As I look around at many of my friends, family and clients, I notice that many don’t have a solid plan and path for their financial future. Most of them are smart, professional and capable. But while they know they ‘should’ do something, they never seem to get around to it.

So why is it that we don’t do the things we know we need to do to achieve the financial future we want?

I recently sat down with Dino from MLC Advisors, who has helped many Australians … to pick his brain on why so many people fail to achieve their financial goals and get some ideas about how someone could go about getting their financial future in order.

In todays article, you’ll discover:

• One of the biggest reasons why people fail to get their finances and wealth building activities in order
• When to get started with a solid financial path and plan
• What you can potentially do today to begin getting your journey in order

One of the biggest reasons people fail to get their finances and wealth building activities in order

Let’s face it, financial services is a very complex industry.

For the average Australian to understand say, Superannuation Legislation or what level of insurance they need to have or tax laws can be very difficult.

Even if you’re one of the small percentage of people who has an understanding of those areas, all of the sudden, the law changes and you’re back to square one again.

When something is not understood it’s common for it to feel too hard and then you end up procrastinating

Take superannuation for instance. It’s already difficult enough to understand all the laws… but let’s say you change jobs and all of a sudden you have 2 Super Funds, then 3 then 5. And now you’re receiving enormous amounts of paperwork and forms and the like. As it builds up, it all just becomes to hard to think about… let alone manage.

For most of us, there’s way more interesting things to do than sit down and work out how to consolidate your 5 superannuation funds, let alone how to best invest the funds.

Then before you know it, life takes over and you add it to the pile of ‘just another thing you should do… but never get around to’.

Gradually things get out of hand and before long, the very thought of putting a plan in place becomes a daunting task.

Now, I’ve found that one of the best things to do if you find yourself in this situation is to get a professional to help you get sorted, get your financial goals on track and keep you accountable.

The problem is that many people think that professional help will take too much time, effort and money. And so the procrastination continues.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago… The second best time is now”

Obviously it’s much better to get started earlier with your finances so you can maximise your chances of success and increase the amount you’ll hopefully end up with.

But what if you get started later in life? What if you’re in your late 40’s, 50’s or 60’s? Is it too late for you or is it still possible to still achieve what you want?

Speaking to financial planners, they say in many cases, it is possible to achieve a comfortable and secure financial future, even if starting late.

The important thing here is that if you do start out later in life you are playing a bit of catch up.

Now, playing catch up can be very hard to do when you don’t understand what you actually have to do.

That’s why, for me, the journey to financial independence is one of education, professional help to understand the complex financial services industry, good habits and having a system in place so you don’t have to think about it.

Sitting down with a financial planner or other financial professional who can help you really create a solid plan.

Working out what you can hope to achieve in the time frame you have… and what you need to put in place to help you achieve that goal.

It’s really about saying ‘this is the time period you have, this is realistically what you can commit to in terms of time and savings, and what could that potentially look like when it’s time to retire?

It may not be that $100,000 a year target that you’re after, but it’s going to be a lot better than if you do nothing.

What does Financial Independence look like to you?

For someone, $35,000 a year in retirement is enough to make them happy. Whereas for another, $35,000 is the amount they’d spend on an annual holiday… and they need $100,000 to live on.

Financial independence is different for different people, but the journey to get to financial independence starts with knowing what to do:

• Knowing what you want your retirement to look like
• Knowing ways to achieve it

Then sticking to the path, best you can.