​Every great accomplishment had a sound strategy behind it. Winging it might spice up your life, but having no plan is a recipe for disappointment. Great feats are achieved as a result of people knowing what they want and why! 

​Think about your favourite professional sports person or business super achiever.  Do you think it’s possible that he or she became successful without first setting up a target and then taking aim?  Not likely. 

​In the words of that celebrated US Philosopher, Elvis Presley, “we need a little less conversation and a little more action please”.

Many people avoid going to the dentist, because they expect it to be painful.  You might know what I mean. That cracked filling - we never get around to doing anything about it until the darn thing falls out.  Or even when faced with the choice of enduring a ‘sometimes’ sore tooth for several months versus going to the dentist, we generally try to ride out the bad tooth in the hope it will get better! And how does that work out for you? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Picture your first years in retirement.  Things are going great.  Days spent playing with the grandkids, sunny mornings on the golf course and leisurely walks on the beach.

However, if you are like many of our clients, you are relying on the sale of your business to fund your own version of nirvana.

The problem is that you are not exactly sure what you will get for the business, or even how long it might take to sell.  This can be a little scary for some – there is after all a lot riding on the outcome.

It's easy to understand why retirement doesn't loom large on the horizon for 20-somethings. Young workers are more concerned with kick-starting careers, not ending them in the long-distant future.

​And in your 30’s, there’s probably extra mouths to feed and debt to reduce.

​“So what do you do?” the cardio surgeon asked.  It’s an innocent enough question, but it turned out to be loaded with philosophical importance.  

His eyes lit up when I said financial planner.

​In the grand scheme of things, money's not that important. It's important only to the extent that it allows you to enjoy what's important to you. Despite this, a recent survey of Millennials found more than 80 per cent said their major life goal was to get rich. Another 50 per cent said that another major life goal was to become famous.

When I ask this question of my clients, it is generally not an amount of money or the material side of life that we finish up talking about.

It is the things they want to experience. 

Having trouble following through on financial goals (or any goal for that matter)? Here are eight great questions that might just help.

It can be hard to know if you’re doing well with your money or not, so we’ve taken the guesswork out of it for you.

Follow the link below to take our quick quiz and work out if you’re doing all the right things with your money or need to pull your socks up, as well get some ideas about what you should be doing next.

You can access our quiz below