Читать книгу The Barefoot Investor - Scott Pape - Страница 15

Look, life is busy. Life is a messy bathroom, running late to your kids' footy matches, unpaid overtime, and collapsing at the end of the week on the couch with Indian takeaway and pappadum crumbs on your shirt.

If you try to do a million things, you'll do none.

Yet that's the power of focusing on just one thing — one step — and ticking it off the list.

Let me explain why this works with one last fire analogy.

Our fire plan was simple: on extreme risk days, Liz would pack up our son, leave the farm and head for the city. And on the morning of our fire, I was sitting at my kitchen table at the house, with my CFA-issued volunteer pager next to me.

It hadn't gone off … yet.

However, the smoke was starting to surround me, so I decided to drive to my neighbours', who live on a ridge, to get a better view of what the hell was going on.

I rounded up the dogs and put them in the back of the old farm ute, turned on the tranny, and got halfway down the driveway when the ABC Radio announcer said of my area, It is too late to leave. You must take shelter now to protect yourself.

Bugger.

When you're in the thick of a bushfire, it's too late to start thinking about what to do. You just need to be executing your plan like a patriotic North Korean soldier.

Here's how the CFA explains it:

A Bushfire Can Be a Terrifying Situation

Strong gusty winds, intense heat and flames will make you tired quickly. Thick heavy smoke will sting your eyes and choke your lungs. It will be difficult to see and breathe.

The roaring sound of the fire approaching could be frightening. Embers will rain down, causing spot fires around you. Power and water may be cut off. You may be isolated, and it will be dark, noisy and extremely demanding both mentally and physically.

This is not the time to be making major decisions.

Preparing your fire plan allows you to make major decisions in advance, and will help keep you focused and make better decisions in the event of a threat.

And you know what?

The same rules apply when it comes to facing your financial fire: when you lose your job, or lose your partner or retire — it's too late to be making major decisions.

This book will make you financially fireproof — you will be totally prepared. You'll have made your major decisions in advance. You'll have everything on autopilot. You won't need to panic. You won't second-guess yourself. You'll know exactly what to do.

And the result is that you'll be able to say, ‘I've got this’.