Spenditude

A Life-changing Attitude to Money

Paul Gordon, Janine Robertson

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780730372011
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Desarrollo personal
• Subtopic: Finanzas personales

Have you ever wondered why some people are naturally good with money?

No matter your age or your income it is your spenditude – your attitude to money – that influences your financial success. Spenditude shows you how to tackle your habits and behaviours to uncover what drives your spending and allows you to gain financial security and live the life you want.

This book is not about tedious budgets, get-rich-quick schemes, or giving up your daily coffee. Instead you will learn how to improve your relationship with money so you can release your financial anxiety and walk through life feeling in control. Financial wellbeing experts Paul Gordon and Janine Robertson reveal how with small and incremental steps you can empower yourself to change your spenditude for the better. Backed by extensive research, relatable case studies and in-depth interviews, this life-changing guide will help you get on the right path to financial security.

It may seem an overwhelming task to change your thinking about money, but developing sound financial habits is within reach. Behaviour is the key that unlocks better financial outcomes. This motivating and practical guide will enable you to identify the habits you need to change, establish your financial goals and learn how to develop and follow a plan best-suited for your situation. Clear, straightforward chapters relate days of the week to the decades of your life – Monday to Friday is your working life and the weekend is your retirement – to drive home the fact that life is short so don't waste time.

In a world where change is constant, FOMO is prevalent, and social media's influence is unmistakable, there has never been a better time to take stock of your spenditude and put your financial future squarely in your own hands. Spenditude will change your attitudes to money so you can benefit from the coming changes and enjoy the rest of your life.

Chapter 1
What's my spenditude?

Spenditude. Strange word, isn't it?

It's the collision of two words to form a description that packs two meanings into one: spender and attitude. A bit like glamping, frenemy, staycation, chillax … If we merge these words, we find the difference between those who create wealth and the rest of us, who just get by, thinking we're doing okay … but not really doing okay.

Why should I care about my spenditude?

Your spenditude determines your overall financial position. It's the difference between making informed money decisions and poor ones. It dictates the types of choices you can make in your life and assists you in having peace of mind and a higher level of contentment. So spenditude (your attitude to money) is quite a force of nature.

Imagine if you could break a long-term cycle of spending and start creating financial security. A chance to take money off the table as a worry item in your daily life. And imagine if you could harmonise your attitude with that of your spouse/partner.

Now imagine if you could identify your kids' attitude to money and set them on a path they will thank you for later. Exploring your spenditude will lead you along a journey of discovery.

We're living in a consumer society that can be draining both financially and emotionally. Many of us get stuck, not wanting to take a step out of our comfort zone and thinking, ‘I coulda' or ‘I shoulda'. Our behaviours can be repetitive and automatic.

Staying on the money treadmill means nothing changes, so we'll look to the why factor: why do you have this attitude? Is it genetic, taught or acquired? Can you change it or is it in your familial or cultural DNA? How can you find the insights and wisdom, the deep motivators that drive your spenditude? How can you give yourself the best chance of success?

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Just one thing …

You shouldn't stop your spending behaviours until you've finished reading this book.

In his book Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking the author asks the reader to continue smoking while reading the book. He goes on to say that after you finish reading the book you won't feel like smoking! And we want to send that same message: maintain your spenditude until the end of the book.

P.S. If you want to quit smoking, check out Allen's book. It's seriously effective.

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At this stage we don't want you to think that you'll become one of those people. You know the ones: tight-arse, always worrying where every cent is going, frugal and boring. No. We want you to have fun and be in a position to have financial freedom. The freedom to live the life you want with less stress.

Identifying your spenditude

Let's have a look at a pair of identical twins whose different spenditudes resulted in their lives being not so identical.

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The sibling test

Jeff and Graham. Men approaching retirement age. Baby boomers. Identical twins with identical childhoods and similar experiences. They both worked in government jobs as soon as they graduated from high school. They were smart and had a great childhood in a working-class suburb with parents who provided them with everything they needed to access education and live a safe life.

Fast forward 40 years to when the twins are about 60.

Jeff lives in an affluent suburb, owns his house and has two investment properties. He considers real estate to be a bit of a hobby and keeps an eye on the market. He's worked hard, saved hard and plans to retire from his steady job (which he's had virtually all his life) on his sixtieth birthday. He thinks he'll work as a consultant for six months of the year and spend time travelling the other half of the year.

Graham is renting a nice little apartment in a suburb further away from the city. He doesn't have any plans to retire yet and is still working 50 hours a week. He's had a great career, shifting jobs, getting promotions and ‘climbing the ladder'. Yet, he hasn't built up any real assets and is looking at the prospect of working until he drops. He's about to lease a luxury car so he can appear as successful as his brother.

Here's the rub. Graham has earned significantly more than Jeff over the years.

Two identical human beings who wound up not identical.

Jeff's attitude to money served him very well while Graham's didn't. What happened?

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Identifying your spenditude is the first step to understanding what happened to the twins.

There's significant evidence that your spenditude will dictate your financial outcome. It's not what we earn or how old we are — it's how we feel about money that matters. It's your attitude to money. If your attitude is to spend to make you feel good or look good, then you're probably sharing Graham's journey.

If your attitude is more about surviving and ‘just getting there' you probably feel frustrated about money. And you're not alone — that's the majority of the population!

If you're sorted, feel in control, have a sense of financial security and are instinctively good with money, then you're probably sharing Jeff's journey.

So what happened? How did Graham end up with an attitude to money that was directly the opposite of his twin's?

We all have habits, rituals and attitudes towards money. Some of us are naturally good with money, while others have no real interest in money and use it as a means to an end. Most of us sit in the middle, where we would prefer to be in a better position but aren't sure how to ‘flick the switch'.

The three categories of spenditude

Let's introduce the three categories of spenditude — Spender, Slender and Defender — and start to consider where we fit.

What spenditude do you have? Perhaps you see yourself as a hybrid or on the cusp? This will become clearer as we delve into the deep values and motivators that form your spenditude.

Defenders are people who are simply good with money. One of the twins, Jeff, is clearly a Defender. Defenders have a filter over their eyes as they spend. This filter is a combination of ‘Do I need it now? Is it the right price? Can I get a discount? Is it tax effective? Which account will I use? Will it put me under my safety threshold?' and so on.

Spenders are the ones with the flash cars, the newest iPhone, no virtual filter over their eyes and certainly no focus. They treat money as a means to an end. Graham is a Spender.

The majority of us are Slenders — we're conscious of money but could be doing so much more to improve our situation and become secure in our financial futures.

A bit about behaviour

Behaviour — not what you earn — has the biggest impact on your financial outcomes.

A 2018 study by an Australian bank confirmed that your financial wellbeing isn't about what you earn, but how you think about money. In fact, your salary only accounts for 7 per ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 What's my spenditude?
• Chapter 2 Dozy, sleepy, drowsy and weary
• Chapter 3 Where did the time go?
• Chapter 4 The voice inside my head
• Chapter 5 The why factor
• Chapter 6 Where's the tiger?
• Chapter 7 This intelligence isn't artificial
• Chapter 8 What could possibly go wrong?
• Chapter 9 Under the spreadsheets
• Chapter 10 A bit on the side (and the future of work)
• Chapter 11 Rewirement
• The beginning
• About the authors
• Index
• End User License Agreement