learn from the people who are already demonstrating the results that you want to get . Read their books , listen to their programs , attend their courses , learn from them and ask them , and they will always tell you .

And you can save yourself years of hard work by simply learning from people who've already learned it by themselves .

It was around and this was that video . Was that video is 30 , 40 years old , right ? So maybe 20 , 20 , 30 years old .

But the point is , my life hack today is this you said one of the greatest success principles you'll ever find is to learn from people who are already demonstrating the results that you want to get , and you can save yourself years of hard work by simply learning from people who've already learned it by themselves .

So the key part of the video is this and I did it , and I did it . That was the takeaway that I wanted to share with our audience , right ? So ? And why is that important as a life hack , ben ? Because we're about to go into summer series with eight people .

A lot of people say , well , that's all right for you and Ben , you know successful and probably been . Let's show some people who are people in the streets who are doing their things every day , people who don't have a platform like ours , but they are just as passionate and doing meaningful work and working towards their North Star .

So that is why I wanted that to be my life hack . Today you have an opportunity for the next eight weeks , whilst you are winding down for the year , doing whatever it is you're doing during the festive and holiday season , just to absorb these stories .

And the key takeaway that we want you to get from the summer series is this we're gonna ask them what money means to them so you can see what their North Star is . But I just want you to marinate on the simple things that you will hear these people say , on how they overcame the propensity to keep status quo where they did nothing .

They put themselves in a position where they and you'll hear some of these stories , ben , because we know a lot of the back stories on these stories we're about to have these conversations with these people but there is adversity . There is people coming up against interest rate resistance and headwinds .

There are people who have got relationship challenges and , in some cases , breakdowns . There are people who are doing it on their own and feel like they don't need someone else to help them do it . There is clues and little tips and little things along the way , because we're all incentivized to stay status quo .

But just listen to the little steps that they took to actually get in the arena and take some steps forward .

When you slap them and you treat them with disrespect , it shows up in their interest in wanting to provide accommodation in your particular state . I'm mentioning no other than you guessed it , victoria , closely followed by Queensland , but let's just focus in on Victoria , and I've got the data here to prove it Active bonds .

So these are the bonds that are registered when new people come into rental accommodation and we count the overall number on each quarter . The government does that and then releases the number . So between March 23 and June 23 , we went backwards price by 5,690 properties available for rent . So that doesn't help with rental crisis .

Surely that does not help with the rental crisis price . It's a classic example of if you basically treat the investor as a second class citizen , they're gonna take their money to other states and territories and provide the much needed rental accommodation in those particular locations .

So if that's not an early warning sign and that's up until June it's got a lot worse in the second quarter .

We're seeing that in the data in terms of the under supply of rental accommodation in Victoria , and especially Melbourne , is critical , and it's obviously gonna mean Melbourne's gonna again suffer economically from attracting the best talent and obviously people mobility , which has immediate and direct economic impact . So there you go , folks .

We said it would happen and it is plenty of money . And so what are you gonna do , victorian government , around incentivizing investment rather than continuing to taxes and continuing to make it harder to provide rental accommodation for the much needed renters of Victoria ? The challenge is out . There Seems logical outcome , doesn't it ? So there you go .

And hopefully what it's done , folks , it's given you the thought to go am I super clear on what my North Star is or do I need to put a bit of work in there ? And that's the case . It's a beautiful time of year If you actually do that , settle in folks Next week's . We've already spoken to the summer series for next week and it is a Belter .

So let me promise you Strapunit is a really , really good story of the human spirit overcoming and nailing it and buying investment properties and several investment properties , ben , and not just for someone who lives in the big capital city . So it's a rip away for us to start off the series , ben .

But mate , until next week when we put the sunscreen on peak hats , we swap swat and flies . Mate , until next week .

Obviously , I'll be updating you on what's happening in the property markets and some early predictions in terms of where the market's heading in different markets around the country as well , so that would be worth sticking into on Tuesday as well .

If you're new to our community , I want to encourage you to listen to our very first 20 episodes , as the concepts we share in EPS One through 20 are foundational principles , pillars and frameworks that you need to know for you to get the best value from our content week to week on our show . My little tip is to listen to it at one and a half speed .

Now , for those of you that are time poor and don't have the option to go back to the beginning , don't worry , because we've got you covered as well . We've created a binge guide that summarized these foundational episodes into one easy to digest booklet so that you can get up to speed super fast .

So go to the show description on whatever device you're listening to now and simply click on the first 20 episodes link to download it straight away .

Oh and , by the way , whilst you're there , you'll find a few extra goodies for you , including a link to download our lifestyle by design app more , the home of Wealth Speed and Wealth Clock , and our hugely popular MoneySmart's money management system , as well as how to get free copies of our bestselling books .

Now , just a reminder that anything we cover on this podcast is not considered to be financial advice , and we certainly recommend that you seek out expert advice tailored to your unique circumstances , and everything we talk about is general in nature .

Folks , I wanna encourage you again to click on the show description , wherever you are listening , to access all the free goodies we have for you Until next week .