Financial Security replaces Job Security as the #1 goal in the age of technological disruption.

HOME ADVANTAGE·FRIDAY, 17 MAY 2019

I had my professional `rude awakening’ in 2012, when my role as Commercial Manager with Orica Chemicals was made redundant. I was into my 50s, and didn’t have a `Plan B’. The job market was tight (post-GFC), and senior leadership positions scarce. To exacerbate matters, I also encountered whats called `age-bias’, and after sending my resume to recruiters and employers for what must have been hundreds of times, I was getting nowhere. So I put myself up as a business coach (having been trained in that profession previously), and my first client just happened to be a Financial Adviser.

What I learnt from my association with that business was that the old paradigm of `get a skill, find a job, stay with the job until retirement, and enjoy life as a pensioner’ had completely broken down. With the ratio of tax payers: retirees going from 9:1 to 5:1, with the erosion of the buying power of money over time, with job security not ensured, with the cost of living rising rapidly, and with the average life expectancy increasing from 67 to mid 80s, the earlier paradigm had collapsed in a big heap of dust. So large was the impact of that collapse in fact, that currently 85 % of Kiwi retirees are not financially `sorted’ in their retirement.

That is the travesty of modern times. That you work for 40 years, pay huge amounts of tax diligently, raise your kids dutifully, contribute to society and the community, and what do you get for a lifetime of hard yakka and endeavour? $ 200/- per week less than a `no-frills’ retirement according to a recent study.

But there is a silver lining. A real and substantive opportunity exists for individuals and couples to take things into their own hands and not rely on the government or their employer for financial well-being. Its called `Financial Planning’ and `Wealth Creation’. And you can do this while you are working. It normally takes 10-15 years to create a sustainable wealth reservoir, which does two things: It grows (compound growth) and it yields income. I learnt all this while working closely with my first client and subsequently with a number of leading AFAs (Authorised Financial Advisers), and not only have I embarked on this pathway myself, I have helped over 1,000 Kiwi individuals and families get started in the direction of their goals.

I would like to invite you to do the same; it all starts with a complimentary InHome Financial Consultation at your home and at a time that suits you. I look forward to helping the next 1,000 Kiwis get started on the path of financial well being and look forward to meeting you, the reader in the near future to discuss your dreams and plans, and to enable you to become the master of your own financial well-being.

Naveed Balouch, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Home Advantage Ltd.