Today is my eldest daughter’s birthday. Happy Birthday Lakeisha.
As I reflected on the last 19 years and her future it made me reflect on the financial advice I would give her.
Some of my blogs are very public. Some are very personal. This is one of the personal posts. I actually only want Lakeisha to read this….but happy for others who are interested to read it.
When she was 16, and I was 44, I posted a blog titled 44 Pieces of Advice on Life I gave Lakeisha on her 16th Birthday: I actually hand wrote those in a letter for her. Click here to read that blog
And today (20th Feb 2017) she turns 19. Made me think about the financial advice I would give her now that she is earning some money, plus studying, which will help her increase her earning capacity.
So here is the Financial Advice I would give to Lakeisha. Maybe some of this advice will help you.
- Always honor God with your finance through tithing.
- Never fall for an email scam. Any Nigerian Prince who emails you saying he wants to share his dead uncle’s wealth with you is really not anything so delete the email and move on.
- Read the book Richest Man in Babylon every 5 years. Make sure you are putting into practice the principles from the book.
- Be happy to pay for independent advice. Never go to a financial planner or anyone who has a vested interest in the advice they give you. But at the same time, don’t be afraid to pay for good advice as long as its independent. A good accountant is a great place to start.
- Did I mention my skepticism of financial planners? Don’t ever.
- Never mix friendship and money. It never ends well and will either cost you money or a friendship. Or both. Neither is worth squandering.
- I have made money on the Stockmarket and I have made money in Real Estate and I have made money in Business. I sadly have to report:- stay away from the Stockmarket.
- Never gamble. It’s the game of fools. 7 and 8 are unrelated.
- Have a money box. Put all your coins in there. You will be amazed what you can save up for and not even miss the money.
- Have an electronic money box. Open a bank account in a bank you don’t regularly bank with (so there is less temptation to touch the money): – every time you open your internet banking, skim your accounts, transfer everything down to the nearest $10. So if you have $46.78 in your account, transfer $6.78. You won’t miss it, but over time you will be amazed how much you can save. For the record I took our whole family to Disneyland doing this exact thing.
- Know the difference between good debt and bad debt. Good debt is used for the purchase of assets (assets produce income). Bad debt is used for anything else.
- Never have a credit card. Seriously never.
- Never go into debt for a holiday. Seriously never.
- 2 years interest free at places like Harvey Norman is great. But make sure you always make the payments and pay the debt off within the interest free period.
- Never ever ever Nimble it. Call me before you ever get to that stage. Nimble sucks.Click here to read to blog on Nimble.
- Always be generous and kind with your finance.
- Educate yourself on how money works. You will earn several million dollars during your life time. Make sure you understand how money works and how wealth is created.
- Get rich slow. Seriously there is no such thing as get rich quick. So don’t ever get involved in any scheme that promises you that you will get rich quick. It never happens. Be happy to get rich slow.
- Stay married. Divorce means you split your wealth 50/50 at best. Being committed to your marriage is one of the best ways to build wealth.
- Speak life over your finances. The bible teaches death and life are in the power of the tongue. So harness the power of the tongue for life and speak life, favor and blessing over your finances.
- Use your money to create memories. Sure I could have paid off my mortgage by now and could be living mortgage free. Or I could have travelled the world with my family, showing them the Great Wall of China, Disneyland, Orchard Road in Singapore and Patong Beach in Thailand (three times). I would much much prefer those experiences to being mortgage free.
- Work Hard and Work Smarter.
- Always tell your dad if you are struggling financially as he will do whatever it takes to help you. As he always says ‘I fix things’.
Anyway, that’s what I think,
I normally sign off a Blog: Peter Pilt.
But this blog off I sign off Dad.
I hope that this blog will inspire Lakeisha and her hubby for decades. Possibly even after I am in Heaven.
Dad.
If this Blog has been helpful, informative, or inspirational to you, please feel free to share it on Facebook or Twitter. Email Subscriptions to my blog are welcome or you can contact me through Facebook (facebook.com/peter.pilt5), Twitter (@PeterPilt) or Insta (@PeterPilt). Have a great day.
My Top Ten Most Popular Blogs Are:
- Exposing Nimble: Dumb Little Loans Deceptive Little Company
- Today the World was Outraged by the Wrong Thing: The Mitchell Pearce Incident
- Top 20 Creative Sermon Titles and Illustrations From Peter Pilt
- Compelling Evidence of the Authenticity of the Bible.
- Social Media: Is it Positive or Negative for a Person’s Spiritual Journey
- Is it OK to Eat Red Meat on Good Friday?
- Powerful Meditation on Ezekiel 37, The Valley of Dry Bones
- 44 Powerful Emotive Australian Photos
- Peter Pilt’s Seven Thoughts on the Sydney Siege
- 39 Powerful and Thought Provoking Questions
Categories: Family, Uncategorized
peterpilt 
Excellent advice Peter….
Nice work Pete
Could you please help me understand your distrust of financial planners, but your apparent willingness to trust an accountant?
I’m a Christian, and I’m a financial advisor.
I’ve actively worked to remove conflicts of interest from my business, predominantly because of my moral objection to the way others ran their businesses.
With all due respect, I know accountants, GPs & surgeons, solicitors, you name it, with more conflicts of interest in their business than what we now have in ours, so I’d like to understand why you would still regard me as untrustworthy.
Thank you
Fair comment Daniel. And well done for removing conflicts of interest. I guess the Financial Planners I have known have simply been product movers. I pastored a church where quite a few people lost money at the hands of a financial planner. Some stories were gut wrenching. So it’s colouted my view. Accountants don’t promote products like a Financial Planner.
Hi Peter, thanks for your reply.
I’m very sorry that you, and the people you obviously care about had such a terrible experience.
You’re unfortunately right in that many advisers’ financial incentives are still tied to product sales, which makes them simply product pushers in the disguise of ‘independent’ advisers. Again, unfortunately, I could provide you with plenty of examples of accountants who are receiving a financial gain by pushing people towards certain products and services, with an even lower requirement for disclosure than some advisers.
When I started my career in 2004 I felt God was leading me to be a financial adviser, but the more advisers I met, the less I wanted to be one. It was years of disillusionment before I managed to find my motivation and work out a way to do things differently.
I’m sure you’ve met scores of people who’ve become disillusioned with the church because of their experiences, or the things they’ve heard. Some of my family have personal experience with pastors who’ve actively encouraged their congregations from low socioeconomic areas to sell everything they own to donate it to the church, while they themselves drive around in expensive cars. I’ve also met others who’ve travelled the country running ‘rivival’ and ‘healing’ meetings, convincing people to donate and buy their books so they can continue “God’s” work, while in fact they were supporting gambling habits and affairs with mistresses.
In any industry we have people who use their positional power to take advantage of vulnerable people, however, I choose not to write off an entire occupation by the actions of a few.
That’s a fair comment.
On an entirely different note, there’s a lot in your thoughts to Lakeisha that I strongly agree with. As a father, and as a financial adviser, I’m very pleased to see you willing to pass on what you’ve learned to her and play such an active part in her life.
Thanks for your encouragement and feedback.
Great advice, not sure about credit card – never ever. I feel it is a tool that needs lots of respect. Bit like fire or a gun. Fire, a gun or a credit card need respect and maturity to be used to benefit one self.