Sarah Riegelhuth - Get Rich Slow: Start Now, Start Small to Achieve Real Wealth

First published in 2013 by Wrightbooks an imprint of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std 11/13

Sarah Riegelhuth 2013

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Author:Riegelhuth, Sarah.

Title:Get rich slow: Start now. Start small. Achieve real wealth. / Sarah Riegelhuth.

ISBN:9781118406168 (pbk.)

Notes:Includes index.

Subjects:Finance, Personal.

Dewey Number:332.024

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Internal design by Peter Reardon, pipelinedesign.com.au

Cover design by Paul McCarthy

Author image Karen Woo

Printed in China by Printplus Limited

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Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

For Finn (my love) and Mark (my best mate) for both always, always believing in me.

About the author

Sarah Riegelhuth is the co-founder of award-winning financial advisory firm Wealth Enhancers and the highly successful League of Extraordinary Women, an organisation supporting the development of young female entrepreneurs nationally. She is passionately committed to helping women realise their potential, both financially and in all aspects of their lives.

Named as one of Melbournes Top 100 most influential, inspiring and creative citizens by The Age in 2011, Sarah is recognised as one of Australias leading female entrepreneurs. An accomplished keynote speaker, Sarah is also a popular blogger, writer and columnist for several online and print publications including Womens Agenda and Money Management .

In 2010, Sarah became the youngest board member in the history of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and helped the association launch the inaugural Female Excellence in Advice Award. The award has been more successful than any other award established by the AFA.

Outside of business and finance, Sarah can be found running along the beach in Melbourne, enjoying snow sports or travelling the world.

Heres how you can connect to Sarah:

Websites:

www.sarahriegelhuth.com.au

www.wealthenhancers.com.au

www.leagueofextraordinarywomen.com.au

Twitter:

@SarahRiegelhuth

@WealthEnhancers

@TheLeagueAust

LinkedIn:

http://au.linkedin.com/in/sarahriegelhuth

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/sarahjaneriegelhuth

Vimeo:

vimeo.com/channels/sarahriegelhuth

Acknowledgements

This book would never have been possible if it werent for the incredible, amazing and supportive people whom I am lucky to share my life with.

To my one true love, Finn Kelly, for his love, support, proofreading, encouragement and for always believing in me even before I do.

To my Dad, the other man in my life, for giving me the opportunity to work with him, learn from him and for teaching me most of what I know about business and finance.

To my Mum, for teaching me to be a good person and to treat everyone equally.

To my sister, Emma my best friend thank you for always being there for me, for writing inspiration and grammar tips!

To Keryn Batsilas and our team at Wealth Enhancers, for their ongoing excitement, enthusiasm and contagious passion for what we do.

To the League girls, Sheryl Thai, Liz Atkinson and Marie Cruz, working with you is unbelievable. I feel blessed to have found you, to have created what we have, and to know such inspirational women.

To all my clients, without you I wouldnt know what I know.

To all of my friends who stick around even though I work too much, and never seem to have any time. You know who you are, thank you, thank you.

To Kristin Ormrod for reviewing the insurance information in .

Lastly, but importantly, thank you to Lucy Raymond and Wiley for finding me, and for believing in this book.

Preface

For years the idea of writing a book that could inspire others to take control of their finances had played on my mind. I just wasnt sure how to go about it. The way any good idea does, it ticked away in the back of my mind, surfacing from time to time when a new approach or a different angle occurred to me. It still didnt feel right, though, until an inspiring conversation with my best friend, Mark.

We were strolling along Swanston Street in Melbourne, both about to rush off to other engagements Mark to the football and me to an Unconvention to launch the League of Extraordinary Women. We had been discussing what was, in our opinion, the secret to success, and had decided that it all came down to executing and following through with an idea, rather than the idea itself. Ideas are a dime a dozen. The difference between those who make it and those who just have the good idea is getting out there and getting it done ... and not giving up when the going gets tough, which it almost always does at some point or another.

My subconscious must have continued to turn over this conversation because the next afternoon, as I was dozing on the couch, it all came to me in a rush, the way thoughts tumble through your mind suddenly when youre in that half-awake, half-dreaming state. My eyes shot open, I grabbed my iPad and immediately keyed in the books title and roughly mapped out the chapter titles. Ive got it! I announced to my partner, Finn. I was going to write this book, and now I knew how to do it.

And here it is! By sharing what I had learned in 10 years as a financial adviser, along with some of my own personal experiences and those of my clients, I hope to inspire and empower you by equipping you with the tools you need to make positive life changes and take control of your finances. When we take control we let go of excuses, stop waiting for simple solutions or engaging in magical thinking, develop an understanding of the psychology of money, and arm ourselves with the information we need to set goals, develop an action plan and follow through.

The approach I have taken in this book is relatively straightforward, Ill admit, yet it goes against the grain of most books about wealth creation available today, which generally focus on getting rich quickly . This book suggests that the opposite road is the surer one. The trend towards sustainable and rewarding wealth creation emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis. The key concept here is slow money.

The slow money approach to financial security is all about starting small but starting now, and slowly, surely building long-term, sustainable wealth throughout your life. The main principles of slow money can be summarised like this: (1) spend less than you earn; (2) begin saving and investing today; (3) set lifestyle goals, and link your wealth creation to these goals; (4) segment and track your savings and spending; and (5) evaluate your purchases and insist on value for money. By following these principles, using a little discipline and taking advantage of the power of compound interest, anyone can build wealth sustainably over the long term, and feel good doing it!