5 money lessons your accountant won't teach you.....
There is nothing that stokes a debate in farming quite like the topic of money. Be it sale prices, input costs or the price of land, money is always at the forefront of a farmers mind. And for good reason.
Accountants tend to be the first port of call when it comes to money matters but here are five money lessons they won't teach you:
1) Your success with money or building wealth has very little do with how smart you are and a lot more to do with how you behave.
Money and wealth are a game of emotion and not intelligence.
**Read that again - and let it sink in**
2) There is nothing you can buy in a shop today that you will give a shit about in 5 years time.
Don't use money to buy stuff, use it to buy time
Which brings me nicely on to number 3.....
3) The biggest dividend money can ever pay you is its ability to give you control over your time.
Time is the most precious resource we all have
You may think you want a big house/farm, fancy cars or expensive watches but what you really want is to control your time.
4) Never, ever compare or take advice from someone playing a different game to you.
Identify what money game you want to play
Understand your own goal and direction and never be persuaded by the actions or behaviours of people playing a different game to you
5) Real wealth is what you don't see. Real wealth is financial assets that haven't yet been converted into the stuff you see.
Rich is current income, but wealth is income not spent
We tend to judge wealth by what we see because its the only information we have available to us. but looks can be very deceiving......
Recommended Reading
If you enjoy the lessons above then I HIGHLY recommend you read The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.
This is one of the best money/finance booked out there. It isn't some complex dive into behavioural finance, rather a ton of easily digestible tips and strategies to get your finances and attitudes towards money in order.
With such a tendency to compare ourselves to others in farming, it's so important to look internally and determine our own definition of success.
This book will help you do just that.
Until next week.....