Anticipate Life Changes – Building Flexible Plans
Life is messy. Your financial plan should be flexible enough to handle it.
It’s tempting to create a perfect 10-year plan. But guess what?
- You might change careers (costing an average $10,000 in retraining)
- You might move cities (with Sydney homes costing $1,233,600 versus Hobart at $652,600)
- You might have a child earlier (or later) than expected ($5,000-$10,000 in immediate costs)
The best plans aren’t rigid – they’re adaptable.
When setting goals, think about possible “life milestones” and how they might change your path:
- Career changes: A promotion might add $15,000 to your annual income; a career switch might temporarily reduce it by $20,000
- Property decisions: Upgrading from a unit ($673,491) to a house ($885,361) requires approximately $211,870 more
- Family changes: Marriage might combine incomes but add $36,000 wedding expenses; children might require one parent to reduce work hours by 40%
- Health challenges: An unexpected medical issue might cost $8,000 out-of-pocket expenses
- Inheritances: The average inheritance in Australia is approximately $120,000 (though this varies widely)
Ask yourself:
- What could accelerate this goal? (A windfall of $50,000 could cut your home deposit saving time in half)
- What could delay it? (A 20% reduction in income could extend your timeline by 25%)
- What’s my fallback plan if things don’t go perfectly? (Could you rent in your preferred area if buying becomes impossible?)
This flexible mindset gives your adviser room to adjust strategies as life happens – without you feeling like you “failed” a goal. For example, The average monthly loan repayments for first home buyers have increased by 77% since interest rates started rising in 2022. Nobody predicted that!
This week’s small challenge:
- Sketch a rough timeline of your next 10 years.
- Mark potential milestones (even if you’re not 100% sure they’ll happen).
- For each milestone, estimate the financial impact (positive or negative) in actual dollars.
For example: “Possible career change in 2027: -$15,000 income for one year, +$5,000 education costs, +$25,000 income thereafter”
Next week, we’ll tie everything together – and get you ready to absolutely crush your meeting. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
