One of the common reasons people often give me for not being able to do anything about improving their financial situation is that they don’t have any time available.

You need to make time or you’re going to wake up many years from now and wish you had. Don’t leave your future-self hanging out to dry!

The question is, can you find some time?

Let’s look at the numbers:

Australians are addicted to looking at screens. And that screen addiction is likely to mean they end up broke because they are not devoting any time to planning their financial future. Are you going to be one of them, or can you pull yourself away from your screens for a few hours?

The latest Australian Multi-Screen Report from late 2016 combined research from Nielsen, OzTAM and Regional TAM and found Australians watch an average of 90.16 hours of television every month, or around three hours a day, while also watching 7.32 hours a month of video on a computer, 3.49 hours a month watching videos on a smartphone, and 2.41 hours of video a month on a tablet computer.

That equates to more than 103 hours a month looking at screens. That’s around 52 full days a year spent watching TV or videos on screens!

Still think you haven’t got any time to devote to getting on top of your financial situation?

Could you spare one of those 52 days (roughly 8 of those 1,240 hours) to put towards planning your financial future? If you can then you can get the financial advice you need to take control of your money.

Armed with the right information, you’ll only need to devote a minuscule amount of your annual screen time each year to staying on top of your financial situation so that you can wake up many years from now having created the wealth that you need for a comfortable life.

Your future-self will be very thankful for the small investment of time you make NOW because every moment you wait is costing you some of the lifestyle you want in the future. Tick, Tick, Tick!

OK… so you know you need to do something. But will you? After you finish reading this, life is going to get in the way.

There’s always something that needs to be done ‘urgently’ and so the important things for the long-term get pushed back in the queue until eventually, the long-term starts to arrive before we know it.

Everyone is in this same boat and it’s those who can find little moments of time to divert some thought to the long-term that will benefit from making decisions today that can make all the difference down the track.

While lots of things are urgent and need to get done now, it’s also true to say that in many ways it’s easier to do things now that we can control. The future is always filled with uncertainty and that creates fear. Don’t let fear stand in the way of you and a happy financial future.

Cheers,

Daniel