Slice of Inspiration

The theme of this month’s email update was inspired by yet another podcast, which on a side note, is an awesome way to consume information. I love the long-form interviews – they are a massive influence on my mindset. Simon Sinek is the guy that gave one of the most inspirational and motivational Ted Talks of 2009.  10 years later, ‘How great leaders inspire action’ is still within the top 5 most watched talks on the web, with over 43 million views.  He was being interviewed by Cal Fussman, an award winning journalist for Esquire magazine, about his new book – The Infinite Game.

One of the comments Sinek made in the interview was about ethics being a higher standard than the law.  This got me thinking about the phrase ‘just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’.  I have pondered over this quote many times over the years, hoping that at each fork in the road I have made the right decision, both in my personal life and in my professional life (although I am sure mistakes have been made). Even as recently as this month, I have been challenged to be true to my own standards and beliefs so that I can continue to hold my head up high knowing that I have not sacrificed my ethics.

It seems life continually tests us to keep us on our right course, and self inquiry – the process of checking in with oneself to see if something ‘feels right’ – is an essential part of separating the wheat from the chaff. You gotta trust your gut! Knowing who you are and what you stand for is so important. From this place it’s possible to make the important decisions: how you hold yourself accountable, how you keep your values in check when temptation rears it’s ugly head, and how you remain true to yourself.

Monthly Musings

Blimey! It has sure turned cold all of a sudden; but don’t close the air conditioning vents just yet, as typical of Melbourne weather, Friday is expected to get up to 29 degrees again!  I was all too aware that winter is approaching on Saturday morning, when I found myself at the start line of ‘Run The Rock 2019’ wearing shorts and a t-shirt in 4 degrees temperatures. It was certainly a timely wake up call!

Standing at the start line amongst 547 other shivering runners ready to take on the off-road trail run, I heard another English voice behind me say ‘I’m a pom, we’re used to this weather’.  Yeah right!  Not me; I hate the cold and just wanted to get started so I could warm up.  I hit play on my Spotify playlist ’90’s Workout Beats’, only to have the first track shuffled to M People’s ‘Moving on Up’ – perhaps a fortuitous warning to prepare myself for the mammoth hills I would encounter over the next 13.5km!

The run started, and my hands continued to remain cold for a long distance, especially when the wind whipped across the open fields – it felt like frost bite was going to take hold! But the sound of ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ by D:Ream coming through my headphones, kept my spirits high.  The terrain was determined to counteract the positive nature of 90’s anthems, as I was challenged with hill after hill!  The undulating track was a different type of experience for me – I am used to running on fairly flat surfaces, and I don’t think there was a single stretch of even ground on the whole run.  The burn in my muscles as I climbed each hill told me that training on a treadmill should only be reserved for emergencies!

Finally as I turned onto the final furlong (literally, as the race finished on a horse racing track), I picked up speed trying to remain upright as I dodged the pot holes and skipped over divots left by horse hooves.  The sight of the finish line, the sound of crowds cheering on their loved ones, the smell of the sausage sizzle, and of course the internal ego wanting to ‘appear’ like I finished strong, spurred me on to finish in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 12 seconds.

I’ve got the running bug back. When is the next one, and who is joining me?!

Finance Bit

Following on from the topic ‘Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’, I wanted to talk about paying of your mortgage before retirement.  Such has been the blasé nature of borrowing against your home in recent history, that many people have lost sight of the fact that a mortgage still needs to be paid off at some point.  I see clients regularly coming in to see me that have refinanced 2 or 3 times in the past and their loan term is still at 28 years!  There may be a genuine reason for extending the term, however it appears that the default position has been to refinance at 30 years each time.  Just because you can have 30 years, doesn’t mean that you should.

Here are a couple of questions that I ask my clients when discussing their mortgage and property goals:

• When would you like to have your mortgage paid off by?
• When do you anticipate retiring?