Brett’s Personal Financial Journey
So if I was receiving financial advice, here is the zinger question I would be asking that almost never gets asked
"If you are giving me advice, how rich are you?"
It's kind of a rude question right? It's too uncomfortable I guess especially for kiwis but isn't it the question that needs to be asked? If someone is advising you on how to be financially successful, don't you need them to demonstrate success? You certainly don't want someone to be attempting to become wealthy by telling you how to get wealthy!
So it's not very kiwi to discuss money but it's my job and I am prepared to share with people how I became financially independent and what I went through to get there.
Going back about 20 years, I didn’t really like working for other people when I started my career in accounting. I wasn’t good at it, that made life stressful and so I wanted to get out. I just had a minor problem. No money! So I set a plan at the age of 23 to be free from working for other people.
Unfortunately my only choice if I wanted to be free was to be good at my job, so I worked much harder, I suddenly became hungry to learn so I could escape the stress and go back to my crucial goal of relaxing. I spent a lot of my leisure time studying and working when there was plenty of fun being had by others. I hoped I would be having more fun later on.
It was ironic that my desire for laziness was making me outwork everyone. In short time, I became more competent, and I had some luck, and at the age of 25 I had a global role for Shell, and I was working around the world. I remember a limo driver in Houston almost falling over when a baby faced 25 year old walked up to him and said “Hi I’m Brett” I wasn’t wealthy by this point but I had grown my income. I purchased a property in central London the next year and still own it 18 years later. I borrowed the deposit from one bank and called a mortgage broker who arranged funding for 95% of the property. I didn't even know how to select a good property to buy so I paid a buyers agent to do the job for me. In hindsight it was a great decision.
I carried on working for Shell and caught some breaks within the company in 2005. My obsession with learning and working hard in order to be able to relax had created an unintended consequence. I had actually become knowledgeable and effective. I didn't see that one coming. I was seen as an outstanding performer and I wasn’t that stressed anymore. It was actually becoming enjoyable and i was into it. I wanted to be the top finance person in the company and I expected myself to have more financial smarts than anyone I worked with. I’m sure I didn’t achieve that in a company of 80,000 people but it was what I expected of myself.
Up until 2016 I continued with Shell and built up a property portfolio in 4 different countries, and I built up investments that matched up to the amount of debt I had. It was overall an incredible success but I made my share of mistakes along the way. Don’t believe any investor that hasn’t made some bad mistakes. Mistakes that taught me to control emotions, don’t be greedy, don’t be fearful, and most importantly be patient.
By 2016, I was feeling some emptiness. I wasn’t feeling like I was helping anyone or anything, and that’s when Liana and I decided to relocate back to New Zealand, and give our boys a shot of growing up as kiwis, and it seemed like a good time to focus on helping real people instead of the largest energy company in the world.
By now, my goal to enjoy a bit of lazy time had really gone away I think due to my habit of working every week as if my job was on the line.
So now I find myself happy to connect with clients late in the evening, and in the weekends but I do try and make up for it and picking kids up from school and taking them to jiujitsu classes in the afternoon. I’ve somehow become the boys personal jiujitsu coach and I’ve got the bumps and bruises and occasionally high pitched voice to prove it.
I guess that 23 year old version of me that just wanted to find a way to quit would be impressed with what happened and where he could get to, and I’m looking back now very impressed with the 23 year old version of me for knowing what he wanted, setting a realistic plan, and staying laser focussed on the plan. I’m grateful to him.
I want to use my skills and real life experience to help people achieve more than they dare to dream and if they set a long term plan, and goals that are really important to them, they can amaze themselves too.
We overestimate what we can achieve in a year but we underestimate what we can achieve in 5 years, and we really don’t have a clue about what we can achieve in 20 years.