Want to save money? Act like a business and sell your kids

Big businesses constantly assess their balance sheets. They are always tinkering with what to keep on balance sheet. And what to bugger off it.

Often, they will conclude to sell assets, such as property they own outright, and rent instead.

Selling property frees up capital for business investment, and introduces a tax-deductible cost in rent.

If we were to act more like businesses, with less emotion for esoteric assets such as human capital, Gen X’s pathway would be perfectly clear.

Sell the kids. Bugger them off.

Not only might you be handsomely rewarded for disposing of them (depending on how well you’ve maintained the assets), but you will also be removed of the hideous ongoing expenses.

That single action should solve 99 per cent of most parents’ budgetary problems.

Too drastic? Okay, then I have a few more mundane suggestions.

I’ve just done this myself. Go through the credit cards or bank account balances, line by line, looking particularly for monthly recurring expenses.

Are you paying for feelgood stuff, such as gym memberships or extra online services, that you haven’t used in ages? Cancel them.

Stop updating your car so often. Cars are wealth vacuums. Regular car updates will cost most people $10-15,000 each and every year.

Own your home sooner. Whatever it takes, cut back on expenses to get an extra $100 a week to pay down your mortgage faster. Being mortgage-free will reward you for the rest of your life.

PS: I ran the numbers. I weighed up the pros and cons. And, after some consideration, I couldn’t sell my kids.

Bruce Brammall is the principal adviser with Bruce Brammall Financial (www.brucebrammall.com.au) and author of Mortgages Made Easy.