Buying your first home is one of the biggest milestones in many peoples lives and yet it can put the weight of the world on your shoulders. Here is my top list of things you can avoid to ensure a stress-free purchase!
Don't calculate their finances properly

The first mistake I see is people not actually knowing how much money they make. You have to get to know your income and do the math -- When the bank looks at your income for a loan it is your before tax income, but when you're paying it back it will be your after tax income. What about if circumstances change? Have you added your ten percent account into your budget? *Psst! If you don’t know what that is you definitely want to keep reading!* Are you accounting for these things?

Choose a home for the wrong  person

It can pay off to look at your first home as an investment. It's very likely that you'll rent your home out or only live in that home for a small portion of your life. Don't get caught up on all the perfect details as chances are it won't be your forever home. When I buy property it doesn't need to be in a location I necessarily wish to live in.

Not enjoy the process
There is so much information available to you. Free legal advice, articles and courses, coaches, make sure you utilise it all. Don't rush into a decision and make sure you do all your research.  Ask questions and remember, it should always be fun and feel inspired. If buying a house feels stressful then owning a house is likely to be more of that! It's not all easy but you should wake up every day happy to work with your new life form.

Do you have anything you'd like to know about buying your first home? Join me in my 2-part telecall all about the ins and outs of purchasing property! https://bit.ly/2GXGIaq

​What is your favourite problem to have? In this reality, that is a very strange question to ask because we have been taught to believe that we don’t want problems and we want a perfect and easy life. The reality is, most people actually love to have problems, or they wouldn’t have them.

People create problems in their life all the time that do not really need to be there for many reasons. Some include the sense of accomplishment you get when you overcome an obstacle or hardship in your life. Another reason is that it keeps you relatable to other people and gives you something to talk about with friends and family. If we had no problems and functioned from possibility, we would acknowledge that we can be, have and do anything in our lives and nothing could stop us. A lot of people do not actually desire that.

I just attended an absolutely incredible 7-Day event with Gary Douglas called “The End of Problems and Beginning of Possibility” and it was a game changer. What would it be like if you functioned from possibility and not problems? Steven Bowman has said, “A problem is just a possibility with a point of view attached” and it is so true.

How many things in your life do you desire that you actually could have if you stopped creating problems for yourself? How much do you not even acknowledge that if you are the creator of your life, you must create obstacles in your life as well as the good stuff?

Here is an exercise for you to do.

Find an area of your life that you feel ‘stuck’ such as money, relationship or work, and list 10 problems you love to have around them. It may be something small, it may be something large and it may not be easy to be honest with yourself on what you are actually creating.

After you have done this, be present with them in day to day life and really start to catch yourself when you see these coming up. 

When you first consider starting your own home-based business usually you are full of enthusiasm and will often come up against people who will tell you that you can’t do it…”It’s too hard, Times are tough”…, and a vast range of other negative comments. The naysayers are partly correct in that if you believe them, then creating your new business will be difficult.
In order to succeed you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to create your business. Your skills and interests will dictate the type of business and the vehicle you use to promote it. It is also important to have a strong support network behind you.
Here are the top ten steps I encourage entrepreneurs and startups to consider when creating their home business:

Investing brings up all sorts of thoughts for various people – It’s too hard, I don’t have enough money, I’ll lose all my money, It is unpredictable, I don’t know enough. All of these are valid points. It is a case of, “If you believe something is so, then it is for you.” You can choose to change how you think.


Once you change your mindset around money, and you have some money to invest, the next choice is – how do you choose where to put it?


First, you want to ask yourself: “What is an investment to me? Is it buying a rental property? Is it having a business? Is it playing the stock market?” All of these work, however, the primary investment starts with an investment in you. The more you invest in you, the easier and greater your investments become.



1.Invest in yourself

With all ventures, the first step is to invest in you and educate yourself about how you function. Your point of view creates your reality. Everyone has a particular point of view about money – is it easy to make or is it hard? If you think that it is hard to make money, it is! One of the ways you can start to change this is to challenge yourself to say, “that’s an interesting point of view” every time you think about money. Thoughts you think often are the sign of a point of view that is not working for. Using “That’s an interesting point of view” will work with any point of view that you have.


2.Research your interests

What you are already interested in has the most likelihood of becoming an additional income source for you. When you have established what you are interested in you can begin to upskill yourself. Whatever it is you have an interest in, there is a way to create money from it. You may be interested in jewelry, antiques, art, retro furniture, vintage clothing or whatever your particular thing is. Take time to learn about what is in vogue or valuable right now and check out sites on the internet or local shops and see what is underpriced. I can guarantee if you do some research in an area that interest you will be able to source some amazing opportunities. You can either accumulate the items first or immediately sell them for a profit.


The same principle works with the traditional investment areas of fixed interest, shares/stocks or property. You may have an affinity with one of these. Start with that one and educate yourself – talk to the experts, talk to a financial adviser, ask lots of questions until you feel you have an understanding of how that market works.


To read the full article on AdvancingWomen, go here!

You may not realise all the ways in which you receive money – do you ever get a
free coffee, discount at particular stores, or cents off your petrol fill? All these
are gifts of money that we forget to be grateful for. That is also one of the keys
to creating more money in your life – being grateful for everything that comes in.
​

Would you come to someone who continually dismissed you and complained when you didn’t show but were never grateful when you did. That person would not be much fun to be around! Is that you with money?

A simple thank you is easy – thank you for the free coffee, thank you for the discount, thank you for my cheaper petrol. What else is possible now?

Do you actually ask for what you desire or do you think oh no I couldn’t possibly have that?

Back in the days when I did dream charts I had a big, and I mean big, picture of a Mercedes Benz on my wall. I hadn’t really looked too much at what it was however one day I actually looked at it and went – that is the car in our garage that I have been driving for the past month! Wow I didn’t realise and didn’t acknowledge it, so that car disappeared off to the car yard. It pays to be grateful when things show up in your life – otherwise they just disappear again too!

Now I am super grateful for everything that shows up, the flight upgrade, the amazing presentation of a meal when dining out, my children offering to help me with something I know they don’t enjoy! All of it adds up.

Remember to ask and be congruent with what you are asking for – if you are asking for $10 million and you have no idea how to manage that sort of money it probably isn’t going to show up. You will get the energy of what will be right for you – the amount doesn’t matter, the willingness to actually receive it does.

Do you really like money? Is it fun to have? Are you inviting it to the party of your like? Or is it coming to slave away for you without any gratitude? Money also takes many forms – cash, bank balances, antiques, jewellery, gold and silver. What is fun for you? 

How many opinions have you heard on why credit cards are bad? They are designed to get you into debt. They take forever to pay off. You shouldn’t spend money you do not have. Interest is expensive. They are a trap!
While these accusations are not necessarily false, they do not have to be true either. If you pay off your credit card by it’s due balance a credit card can provide many benefits for you.

If you know how to make a credit card work for you, what could that create for your financial reality? Gary Douglas, the founder of Access Consciousness encourages people to ask: how can I use this to my advantage?
Credit cards are a magnificent tool if you use them to your advantage. They do not have to be used unconsciously and get you into a lot of debt. They can be used to create you more money if you learn how.

I like to travel a lot and so I look for credit cards that earn me frequent flier points for my favourite airlines. You can also find credits that give you perks for all kinds of things. What if every dollar you spent gave you a discount on your groceries or a discount on an online shopping site? There is a huge variety of benefits for credit cards.

They also can be used to build up a good credit rating if you ever desire to get a loan. Not only are you more likely to be approved, you often can pay less if you have a good rating. Also, you sometimes can get  alone with up to 55 days interest free if you know how to go about it. Again, a loan is something that you can use to your advantage if you use it well.

What if credit cards were not evil and what if it were not true that you are even spending money you did not have?

If you would like to learn more tips and tricks on how to use financial tools to your advantage, join me on my tele class Work The System this month!