Uncensored Money Season Four: Are You Following the Care Instructions?
Melissa Browne: Ex-Accountant, Ex-Financial Advisor, Ex-Working Till I Drop, Now Serial Entrepreneur & Author, Financial Wellness Advocate, Living a Life by Design | 18/04/2023
Show Notes
Recent surgery left Mel with a long list of post-op aftercare instructions. So in this episode, Mel and Lawsie reflect on the fact that your assets come with aftercare instructions too and discuss steps you can take to make sure that your finances achieve your long-term goals.
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Transcript
Mel: So over the last few weeks I've had two surgeries. One, to have a large BCC removed from my shin that involved around 16 stitches and another surgery last week on my eyes. Now over my life, I've also had ankle reconstructions, broken bones and more. So I am very used to operations and the aftercare that's required.
As I'm sitting here talking to Lawsie today, I think I look like a chipmunk. My face is so swollen. But I was reminded these last few weeks from my last couple of surgeries that the moment, if the surgery is simply that. It's a moment. Now the lead-up can be anxiety-ridden and it usually is for me. There are often things you need to do beforehand from fasting to making sure you're strong, to making sure you're not completely freaking out and so on.
But the most important work comes afterwards, and my husband's a physio, and this is something that we talk about a lot that, yes, the surgeon's job's important, but it's the aftercare that's just as if not more critical than the actual surgery.
Because, yes, the surgeon can do their job, but if you don't follow the care instructions, then you can undo all the good work that they did. I know my dad did this recently with back surgery, and he's now screwed to the point where, yeah, we won't even talk about that. For me that is involve loads of things from not getting stitches wet for the first forty eight hours to pain meds. Good pain meds. To elevating my leg for 48 hours. And then when that was done to not being able to exercise properly until two months through to wearing a silicon strip on that wound for three months to minimise scarring.
And for my eyes, it involved wearing goggles for three days that I couldn't see through. More pain meds. Then applying cooling patches for 15 minutes every hour for the fourth day. Sleeping with them every night for another three. Not being able to not have my head elevated for a week. Can't sleep on my slide for three weeks and then everything I can't do, a huge list of things, but can gradually add over the next few months. And I think the final piece was I can do HIIT classes, weights and stretching in three months time. Big day, Lawsie. Big day. And I could think, screw that. Like I'll just do what I want. I mean, I'm impatient and I, that is my natural condition. No, no. I'll just push through this and do it. But me pushing through it is going to be so problematic. It's gonna delay healing and it absofreakinglutely will potentially leave me worse than when I started. And the reason that I wanted to talk to you about this today and Lawsie is gonna give some examples and I'm gonna give more examples cause maybe wound healing isn't your thing. But we are gonna make sure that you get the aftercare analogy because when it comes to your finances, Lawsie and I believe that you are concentrating on the moment and you're not caring enough about aftercare, and we're gonna talk about what that means for you, for purchases, for assets, for habits, and more today.
Because as I said, sometimes the purchase or the decision is the moment. It's the surgery, it's the purchase, but the aftercare, that's the thing that's going to decide whether that thing that you did is going to be worth it or.
So Lawsie, I know for a fact that you are not as big a klutz as me. That's why I married a physio. It was just much cheaper. But you would have your own examples of recovery and even making sure you well enough to race for the endurance races that kind of go through that same aftercare concept, right?
Lawsie: Yeah, definitely. Like I think you can look at it and it's a race is exactly the same as surgery. It is something that happens at a point in time. I could argue that some of my "races" (inverted commas) or events have taken longer than your said surgeries.
Mel: You don't have to argue that. I know that!
Lawsie: But there is still a moment or several moments run consecutively
Mel: hours and moments.
Lawsie: that all, you know, it is still just that one thing. And I would say like any financial purchase or anything that you're going to make, or like you mentioned with the surgeries, there's so much preparation that into them. You don't go generally, we hope just gonna go wake up today and gonna go and buy a house. You hopefully have done some preparation and some research and all those things in the lead-up to that. And I think once you've decided that you're going to do a particular event, you know, sporting event or whatever it is, there's going to be that preparation in there. It's the training, but it's working out how you're gonna train, when you're gonna train. What exact things that you're going to be doing as part of that training plan, the eating, the fueling, the recovery, all of that? But the exact same applies then to your point around the self-care afterwards, if you've gone and done a 50k run or a 100k run, it's probably not the smartest thing to go the next morning, oh, I'll just go for another run now and see how the body holds up. Like, you need to be giving your body that time to rest and recover from that and probably your head as well to mentally readjust to not training for that big thing that you've been working towards. Or if you've got injuries, you need to be talking to the physio. You need to be working with your healthcare practitioners to make sure that your body's gonna recover the best that it can and that you can then start looking towards that next event if that's what you wanna do. Or integrating yourself back into a bit more normal (inverted commas) "life" that doesn't involve as much training or, you know, epic events or whatever it is. But yeah, you gotta still be giving us your body, the right fuel and everything else that it needs, and to be looking after you, cause you've just pushed your body to do this extreme thing that you know, most people won't do. And so you need to be sort of looking after yourself to go, yeah, okay. If I want longevity, if I still wanna be walking when I'm 70, rather than just enjoying these events while I'm in my twenties and thirties, for example, then what do I need to do to make sure that I can still keep moving and doing the stuff that I enjoy now, as well as then looking after future me when I'm 70, 80 and still wanna be able to hike up a mountain, even if it's a little bit slower than I do now.
Mel: And I think you just hit the nail on the head with both the physical stuff we're talking about, but also the financial stuff, is we want longevity. We don't wanna do something now. And just for today, we wanna make sure that if we are talking finances, that these are heading towards our long-term goals, that we are making decisions that are right for future me, so that we're still enjoying today and we're still able to achieve the goals for today, but not at the expense of future you. And that's where the aftercare comes in, which is what we wanna talk about today. But you know, just in case you don't relate to stitches and endurance races.
Let’s talk about buying a special occasion outfit. You know, if you've ever purchased a gorgeous cocktail dress or a dapper suit, or a fabulous feathered coat, okay, that last one might just be me.
Lawsie: Certainly not me.
Mel: You'll understand that buying your prized outfit is only the first step. The next steps are organising, where you're gonna wear it, working out how you're gonna accessorise it, and of course, how to look best in your selfie. But of course, once that outfit is worn, photograph and uploaded to your various social media sites, the most important steps are still to come.
And that's because you're hopefully not gonna take off you are now slightly soiled outfit, and leave it on the floor to be kicked to the bottom of the wardrobe where it will leave for the next few months. You're also hopefully not gonna throw your new suit or cocktail dress into the washing machine without checking first if it's hand washed or dry, clean only, or God forbid, throw it in the dryer. Instead, if you're wise, you'll read the instructions on how to best care for a new outfit. Follow them when you finish wearing it, and then store your dress or suit appropriately until next time you wanna wear it or maybe even rehome or rent it out.
So we've alluded to this, but what the hell does all this have to do with your finances? And I think too often we're following the aftercare instructions on our clothes or we're following the aftercare instructions when something important happens, like a surgery or after we do a marathon or that significant physical event.
Because we know that it's important, it's been drummed into us that this is important. But we are not thinking about the care instructions when it comes to our finances. And as I said this week, you were really on my mind, not just you Lawsie, but the people listening. Lawsie was on my mind when I was coming down from the anesthetic.
But that's a completely another story because it just really hit home to me that too many of us are concentrating on the moments when it comes to finances and not on the aftercare, particularly on the biggest and most expensive habits that we are purchasing, but also your small assets that you're purchasing and even your daily habits solo.
And Lawsie and I wanna walk through real estate, shares and habits. We just picked three areas to say, well, what could the aftercare look like for this? If you've got a business, if you've got other types of assets, or if you've got debt, I want you to start thinking about, well, what might it be for that as well? Cause really, it's a similar concept. It's just figuring out, well, what does it mean if I have this?
So Lawsie, let's start with real estate. A large, expensive, commonly purchased asset, whether that's your home or an investment, deciding to purchase the asset is simply the first step. And sure, it might be one of the hardest and most exciting steps, but it's always the first step, not the final step.
And we have talked here before about what the lead-ups to that should be around making sure you talk to a mortgage broker before you're ready, saving for a deposit, all that sort of stuff. But once you've purchased that asset, it is setting up a step-by-step care instructions to make sure your asset is protected and looking its best for the long term.
And I'm not just talking about getting a cleaner in once. So Lawsie, I thought you and I would just run through we a few things for each of these three points so that people can start to get the idea, hopefully challenge you as you're listening to think about setting up care, instructions for you, and then taking action.
So Lawsie number one, making sure the property's purchased in the most appropriate structure and the right name. Now, we used to see this a lot when we were accountants.
Lawsie: Yeah, so there's different ways that you can buy or property over any assets in general. So you can buy them in your own name with a, you know, with a partner or like either a romantic partner or a business partner or otherwise. You can buy them in business structure. You could buy it in a company or a trust. Like there's such a wide range of ways…
Mel: Or a self managed super for super fund.
Lawsie: …that you can actually buy the property. So it is making sure that when you've gone, yes, this is the property that you're actually buying it whoever's gonna own it is the appropriate person or appropriate entity to own that.
And that's looking at that both now, and also in the long term. And thinking around what you're doing with that property. Is it gonna be your own home? Are you using it as an investment? You need to sort of look at all of those things. So again, it's not just going, well, this is a property I want. It's like, well, why do you want that property? What's your goals and everything around that? And of course, talking to an accountant or financial advisor can absolutely help make sure that you are buying that property in a structure or in the name that is gonna be the appropriate thing for you. But yeah, it's something that I think the default is people go, oh, I'll just buy it in my own name, and that may well be the right thing for you particularly if it's gonna be your own home or something like that, but it's just being aware that there are other options available that can have significant implications for you. If not right now, then definitely in the future.
Mel: And I would argue potentially an accountant and a lawyer, cause part of it is tax. So if you're an investment property, it might be appropriate that it's in the person's name for the most tax write-offs, but also is that appropriate long term for capital gains because that person then gets slumped with all the capital gains when you sell.
Or if I'm a builder or if I'm someone or a lawyer where I could, I have the opportunity potentially to be sued. What a fantastic day. I might want my property to be in a structure where it's protected and to understand the pros and cons of what that might mean. If I've got a blended family, meaning it's later in life. I've partnered up with someone and we've both got kids, I might wanna own the property as tenants in common rather than joint tenants, so that I can will my portion of the property to my kids. If I was buying it with a non-life partner, but a friend or a sibling. Again, I might want it to be in a structure or it's just being really aware that this is something, this is part of the aftercare because how you hold it is gonna have ramifications for you down the track. So we want you to consider this and we are gonna bring this up again when it comes to shares, we are just gonna mention it. So just be aware that you're gonna see this coming all the way through.
If it was business, we would say exactly the same. The only thing we'd add if it's unrelated parties for property, shares and business is to make sure you have some sort of document so that if something goes wrong, you've got that to fall back on. If there's a disagreement or someone passes away or whatever, you might have either life insurance on one another, but also a document, whether that's a unit holder agreement or a shareholder agreement, or just something that a lawyer draws up so that you are both protected. So that forms part of the aftercare instructions.
The next one, Lawsie again, no surprise, we're gonna see this again and again, but make sure you're being commercial.
Lawsie: Definitely.
Mel: I mean by this is, one, diversification. Do not buy the same thing, unless there's a really good reason for it. We don't want you buying all your properties in the same suburb or all of your properties in the same street, which you and I Lawsie see again and again and again.
If it's an investment property, don't buy with your head. Sorry. Don't buy with your heart. Buy with your head because you wanna make sure that that's a rational decision. Is it going to bring me great income or is there a reason that I'm purchasing that? Is it gonna go up in value? So it might be next to train lines or there might be shopping centres going in. It might be families moving into the area. The same goes for your home though. It's making sure you're being commercial, even though it's a heart purchase. I get really angry at people that wanna argue about the dream home, which is a lie that marketers have sold to us. So it's being aware of whether can you hold this for the long term? And are you being commercial? Can you be commercial for the long term, even if that's your home?
Lawsie: And I would add to that too, around, particularly with interest rates because everybody's so concerned about them now as well, that the part of your aftercare and looking into the future needs to be that you are factoring in your repayments and stuff are most likely going to go up and down and fluctuate over the long point of the loan. So make sure that you are protected by that and that whatever mortgage you're taking up, be it for investment, be it for your own home,
Mel: business or shares or blah blah.
Lawsie: you've got flexibility built in and it is in line with what your plans are. Cause, if you are thinking, oh, I want to stop work in two years time, or I wanna work part-time from two years, then maybe doing this, isn't necessarily the right thing if it's gonna mean that you're forced to sell, or if you've borrowed for the dream home and you've borrowed up to your max threshold and then suddenly everything's starting to get really tight, you're not then really putting yourself in the best position after the property purchase to make sure that it’s still feeding into your dream life if you can't afford to put food on the table and things like that. So I think it is just needing to be aware of your numbers and making sure all, all forms part of what your overall financial plan and life plan is really.
Mel: No, absolutely. That's a great point. And the last one, Lawsie, it's boring, but it's insurance.
Lawsie: Yes, definitely. And I would argue that it's one of those essential parts of aftercare.
Mel: Yeah.
Lawsie: Because it's all well and good to have bought this really expensive asset. And to have this asset potentially house all of your other expensive things that you've bought to put in it. But you wanna make sure that if something goes wrong, if there's a storm, if there's a fire, if there's whatever it is that you are actually protected because there's no point having it and then losing it all and still being stuck with this giant loan and nothing else really to show for it except a block of land.
Mel: Yeah, I am of the opinion that if you can't afford the insurance, you can't afford the house. So it's a must-have, not a nice to have.
I've got more in here for aftercare for real estate, but really they come down to habits. So you might be thinking, but what about buffers or what about this or that? We're coming down to that cause it doesn't matter if you've got real estate or shares or anything, or a business. There are just some things that you should be doing anyway for great financial aftercare. But these are just three really obvious tips that if you own property, you just should be doing in our opinion.
So the second one, Lawsie is shares. And yes, there can be a lot of trepidation involved when buying shares. Probably no different to how I felt last Tuesday going into surgery, actually both of them. I remember when the dermatologist drew on my leg and I saw how big it was gonna be and I went, oh, I think I might need to lie down for this.
Like, there's trepidation it, but it's probably like you before a big race as well. There is that trepidation, and it can be an excited trepidation, but it's still trepidation. But it's so important to understand, again, the aftercare instructions so you don't find yourself in a lot of pain or loss.
So we're not gonna talk about the things to think about before you buy shares. We've got other podcast episodes that are set up for that or a masterclass that's all about that. So we'll link that share's masterclass in the show notes. Again, we've got a few things that we wanna talk about when it comes to aftercare and two, already we've already talked Lawsie.
So making sure you've got the appropriate structure and the right name. And diversification. So diversification for shares; an easy way to get instant diversification is something like an index fund or an exchange traded fund, but my concern is that it’s so easy to download an app and start investing. Sometimes I go to the races, you might bet on the name of a horse, and we don't want you to do that when it comes to shares. We don't want you to do that by going, oh, I love the name of that investing app. That's akin to gambling. We don't wanna do that. Gambling's not something that we recommend, certainly not for your share investing. And that's how it can be gambling. So make sure you've got diversification across different share classes, and there are 13 different industries in the Australian share market. That'll vary across different global markets. But if you consider there could be 11 to 13 different industries. I think it's 11. I've got my pain meds talking at the moment, but it's making sure we have both diversification and we have the appropriate structure and the right name.
And that might be if you are just say you are investing for kids and this is something you wanna hand to your kids. If you've bought them in your name, you might have to sell those shares, which would trigger a capital gains tax issue in order to transfer them later. So there are right names to consider around protection. So there are right names to consider for tax. There's the right name to consider for who do we want to own these in the long run? And more. So those two things were as relevant for real estate as they are for shares, as they are for business or any other investment you have.
But the next two Lawsie are also really important.
Lawsie: Yeah. So the next one is long-term and making sure that you've got that long-term view. And again, this is for any investment. I know some people out there would call themselves share traders and love buying and selling shares every day. So this obviously is not for them, but for most of us, if we're looking at investing in when we've bought shares, we are doing it for that long-term reason.
So it is just making sure that you are again, you look after your finances and you look after your overall financial position so that in that longer term, you're not forced to sell them if you don't need to. If your goal is to actually hold them until X age, then you don't wanna be, because of other changes in your circumstances, forced to sell them beyond, before then or earlier than you'd planned if shares are forming part of your long-term financial strategies.
So you definitely wanna be looking after them, and making sure that then all your other financial decisions that you're making or support that goal. And it's not to say that you can't sell them. Things can change. And you might go, yeah, actually now is the right time to sell them even though I was gonna hold them for another 10 years or whatever. But it is just being aware that you wanna always be in that position where you are choosing to do it and not forced to do.
Mel: Yeah.
Lawsie: And two reasons. One, if we all go back to Covid, we all know that the share market dipped, and if you were suddenly in a position where you had to sell, you could have been selling at a loss or certainly selling for a much lower value than what the shares had been previously. And also cause you wanna be able to sell and almost enjoy that process, rather than sort of having to do it in a moment of panic because you just haven't been able to get everything else to line up around it.
Mel: Yeah, definitely. And the fourth one is the platform you use, which seems like a strange one for aftercare, but if you choose the wrong platform, you might be paying monthly fees that are unnecessary. You might be paying higher fees. You might actually not have ownership of those shares because you don't have CHESS ownership.
So it's really important to understand the sort of platform that you use. It's kind of like choosing the surgeon or choosing you professionals or choosing the race that you're gonna run. It's really important that you choose the one that's right for you and your long-term goals rather than just choosing one cause it seems cute or everyone's using it.
And again, we've got a download that compares nine popular investing platforms and apps. So we'll put those in the show notes so that you can look at those, and make sure that you are using one that's right for you so part of your aftercare might just be checking in once a month to make sure that it's all working. You might have an automation set up so that you're regularly contributing, but you don't just do it once and forget it. You're making sure that you're checking in. You are regularly investing and it's kind of ticking along in the right platform for you long term.
Lawsie: Yeah, I'd add to that too, that platforms can change and there's definitely a whole lot more platforms that are out at the moment. So you might have been investing in shares for quite some time, and you might be attached to an older platform and might be totally happy with that. But I would also add, as part of that aftercare that maybe once a year just suss out what other platforms are available. Is there something that you can transfer your shares to that's gonna give you lower brokerage costs or things like that? Just to make sure that again, you are not paying more in fees than you need to. And that the platform that you've got is still serving what you are doing. I know for some people, having a big bank platform with all the research and everything else at their hands are non-negotiable for them and they're like nerding out on all the data and it makes total sense. But if that was you and now you're just like, oh, I just wanna invest in couple ETFs and that'll see me through, then maybe having that platform with potentially higher brokerage fees isn't the right one and you could actually be saving money by using a different platform. So again, it's just, you don't have to do it every time. But just part of that long-term aftercare as well, just making sure that the platform still serves you.
Mel: Yeah, that's a great tip. You are very smart. I think I was probably saying that in my anaesthesia state as well.
So the final one is habits. And again, we've only chosen three out, but you could apply these, we could have done another one of these on business, and debt and other different parts of finance.
But the final one is habits. And of course, just having the moment and doing the aftercare is important. But then what? And personally, when it comes to my health, I have annual skin check-ups, and that's how they caught the BCC. I've had about eight removed so far by having those annual skin check-ups, hopefully when I have them removed. They're smaller and they're not as large. But I also take vitamins. I exercise, I eat well and more. And that means if something happens, when those moments happen, I'm as strong and well as I can be so that my recovery is better. But it's also about making sure that I'm physically strong.
And for you, it's about creating that same aftercare well-being routine for your finances. So we've got half a dozen things that we are just gonna really quickly run through so that you can start to see what we mean. It's a really quick run-through, cause we spend a whole module inside the My Financial Adulting Plan on habits. Cause I believe habits are personal. And they actually depend on the money type that's right for you, which is a whole different conversation.
But here are some general ones. We've already talked and Lawsie and I will just one for one then, so we've already talked about goals all the way through, but goals are so important, so I'm a fan of once a year making sure you sit down and do Your Best Year yet with goals.
So figuring out where do I wanna be on my next significant birthday and what does that mean for the next 12 months? And then what's that action that I need to take for the next 90 days, 30 days etc. If you go back to the beginning of this year, I did a whole podcast episode on this. So if you are not a goals person, go and look at that. But again, it's a lesson we do inside the My Financial Adulting Plan as well, because if you don't have something you're excited about, then how do you know what assets to buy? How long do you hold them for? How much do you need to save? It's really hard to keep that motivation going if you don't know why you're doing it. So goals are a really important regular habit as well as checking in on them.
Lawsie: The next one, funny that you said, checking in on them is regular check-ins. So again, with any sort of aftercare, you don't just buy property and just hope and leave it for the best. You don't buy shares and go, they'll just stay there. And I'm never gonna look at them. So you want to figure out a timeframe that works for you and build that into your system. So if I was looking at me, I check in on all of my stuff monthly. For some people they're like, oh God, kill me now. I'm not interested in doing it that frequently, but I do know there are others that do it weekly. But whether you do it monthly or whether you do it quarterly, six monthly, or even once a year, it is just about making sure that you are checking in on all of your investments. And just even your spending and your day to day finances as well, to make sure that everything is still doing what you are wanting it to be doing. And then it also then just highlighting is there anything that you need to tweak and change, but super important because like you said, you go and have your annual checkup for your skin and you go and have all of these other things, and that's just applying exactly the same thing back to your finances and so important so you don't end up five years down the track going, oh, I thought that investment was doing that, and it's actually not. And oh, I thought I had more money going into account than I do like, so it is just making sure that you're aware across all aspects of your finances.
Mel: The third one is not just trying to eat from the one bowl, so not just having one bank account that we are operating out of, cause that way it's all dependent on your willpower and we just know how that works for most of us. So it's making sure we've got multiple bank accounts set up, so we want at least one everyday account, a bills account, a buffer account, and a savings account, and the payments automated. And that way that aftercare is I've set my goals, I've said this as the things that I want to purchase. These are the assets that I have, and I'm just gonna make sure that it happens. It's not reliant on me, it just happens. And I can just then spend from my everyday account completely guilt-free. So that you're enjoying yourself today, but also enjoying life later on. Yeah, that's the care instructions for your everyday spending is making sure you’re on top of the regular check-ins and seeing how you're spending, it's making it easy for yourself so that you've got multiple bank accounts and it's all automated.
Lawsie: The next one that we have is continual learning. Now, Mel's the biggest nerd of….
Mel: totally am.
Lawsie: …both of us and is continually learning. And I do too, but Mel's very, very pro and does it much more proactively than I would. But it is just making sure that you don't just go and invest in something and just go, oh, that's fine. Like, there could be changes to tax rules, there could be changes to rules that particularly, pertain to that type of asset. Like I think a lot of different states, particularly in Australia have been putting in different rules around rental properties and what you can and can't do with your tenants.
And if you're a landlord and you know what rights tenants have, versus landlords and things like that. So you wanna make sure that you're staying on top of the changes that are occurring. If you're investing in shares and particularly direct shares, you wanna be staying on top of what's happening in the general economy and what's happening, you know, especially with those businesses that, or industries that you are investing in. So you need to be continually learning and just staying on top of the different ways to do things. You know, I love it when we read a book and you go, oh, that's actually challenging my way of thinking. Is the way that I'm doing my finances the right thing or do I actually need to tweak it or change it, to make sure that what I'm doing is still the right thing for me?
But you're not gonna be able to do that if you're just sort of living under a rock and going, well, I've done my investing and that's it now and I'm not letting anything else sort of come through to influence you positively or negatively to different things that you could be doing with your finances or your investments. So very important to keep learning.
Mel: And if you were someone that wasn't good at school and you hate the idea of learning, change that to 'stay interested'. So, whatever your next thing is that you're looking to do, whether it's starting a business or buy shares or, and your next property, stay interested in that. Reframe it from learning to interested.
And five is to be a conscious consumer. Lifestyle creep is one of the biggest destroyers of finances and by lifestyle creep, it's that, what I thought was acceptable when I was 18 is kind of not what I think is acceptable at my age. Now, you know, my standard of living has increased. I absofreakinglutely could get rid of a lot of that stuff tomorrow, but, we're like frogs in the pot when it comes to our spending. My husband was saying the other day that he wants another TV and I just looked at him and went, how many do we need? I talk to parents and they're like, oh, no, no, you know, they have to be doing this, or they have to have that. Why? Who says?
So it's just being aware. I was watching a reality TV, oh MAFS that you and I are addicted, during a dinner every single girl at some point had a designer bag. When did that happen? It's like the frog in a pot where we're else spending just ups and ups and ups, and it's being really conscious of that.
So yes, that regular check-ins that you talked about Lawsie can be part of going back maybe every three or six months to how you're spending and saying, is it in line with my values? Am I overspending? Is there some emotional spending there? And maybe to push you back to being a conscious consumer. You do things like a 30 day financial detox or unfollowing 25 accounts on social, but start to take steps to become that conscious consumer, because that's how we really make sure that that aftercare is consistent and conscious.
But I'm gonna add one sneaky one in. And that's to celebrate and to give ourselves time. When we have those moments, it's really easy, I think, to go onto the next, you know, what's next? What's the next event? What's the next outfit I need to have? What's the next, oh God, I'm never gonna think, what's the next surgery?
But it's like onto the next, and we don't celebrate where we've been and what we've accomplished or what we've come through. And I think celebrating the fact that you bought that house or you paid off that debt, or you bought those shares, or you've been consistent with your habits, and I'm not talking about celebrating by purchasing something.
Lawsie: You can purchase a bottle of bubbles.
Mel: Maybe. Or that you go and ring a friend and high-five them and say, yeah, I did that. Like, acknowledge it. We encourage our community inside the My Financial Adulting Plan to do that in our closed group. And there's something about someone jumping on and saying, this is where I was and this is where I'm now.
And I just wanna celebrate it wildly here cause I can't do it anywhere because people either look at me like, I've got three heads, or I just can't talk about money out there. And a) that motivates people, but also it gives you that, huh? Yeah, I did that. And it then gives you the momentum to keep going on to the next thing. So I think celebrating Lawsie is really important.
Lawsie: Yeah, I feel like that should almost be the top of the aftercare.
Mel: Ah, that could be number one.
So if you've enjoyed that, make sure you head down to the show notes and pick out those things. But I want you to also to sit down this week and think about one thing. Maybe it's a property, maybe it shares, maybe it's habits, a business or what, or your debt. And I want you to write down what your aftercare instructions might be. Come and DM me over at Insta and let me know. But make sure that you actually take positive steps to not just have the moment, but to look after your finances for the long term.
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