-By Darren Smith

The festive season gave many of us the opportunity to recharge the batteries, reflect on the year that has passed and the opportunities that will present in the new year. For myself, it was a good break to spend with family, our beloved Dachshunds and a chance to take the time to slow down. My family and I were lucky enough to spend some time up at Agnes Waters in Queensland, a lovely part of the world and an area I will certainly visit again in the future. We were well positioned in a house only a couple hundred metres from the beach which meant every day became an adventure for us.

From the extended veranda on the house you could see the endless rugged coastline and the constant crashing waves pounding into the sandy shores. To add to the atmosphere, you could hear the forces of nature at work 24 hours a day. As the weather conditions changed throughout our visit each day it brought with it a new landscape and new things to observe and experience.

Each day we would go for several long walks along the beach and encourage the dogs to get wet – not that they needed much encouragement. With each wave that rolled in you never really knew what would wash up in front of you or what you would find on the beach. From the driftwood to the wide variety of shells, the dangerous jelly fish scattered randomly and leftovers of local fishing efforts including hooks and line from the night before. That was just what was on the beach, let alone the predators lurking in the shallows with many stories shared by the locals of large sharks following the foreshore or being caught the night before.

Whilst the dogs had a couple of times where they swallowed a bit too much salt water, they certainly benefited from us being beach aware and being mindful of what to avoid and what we could pick up etc. Through trial and error and experience gained over many years we managed to avoid many dramas that newcomers could encounter and had lots of fun in the process.

In the heat of the day, the sparkling blue waters kept enticing you to go in a little further in. Again, with a strong beach awareness we had a mindful eye on every fourth or fifth wave which had a little more power and volume behind it. The dogs however, found out the hard way…

The lessons of being beach aware also have great application to being finance aware and how we can, or rather should, engage with our finances. Being deliberate and acting with purpose will always get a better result than just drifting…

We need to be mindful and aware of what washes up in front of us, sometimes randomly, sometimes pre-determined by others. We need to have the common sense and awareness to not pick up the jelly fish. If we do, there is a high probability of getting stung and feeling some pain. At the least, we need to get into the habit of asking ourselves ‘is there a chance I am going to feel pain if I take this action?’

The same caution applies when working out which waters we swim in, which we avoid and how deep we venture in. The benefit of our location was that it was a patrolled beach and locals with strong local knowledge had identified the safer areas to swim versus the areas that had dangerous under tows. They also adjusted this as conditions changed.

This is also relevant when it comes to our finances; we can’t rely on what has happened in the past and we need to evolve our approach with our money and our mindset as circumstances change. There is always a set of constant temptations around our spending and the more we can anticipate or keep an eye out for the fourth or fifth wave, the less likely we will get smashed by the larger waves in life as they roll through. This is also relevant to understanding and focusing on what we can control and understand that it is our choice as to how we engage with the waves. One thing is certain; they are unpredictable and will keep rolling in regardless of what we do.

The other lesson we learnt was to travel lightly and only keep the things we really valued, just as in life, you can pick up many things as you travel along. That baggage can slow you down or clutter your life. Only the best shells will do in our household!

Each day, with each walk we got more confident and more knowledgeable about what to keep an eye out for. The same can be said for our experiences with money; that as we gain life experience, we become more aware, more confident and more deliberate and can manage for the unexpected a little better.

The key message with this piece is that in order to confidently engage with our finances, we must be finance aware and informed from our own experiences as well as others who may have a little more local knowledge so that we can deal with the things that wash up in front of us and minimise the stress. We need to be mindful and deliberate with the actions we take and be aware of the consequences that will follow as we deal with the waves of life.

Financial awareness and focus are some of the core concepts that we cover off in our financial wellness workplace education programs. If you are interested in finding out more about how this could benefit your team, or your family then please reach out to our team and take the next deliberate step.