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First published in 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064
Office also in Melbourne
Typeset in FreightText Pro 11pt/15pt
© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-730-39650-5
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.
Cover design by Jason Knight, creative director of Brand Solved
Front cover photo: David James
Front cover and internal image (money in the air): © Cammeraydave/Dreamstime.com
p138: Coroner photo: © Elnur/Shutterstock
Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.
This book contains general advice only. It does not contain or replace your own personal financial, taxation, legal or financial product advice.
I wish to acknowledge the Darkinjung people, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, and pay respect to their elders past, present and emerging.
I wish to extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who may read this book.
hi, I'm Glen!
Congratulations on getting invested!
This book might be your first investment: an investment into yourself and your understanding about money, mindset, behaviours and investing.
Before we get into it, let me tell you a bit about me.
I run a podcast called my millennial money. I'm a millennial so the language I use on the podcast is ‘millennial’. However, I believe the basic laws of money and investing don't discriminate and we can all learn about them and apply them to our lives and goals.
This book is not for any specific age group, but I do use millennial talk a bit, so you'll come across terms such as TL;DR (too long; didn't read). The TL;DR section at the beginning of each chapter is for those of you who, like me, just want a list of points about what's in the chapter.
In addition to my podcast, I also have a website called ‘Sort Your Money Out’. The website is home to the Glen James Spending Plan online course, which I mention in this book. It's a place where Australian podcast listeners and blog readers can go to be connected to trusted professionals (financial advisers, mortgage brokers, accountants and lawyers) when they need help. I also run a Facebook group called ‘my millennial money’ that you'd be welcome to join; it's a great community of like-minded people.
Lastly, this book is not a textbook. Rather, it's a collection of my thoughts, and methods of doing things that I have seen over the years and have used myself. It's impossible to serve up individual financial advice about your own circumstances in a book or a podcast — that's why I am pro professional help for people at key moments in their life.
I'm just here to encourage you and if that’s all you take from this book, I believe I've done my job. Over to you.
Enjoy the read,
introduction
I am not a writer and I hate reading. I am not an economist and I hate maths. I am not a behavioural therapist and I hate getting told what to do. I am not a naturally frugal person and I hate budgets. I do, however, happen to be a retired financial adviser and I have been in an ideal position to observe what works and what doesn't work when it comes to people's personal finances. I have seen hundreds of individuals' secrets (good and bad!) when it comes to money and how they do things. My own struggles with wanting to spend every living cent that walks into my life meant that I needed to create a system that works on its own and allows me to not have to think or care about money day to day while still saving and building wealth in the background.
When it comes to money, personal development, goal setting and motivation, I love books that are of a self-help nature. (Yes, I hate reading — so I listen to audio books.)
There are some books that I love because they nail certain concepts, but I would struggle to recommend them to you as they are American and not specifically relevant to our way of doing things in Australia. Don't get me wrong: while there are many things to glean in every book, I wanted to put something together that was clear, concise and could be read over dinner. A pamphlet, even. (If you've watched Curb Your Enthusiasm, where Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld hassle Jason Alexander for his book Acting without Acting, you’ll know what I’m talking about.)
If this book encourages and changes only one person, I will be happy. I understand that my way of doing things may not be the silver bullet you're after (if you find one, please let me know), but it is a way that works and will work for most people. The trick is to live purposefully with your money and to have a system in place that works for you and your particular personality style.
I will show you how to set up your personal finances so you