Are you thinking of paying for financial advice?

That means you’re thinking about your future and how to become financially independent. A great move, whatever your age. Bravo!

It may also mean you don’t feel able to make your own investment decisions.

This is a common problem, and it’s why 44% of young Australians feel overwhelmed when they think about money. Little wonder when we’re not taught about it at school.

Before you commit to paid advice, find out how the advisor gets paid:

• Is it by the hour, which gives them an incentive to bill more hours than needed?
• Is it fixed price, which gives them an incentive to use a cookie-cutter approach?
• It is through commissions and kick-backs, which gives them an incentive to sell you a product that might not be right for you?

Each has potential pitfalls, and the bottom line is there is potential for conflict of interest between you and your advisor. Read our article on paid financial advice for more detail on what this could mean for you and how to handle it.

Here’s the big secret the financial services industry doesn’t want you to know:

You don’t need an advisor.

You can learn to manage and grow your money yourself.

That’s right. Paying for financial advice is optional – you can be wealthy without it (and without the grey hair too!)

The alternative is: Become your own advisor.

You can learn all you need to know to manage and grow your money right now.

How do I know this? Because I’ve done it, and so has my mum.

15 years ago, my mum (Fran) decided she was sick of not getting ahead financially and she made it a priority to learn about investing. She decided to teach me – a teenager at the time – as she learned.

It all started with my first investment property, which I bought when I was 19 with Fran’s guidance. Since then, we’ve gone on to invest separately and together in property, shares and funds. Fran has also discovered a passion for trading options and foreign exchange (FOREX) as well as managing our combined superannuation.

Over the course of those 15 years we’ve made lots of mistakes, but these are far outweighed by our successes. Now I’m in my mid 30’s, Fran’s in her mid 60’s, and we’re both financially independent – we don’t need to work to support our lifestyles. Fran is a self-funded retiree. That’s hard to imagine when just 15 years ago she was a single mum earning $30,000 a year with only debt to her name.

You can read more about our story here, or buy a copy of ’16 Inspirational WA Women’ in which we are featured, or check out the series of short videos in which we tell our stories on the (fittingly named) Our Story page.

Over that time, we’ve learned something truly astonishing:

Making money isn’t hard. You just have to know how.

It really isn’t difficult.

It’s just made to look difficult because there’s a whole industry with a vested interest in having it that way. Throw in a conspiracy theory or two about the government finding it easier to control people who are beholden to a wage or welfare, and you’ve got a nation of people ignorant of the few basic skills they need to become financially independent.

Good news: it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can create and implement your own financial plan.

All you need are these three key skills: