Behavioural finance

Change your spending mindset

Change your spending mindset

Sure, you can try all the tricks such as avoiding certain supermarket aisles or websites, or delaying the decision by a week to see if you still feel the same way.

But couldn’t it be much better if you didn’t have to fight all the time?

Instead of having a constant battle with yourself, it is much better to try and change your overall mindset so that you don’t want so many things in the first place […..]

Find your Mr Miyagi

Find your Mr Miyagi

One of my favourite movies as a child was the Karate Kid. For some reason, I was always drawn to the underdog from an early age.

In the movie, Daniel San as he is affectionately known, is experiencing some bullying at his new school. The lead bully Johnny is a skilled, albeit dirty, Karate fighter from the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel is a skinny, unpopular, out of […..]

Stop hiding from the hard path

Stop hiding from the hard path

As a volunteer budget adviser, I often see clients that ignore their debt problem. Their theory is, “If I ignore it then I won’t know there is a problem.”

I have had clients come into the office with a pile of unopened envelopes. They know it is bills inside but by not opening the mail, they convince themselves that there are no bills to pay and there is no problem. But guess what? It doesn’t […..]

Dig deep

Dig deep

Anything worthwhile in life is difficult. Raising a family, losing weight, starting a business or new job and saving money are all examples of worthwhile endeavours that can be a big challenge.

Whereas staying in your same mundane job, not exercising and spending all your earnings is the easy option.

Unfortunately easy doesn’t buy you freedom […..]

Your cellphone could kill you

Your cellphone could kill you

I was recently in the hospital waiting room with 12 other people. Do you know how many of these people had their head down on their mobile phones for pretty much the whole duration? 10 out of 12! I have seen similar numbers in airports too. It is not just the young either. The older generation have also managed to pick up this habit of […..]

Are you too busy being busy?

Are you too busy being busy?

Everyone is so busy these days. I have to book weeks in advance to catch up with friends and family. We say things like “I have so much on at the moment”, or “things are just crazy.”

There is nothing wrong with being busy if what you are busy adds value to your life. Such as starting a business or being prime minister. It is when we are busy just for the […..]

How to delay gratification

How to delay gratification

So often self-control is seen as a negative act. Where we are depriving ourselves of something fun or something so good, but oh so bad for us. We are taught from an early age we can’t have ‘bad’ foods all the time, even though we want them. As adults, the list of things that are supposedly ‘bad’ for us grows exponentially. Ironically, these are also the things that […..]

Choice as

Choice as

With so many options we can’t always make the best choice. It would require far too much time and effort deliberating even the smallest decisions and then when we make the wrong decision we will beat ourselves up over it. Once we have finished giving ourselves the uppercut then next time we may be too scared to even make a decision at all in fear of getting the bash again [……]