If you love finance and Wall Street movies, the Inside Job is legendary.
The documentary reveals the greed and deception that led to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. If you haven’t already seen it, watch it.
The film details the avarice and human stupidity that preceded the calamitous economic train wreck. While many might think macro-economics is a beast beyond human control, the levers that get pulled aren’t. Ultimately, it comes down to individual decisions and actions.
Personal finance is much the same. Your situation doesn’t just become horrible ~ or fantastic overnight. With few exceptions, our financial well-being reflects the totality of numerous decisions and behaviours over time.
That time you took out a car loan because you didn’t have the money to buy one outright but wanted something swankier; the weekend brunches and binges on credit; the holiday you couldn’t afford; the shoes you couldn’t say no to.
In isolation, these financial indulgences tend not to be ruinous. It’s when they snowball that they hit a critical mass, transforming a bad situation into a crisis.
On the other hand, positive personal financial positioning tends to be the product of several smart decisions over time.
Those in this camp optimise and plan for financial security so they’ll do a number of things right for example: minimising emotional purchases; paying a higher than minimum contribution rate into their KiwiSaver fund if they cab afford it; building (and keeping) an emergency fund that isn’t raided on the weekends; starting a separate investment fund with specific goals and or have a decent deposit set aside for a house, if they don’t already own one.
These are the sort of virtuous financial habits that are the making of a good fortune.
Love or hate what you see, your bank balance and related financial profile are the story of you, not some foreigner.
Your relationship with yourself and the world outside you will define your financial future.
Unfortunately, most people sleepwalk their way through their finances and don’t make the connections between how they think about money and how they treat it. In this sense, I view personal finance as an Inside Job.
While it’s possible to tinker and tweak your way to a better situation, the ultimate power lies in being mindful and making conscious choices and decisions that will put you in a better place over time.
People “with money” often have an intentionality that is lacking in those who “don’t have money.”
They’re individuals who’ve made conscious decisions about what they want and why, and plan for it accordingly. Having a clear vision of that big picture is fantastic, but it’s not unlike a mosaic where all the thousands of little pieces need to be sorted and placed to create it.
People tend to either get lost in the minutia or forget that it takes constant gardening.
James Clear, author of the bestselling book Atomic Habits, has a practical solution for achieving financial progress. It involves making small changes over time to orchestrate total transformation. His book is full of real-life examples of where this works marvellously.
It’s a great resource for those wanting to create change in 2025.
Like losing weight, increasing your wealth seldom happens overnight. It happens through the cumulative effect of small but impactful actions made consistently over time.
Begin by taking stock of where you are now, and think honestly about how you get there.
Think about where you’d like to be in five, 10, 20 years and, importantly, why. The why is important because it underscores motivation, and motivation will see you through over time.
Then write down five to 10 actionable steps you can take to turn your dreams into reality. Break it down by short, medium and long-term time frames so you can make it more feasible.
Be realistic, start small and stay at it. It is a simple as that.
