Providing financial advice to many successful families means that we regularly see how people operate. While clients may differ in age, background, career, and levels of wealth, every person we work with also has unique habits.
It’s often these daily habits that, over time, compound to support or hinder the financial outcomes they enjoy.
Of course, luck has a role, but luck can be influenced by our everyday habits.
Swap bad habits for good
You’ll inherit, develop, and collect a variety of habits as you progress through life. Some habits will be beneficial and help you reach your goals, but there will always be some that hamper your potential.
Unfortunately, some will live their entire lives impeded by poor habits. Compounding against them, their bad habits may result in poor mental, physical, or financial health. Most likely, poor choices will impact all three areas of their wellbeing.
One of the key mindsets for all successful people is that they realise that they can change their habits. The most successful among us will work to exchange a bad habit for a better one.
Think about the habits of high spenders. Some will choose to buy expensive shiny things that provide little purpose simply to keep up with their neighbours and be seen to have “valuable” material possessions.
Once these people reach their forties, their priorities shift, and they often begin to seek more meaningful pursuits.
The sensible ones will start to save more and spend less. Realising the value of freedom and independence, they adapt their habits and instead of frittering their cash away, they start to be more prudent.
This means that when they reach retirement, they are ahead of where they expected because they swapped bad habits in preference of better, more profitable choices.
3 good financial habit swaps
If you want to improve your financial wellbeing and improve poor habits, you could:
- Swap ad hoc investment contributions for regular monthly contributions
- Avoid short-term market news and read more books
- Stop buying material possessions and spend money on meaningful experiences with friends and family.
When you start to switch your behaviours and replace bad habits with good ones, you might soon find that the compounding effects have a bigger impact on your life than you may have expected.
When it comes to habits, one plus one isn't necessarily two – instead a good habit can often compound exponentially to provide far greater value.
We've seen some clients become so good at exchanging their bad habits for good that their previous way of life soon feels unfamiliar. They certainly can't imagine returning to their old habits.
Live intentionally and good habits will follow naturally
When you set out to improve your life, you'll likely start with a list of goals you'd like to achieve.
While you may have a firm idea of your objective, the path you need to take from your current daily actions to reach your desired outcome may be far from clear.
To ensure you succeed, you'll first need to plan the steps you’ll take to reach your goals.
Successful people recognise that it’s their habits that move them towards their goals. Human beings are, by nature, habitual. So, to succeed in life it’s necessary to work to exchange your bad habits for good ones.
While it may be difficult to take the time to think deeply and honestly about where your life is heading, those who are wise enough and brave enough to do so are also more likely to have the power to replace potentially negative habits with ones that will serve them better.
Having the strength to first see what is necessary and then take the correct action to change course should invariably lead to creating a brighter, more rewarding future.
Ask yourself what bad habits you can swap for better ones in the coming year. Then think about how making relatively small changes today could affect your life 10 years from now.
It's possible to live a more meaningful life – you simply need to harness your potential and commit to making positive changes.
Get in touch
If you’d like to learn more about how to swap bad habits for good and create long-term financial wellbeing for your family, we can help. Either contact your financial planner directly, email us at hello@ascentawealth.com or fill in our online contact form to organise a meeting and we’ll get in touch.
