Scott Pape - The Barefoot Investor

Here's me:Stop for a second and tell me what age you'll be when you die.

Go on … answer that.

I'll wait.

Most people don't think about their long-term future, but nearly everyone has a specific age in mind when they'll die.

Next, subtract your current age from that number.

Now you have a ballpark figure for how many years you've got left on the planet.

The question is: What are you going to do with them?

You can continue living in the past, beating yourself up about the money mistakes you made when you were younger, telling yourself you've left it too late … or you can rise up and make yourself proud.

Here's you:The economy sucks.

Here's me:More millionaires were created in the Great Depression than at any other time. Author and physician Peter Diamandis found that in the past century the average lifespan has doubled, while the average income has tripled. Food is 10 times cheaper, electricity is 20 times cheaper, transport is 100 times cheaper and communication is 1000 times cheaper. These are the good old days.

These are all excuses. Every single one of them.

You can live the rest of your life with excuses about your lot — most people do — but they sure as hell won't protect you from the financial fire that's eventually going to work its way to you.

There are people who've sat where you are right now — with their self-confidence shot and with very little money or prospects — and they have singlehandedly clawed back control over their money and their life.

And you're going to meet some of them.

In this book, I'm going to introduce you to:

a working-class couple who were convinced they'd left it too late … and got themselves on track to retire with a million-dollar nest egg

a young man who doubled his money … and built his legacy

a young woman who clawed her way out from under tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt … and then helped her mother do the same

a grief-stricken widow who was left in dire straits … who went on to put all her kids through private school

a single woman who bought her (capital city, non-dogbox) home all on her very own … no man was part of her financial plan

a mother whose husband's parting words were, ‘You'll never survive financially without me’ … who proved the jerk wrong.

They're people like you — just without the excuses.

The truth hurts, right?

It's kind of like when you see a picture of yourself on Facebook and think, ‘Who's that fat bastard?’

When you're a bit flabby, there's no denying it. You know it. Your kids know it. You can't hide it. It's there on display for everybody to see and judge.

But it's the opposite when it comes to money. It's easy to hide your financial flab from the world.

I've found that it's often the most financially flabby people who appear to look the fittest. They can have a McMortgaged McMansion, a leased Lexus and a maxed-out platinum credit card, and you'd never know that behind closed doors they're the financial equivalent of pudgy North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

No-one knows that they're walking around with the financial equivalent of cankles.

At least if you've got a muffin top you've got the motivation to buy an Ab King Pro on a late-night infomercial, or sign up for Light n’ Easy.

But if you look like you have a financial sixpack, you've got zero motivation to change. And that's why most people never do.

Facing up to the fact that you're not as successful or sorted as you tell yourself you are — or as your family and friends believe you to be — takes guts. It's like standing butt-naked in front of the mirror and looking at your gut. Stripped of your clothes, and excuses, there's no-one to blame but yourself for the situation you're in. You made your decisions. You decided to let yourself cruise.

That's the alpaca kick right there: seeing your situation for what it really is and having the courage to change it.

Success isn't found in the eyes of others: buying things you don't need, with money you don't have, to impress people you won't know in 20 years' time.

True and lasting success is knowing deep in your bones that you have the freedom to tread your own path in life, and the ability to protect those you love.

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’.

At this point, after all the talk of alpacas, sheep and farms, you may be forgiven for thinking you've picked up a country and western novel. My editor had similar concerns: ‘Scott, I'd like to see more sunshine and positivity … and less fire, devastation and dead animals’.

Okay, so this is not your typical finance book.

Hell knows my publisher would have liked me to be a bit more ‘self-helpy’. You see, one of the bestselling books of the past couple of decades was The Secret . The guts of its message was that to achieve success all you need to do is picture something in your mind, and you'll achieve it.

Well, let's all get out a guitar, sit in a circle, hold hands and start strumming.