The roadmap out of restricted lifestyle
The roadmap out of restricted lifestyle
- September 29, 2020
- Posted by: Daniel McGregor

For a few months now, we’ve been hearing about Victoria and a roadmap out of their coronavirus second wave.
It has only been recently that the roadmap has started to take shape. They had to first get on top of the problem before they could start to think about the pathway out.
What’s interesting to me is the huge demand from the public and the media for that roadmap. I wish as many people demanded a roadmap for their finances!
I believe the difference is reasonably simple.
When it comes to coronavirus restrictions that have been imposed on people, they have their old lifestyle to relate to. They miss it and they want things back to normal as quickly as possible. 2020 has been a year of restrictions not only for Victorians, but for people in almost every country. Everyone who has had restrictions placed on them has been keen to get back to their usual way of life (or the ‘new normal’ at least) ASAP.
When it comes to our finances, I have seen many people deal with restrictions, but they are ones that are often self-imposed by their actions in the past. Just about everyone wants to retire one day. Most of us have hobbies and interests that we’d happily be doing rather than working. Unfortunately, the reality is that once most people reach retirement, they have to reduce their lifestyle because they don’t have the money to fund the lifestyle they had while they were working. In a lot of cases that lifestyle reduction is dramatic.
BUT, BUT, BUT…
There is a big difference between a coronavirus roadmap and a roadmap for your finances. Leaders around the world are having to make up their coronavirus roadmaps as they go. This is new territory for all of us. When it comes to a roadmap for your finances, the path is pretty clear.
Money isn’t hard, it’s not actually complicated at all.
The difficult part is getting hold of the map and then getting started. Sadly, too many people don’t challenge the status quo and are slowly but surely veering further and further off course as each year passes.
The airline industry has a rule of thumb known as the 1 in 60 rule: for every 1 degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its target destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles you fly. This means that the further you travel, the further off course you are.
The flight distance from Sydney to Melbourne is 443 miles (713 kms). Veering off course by just one degree would see the plane miss the airport by more than 7 miles (almost 12 kms)!
In a plane, veering off course can be life-threatening… a mountain might end up being in the way! When it comes to your finances, veering off course is unlikely to be life-threatening, but it is almost certainly lifestyle-threatening.
Don’t keep going through life on auto-pilot in the wrong direction. Time to correct your course and start following the map to the destination you want to reach!
Do you have a roadmap for your finances or are you flying blind?
Cheers,
Daniel