3 Ways to Approach Your Money Mindset

Getting started with your financial journey often begins with adopting the right mindset. In our recent Money Moment’s episode we sat down with Ravi Chand, Operations Manager at Lighthouse Financial to dive into his experiences with Money.

From his early university photography gigs to envisioning a dream retirement, Ravi highlights three essential money mindsets that can help change the way you think about money.

Faced with the challenges of buying a first home, most people might have given up or settled to push their timelines back until they can afford a bigger deposit.

However, after some open conversations with his parents, his employer and the bank Ravi figured out a way to service his mortgage.

Instead of continuing to search for a 2/3-bedroom home, he instead opted for a five-bedroom house and rented out the extra rooms to cover his mortgage payments.

"I couldn't afford a two or three-bedroom house but renting out extra rooms in a five-bedroom house made the mortgage manageable,"

While the idea may seem counterintuitive, the extra border income allowed him to pull the right levers to help with the deposit.

• Are there resources or strategies you haven’t considered yet? E.g., have you spoken to your employer, family and even a mortgage broker?

• What are the levers that you can pull to make your goals work? In this case, Ravi used the extra rental income to help afford his home.

Automation isn't just a buzzword; it's a great tool for consistency with money.

Ravi swears by automating his money to ensure he stays on track without the worry of missed payments or overspending. By setting up automatic payments right after his paycheck comes in, Ravi makes sure that his essential expenses, savings, and investment contributions are handled quickly and efficiently.

"If your money takes more than 10 minutes a week to manage you’re doing it wrong… It sucks setting up but it pays dividends and it lets me do all the things I need to do for my future self," he shared.

The key here is to let automation take the mental load off your shoulders. It also prevents you from the temptation to splurge and makes financial discipline a breeze.

• Which recurring payments can you automate to reduce your mental load?

• What’s a number that you can consistently put away to save or invest?

By automating your financial processes, you can focus on other important aspects of life while maintaining your financial health effortlessly.

Rather than following societal expectations or getting caught up in the latest Instagram trends, Ravi advocates for identifying what matters to you and directing your money accordingly.

For example, he and his partner decided to prioritize their relationship amidst their busy schedules by investing in weekly dates and outsourcing chores. This conscious decision came from a deeper understanding of their values.

"I really value my relationship. We have to do chores every week. I was like, you know what? We're going to pay money to get a cleaner. And every week we're going to spend that time that we usually do on chores, we're going to go out on a date and, like, just do something fun," Ravi shared.

• What are the things you truly value?

• Are your current spending habits aligned with these values?

• By focusing your spending on what genuinely matters to you, you can not only achieve your financial goals but also live a life that's true to your values.

Reflect on your current money mindset, do you have any engrained beliefs that you've held on to?

Can you incorporate one of the three approaches into your financial life starting today?

When it comes to reaching your goals a different point of view can help put you on the right path towards success.