If you had unlimited funds, what would you do? Quit your job? Travel around Australia? Retire on the spot? Some people aren’t waiting for money to drop in their lap—they’re actively planning for it. But how? “The difference between people who have pipe dreams and those who make them a reality are three things,” says Lexi Smith, financial coach and founder of MoneyVine. “The latter think: ‘Yes, I can do this,’ ‘Here’s the plan’ and ‘Now I need to take the action.’”
Here’s how you can get serious about those goals that feel a little out of reach.
Get motivated
The first step to realising a dream is changing your outlook. “A lot of people think ‘I couldn’t do that, it’s for people who earn more than me,’” says Smith. “Everyone’s goals are different but how you get there always involves having the right mindset. You have to believe in yourself. Start thinking, ‘I can do this’ and then plan how to get there.”
Draw your road map
When Emma Shaw and her husband, Thom, decided to take a year off work and travel around Australia, they knew they’d need a strict budget. “We saved my entire pay each week and lived and budgeted with Thom’s salary,” says Emma, who was working in construction administration at the time. “We saved extra to cover mortgage repayments and bills, like rates, water and insurance, while we were away.”
It’s budgeting for these hidden costs that makes all the difference. “ Figure out the finer details,” says Smith. “If you want to retire early, ask yourself what ‘early’ means. How much are you going to need? What are you going to do with your time and how much is that all going to cost? Working out those details helps create the road map.” It took Emma and her husband two years to hit the road. “Our goal was to save $100,000. We budgeted really hard and gave ourselves a certain allowance each week that we had to stick to.”
Find the discipline
Sue-Ellen Horton was working as a copywriter before deciding she wanted to take a year off to write a book. “I’ve wanted to be a writer since reading Little Women when I was eight,” she says. But budgeting was not something that came easily. “I was raised by parents with no financial literacy, who struggled to make ends meet. I’m now very disciplined with money.”
She saved about $50,000 to “buy” the time to write and has these tips for people wanting to do the same: “Create a realistic budget and savings goal and stick to it. And set up a savings account you don’t touch. I have two—one I never touch and one I use for emergencies.”
