Life-changing finances

Like a good old-fashioned slap in the face, you don’t usually see a truly life-changing event until it has reversed into you.

Sometimes, the bump is pleasant. You didn’t ask for it, but it’s going to make you happier, or less stressed, so you run with it. For example, an unexpected job opportunity.

Some events can be devastating. Nothing shakes foundations like being diagnosed with a serious illness. Life can rapidly take on a new meaning.

Other times still, the event is far more subtle. You might not know for years that it changed your life. But it did.

And, occasionally, something happens that leads you take a whole bunch of different forks. Years later, you wonder how you ended up here. And when you think about that, you smile.

They are Sliding Doors moments. (But I’ll almost guarantee that standing on the other side of the door was someone not as cute as Gwyneth Paltrow.)

In my personal life, I’d list three. They’re fairly common. One was accepting a move interstate for my first full-time job. One was meeting Mrs DebtMan. The last was the arrival of DebtBoy.

Those events were linear. The sliding door for the interstate job led to meeting Mrs DebtMan, which meant DebtBoy was eventually discovered in the cabbage patch one March morning. (Later, a fairy dropped off DebtGirl.)

In regards to my finances, I’d also list three.

The first was a book. The second was taking a day off work. And the third was meeting a person who I would later vow to be the antithesis of.

None instantly changed my life, or made me instantly rich. They shifted a cog in my noggin. They opened my mind. In each case, the real work was just starting.

The book was on investment property. The title doesn’t matter, as it’s unlikely the same book will have the similar impact on you (although some book might).

I knew how the stock market worked to create wealth. But this book simply explained how real estate works to create wealth. Immediately, I became both besotted and obsessed. I devoured everything property. Within a few months, I’d become a property investor.

The second event was taking a day off work, in lieu of having worked six days the previous week. That day, a shakeup of my department was announced. I was, therefore, the last person to find out about it.

I actually got a promotion of sorts. But, rightly or wrongly, I was disturbed about the announcement. That day, I made a phone call that led to a change of career.

Years later, having made that change of career, the third sliding door was meeting a person who, to some degree, I wish I’d never met. I disliked everything about him. His professional standards, his values and his management style. He was everything I didn’t want to be. I agreed with him about very little.

Another fork in the road. The choice? Start my own business, of course, to “do things properly”.

Each of those three sliding doors required a fundamental change to the way my brain had been trained to work when I walked through them. Each set me off on a path of learning where my beliefs were challenged. Every change was daunting, sometimes terrifying, in a financial sense.

And they all held risks. Big ones.

Each, to differing degrees, gave me greater control of my life, made me happier and gave me a clearer picture of my future.

My point? Unlike a new job or meeting the right person at a random bar or event, nothing makes an instant change to your finances, outside of landing the winning lottery numbers. Financial change never comes without hard work and sacrifice.

If something’s not right about your finances … if something is stressing you … if you suspect you could be doing better … open your mind to change. Because without change, that rut you’re in, will be yours forever.

Go and find yourself a book. Do some research. Take a risk. Find a financial adviser you can work with. Don’t be afraid of changing careers (you can almost always go back). Get out of your comfort zone.

But be prepared for the hard work. Put your face out there and let it be slapped.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and a licensed financial adviser. bruce@debtman.com.au .