Sadly many of us only know how to live life in fear, without knowing how to escape it.

We’re even schooled and educated to believe that fear is excellent motivator and a catalyst to our “success”.

“Use you fear for motivation” and “Fear is a good thing because it keeps you alive”.

Fear, shame, and guilt in some circles is even promoted as good and to be our trusted battle cries to get us off our butts and move forward towards our goals.

Being fearless is a total game changer and is even more important than having a pair when facing our fears.

No comments

Five sailors are shipwrecked on a desert island. They quickly determine that the only other inhabitant of the island is a monkey and that the only food is coconuts. They set about collecting as many coconuts as they can and put them all in a very large pile. By nightfall they are too tired to divide the harvest; so they agree to go to sleep and share the coconuts equally the next morning.

During the night one sailor awakens, suspicious that the others might try to cheat him, and decides to take his portion then and there and not wait until morning. He divides the coconuts into five piles and finds there is one coconut left over, which he gives to the monkey. He hides one of the five piles, then puts the rest of the coconuts back into a pile and returns to sleep. Later a second sailor awakens with the same suspicions and does the same thing: He divides the coconuts into five piles, leaving one extra, which he gives to the monkey. Then he hides what he thinks is his share, puts the remaining coconuts into a pile and goes back to sleep.

One after the other, the rest of the sailors do the same: They each take one fifth of the coconuts in the pile (there is always an extra one, which is given to the monkey) and then return to sleep. When the sailors awaken the next morning they all notice the coconut pile is much smaller than it was the night before, but since each man is as guilty as the others, no one says anything. They divide the coconuts (for the sixth time) and again there is one left for the monkey.

How many coconuts were in the original pile?

No comments

Well friends, 2017 is now dry cement.

However before we embark on our plans for 2018 I’d like to share the ups and downs, successes and failures of the 2017 that was.

I do this at the start and end of each year to keep myself accountable and inspired on this journey called life. As a reference point click the 2016 Benchmarking Success link here.

The past maybe dry cement, but I believe it’s also important to also celebrate how far we’ve come, reflect on where we could have done better and put myself out there publicly as a form of motivation to do the work I need to do in making my plans a reality.

I hope that you find my wins, stumbles, and insights help you on your own journey to getting the most in life.

No comments

Living life to the fullest, not blowing your savings is key to both achieving our goals and enjoying the journey along the way.

In this blog we show you how and where to save money in Cairns while also maximizing your experiences and holiday memories.

This blog has moved to http://peterhorsfieldfinancialplannercairns.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/what-to-do-in-cairns-local-knowledge.html

No comments

You bring me pleasure and joy.

Watching you sleep, your eyes closed, a relaxed face, your chest rising and falling with each breath you take brings me joy.

I know your desires, pains, strengths and self-doubts. I know them all.

I’m deeply touched by things you do for me.

Be yourself always and rest assured that your uniqueness is beautiful and brings me much happiness.

No comments

Growing up my Dad said he considered changing my brother and my names to Gunna and Gotta.  Why? Because whenever he asked if we had done our chores, I would say “Yes dad. I’m gunna” and my brother would say “Yes Dad. I just gotta…..

Even today I still catch myself saying I’m gunna when it comes to chores around the home, however sixteen years and nine months ago I said I do.

Not I will, or I must, or should but I do. For better or worse, sickness or health, poverty or riches until death do us part and knowing the difference is the secret to success.

Success is simple. First you decide specifically on what you want and secondly you decide if you’re willing to pay the price for it. Then you pay the price.

If we really want to experience that which is important to us we simply must DO the things we know we need to do. Period.

Want a happier relationship? If you’re not prepared to work at it, or pay the price in other areas of your life for it….. Rosalind (Mrs H) has a saying for you “Well go ahead; want on one hand and shit on the other and see which one fills up quicker”. She has such a great way with her words!

No comments

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” Ibn Battuta 

Today I rode a camel.

Riding a camel is nothing like riding a horse. Not the mounting, dismounting, riding/swaying or the itchy, smell and overall discomfort. However the experience concluded by watching the sun setting over the Sahara dunes followed by a dinner, drums and drinks in a Berber tent and under a star filled night.

An experience to leave me speechless and one I will cherish for the rest of my living days.

This journey and most recent experience has taken many years. From an initial thought, followed by an interest, then a plan and lastly a committed action.

No comments

Every day we are bombarded with media, work colleagues, strangers, families and friends judgments about our body shapes.

Our feelings of self-worth, twisted and magnified by our own expectations, past experiences and the physical changes due to our hormones and the foods and drinks we consume.

The good news is that we are not our past and each day we have the opportunity to live, believe in and do the activities to bring us closer to experiencing our ideal lives.

In life I’ve learnt that success is simple, but not easy. You simply need to know specifically what you want, know how much it will cost and pay for it.

I also know that change can happen in a moment, however coming to the decission to change can take years if not decades.

Recently I decided to change my relationship with food and myself and pay the price to achieve my goal.

8 comments

Money issues that can cause stress and the solutions to help.

1."Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." - Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Solution:  1. Make more money, 2. Spend less money, 3. Do both 1 & 2.

2. “This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.” -Earl Wilson.

Solution: If you are in debt your most important priority is to ensure your debts are manageable and not impacting your choices, quality of life, relationships and aspirations.

No comments

In our busy consumer and capitalist modern day lives, it’s easy to be coaxed into believing bigger is better.

Business leaders set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG's) for their organisations. Motivational speakers preach “Aim for the stars, because if you miss at least you’ll land on the moon”, whilst talented athletes train for years with their hopes set on Olympic Gold.

We're constantly striving for more; more money, more experiences, more accolades and attention. Whilst forgetting or unaware of how much is really enough.

Often we buy into the misbelief that we’re less than others based on others having more. Which by the way is a fondational globally successful strategy used by advertisers to push their products.

A“caveat emptor” about goals.

No comments

Recently I had a very enlightening conversation with a chef, and discovered why their cakes always win the awards?

Applied the same way I discovered a foolproof process for having your cake (achieving our own financial goals in life) and eating it too.

Conversation with an Award Winning Chef.

Award Winning Chef: What is the first thing you need to do when you make a cake?

Me: Get the ingredients?

Award Winning Chef: No!

Me: Get the recipe?

Award Winning Chef: No!

Me: Um.... I don’t know, I give up. What do I need to do?

Award Winning Chef: Decide what type of cake you want to bake, and why?

No comments

Both from personal and profession experience, I’ve learnt and seen on a daily basis, at its core, what we spend our money on, is a direct reflection of what we value most.  

For example when my self-esteem is high I start booking “experience” holidays, because new experiences and holidays are important to me.

When my self-esteem is low my natural inclination is to buy and eat junk food. Why? Because important to me at that time are my feelings of comfort, rebellion and unworthiness.

However it’s also important to understand the connection between our money and our job.

Your job probably means many diffident things to you; however the core purpose of our job is basically to earn enough money so we can do the things we most value and are important to us.

What’s important to you is like opening Pandora’s Box, however in short the academic community has concluded that happiness is attainable though a continuous combination of friendships, freedom, health, financial security, privacy, a life philosophy and a purpose.

“Your Money or Your Life” is a book written by Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez & Monique Tilford. It has many fantastic insights and prespectives about financial independence being within most peoples reach if they choose and ask the reader many questions; however one particuar question is of profound importance “How much are you trading your life energy for?

Let’s use the following as an example of what a job costs us (based on a $25 hourly income)?

In this example not only is this cost of the persons job 66.5hrs a week of their non-renewable resource A.K.A. time, they are also spending more than they earn. Sound familiar?

So while everyone is different, my point is there are a multitude of indirect costs and ways we may or may not be consciously factoring into the cost we pay for our jobs.

These costs are in addition to the impact our jobs may be having on our health, relationships, and happiness.

The important take out from this exercise is to ask ourselves “Is there a better way?

And if so what are the activities we can do right now that will start to improve our life in a positive way?”

For myself this required what others may call a radical shift .

I expanded my business and relocated from Sydney to Cairns the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest.

Doing so has saved me $50,000 less per year in my "job", as a result my income increased and I have more time to exercise, entertain, grow and help others. The very things that are important to me and my happiness.

If you are stuck in a funk or you’re lost in a cloud of complexity feel free to contact me. Most often in life we just need someone to talk things through and to lighten our load a little. The following articles may also be of help.

7 ways to be instantly free and start living your dreams (ideal life) now!

Be Debt Free ASAP

From Little Things Big Things Grow

If Not Now? Then When?

Free at Last!

This post was written by Peter Horsfield, as such they are his personal views. 

About Peter Horsfield

Peter Horsfield in an Authorised Representative and Investsure Holdings Pty Ltd ABN 16 050 286 630 as trustee for Horsfield Family Trust ABN 55 609 068 513 is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Infocus Securities Australia Pty Ltd ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 236523.

No comments

In a recent google search I discovered that at best only “4% of the population will ever be financially independent”.

Anyone who’s ever started a savings plan knows that this figure is accurate, as the temptation to spend your money now far outweighs the sacrifice of saving and having more in the future.

Maybe you haven’t discovered how much money our money can make by reinvesting our earnings; especially when working with a trusted adviser to help decide what steps and actions to take and which ones will be the most effective.

Maybe you are saving because we’re told too not realising the benefits from investing aligned to what’s truly important to you; or you’re still trying to figure it all out on our own.

Whatever the reasons are, here are some sure signs that achieving financially independence will be a struggle for you.

1 comments

“What’s important about money to you?” I asked a prospective client who came to me for some advice. To which they replied “Well I’d rather be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy”.

On the surface this sounds a valid and reasonable response. It also reflects our modern day society’s appetite and drive for achievement, however rather than helping us it may be deceiving us of what maybe a better way.

Let’s use the following personal experience to put this in perspective.

My goal weight is 78kg. When I’m above this weight I feel unhappy and unsatisfied.

My desire to achieve my happy weight motivates me to over exercise, over diet, become overly tired, then give up.

Often I’d find myself with a spoon in one hand and a bowl of ice-cream in the other, accepting failure again and the entire experience negatively impacting not only my self-esteem but my work, my relationships, my health and finances too.

Furthermore the times when I achieved my goal weight, within the next six to twelve months my weight is back on or more and I’m left wondering how I got there. A feeling of exhaustion and defeated wash over me as I accept that this maybe simply be my lot in life i.e. constantly experiencing this painful process over and over again. So much for happiness!

No comments

Well friends, 2016 is now dry cement.

However before we embark on our plans for 2017 I’d like to share the ups and downs, successes and failures of the 2016 that was.

I do this at the start and end of each year to keep myself accountable and inspired on this journey called life.

The past maybe dry cement, but I believe it’s also important to also celebrate how far we’ve come, reflect on where we could have done better and put myself out there publicly as a form of motivation to do the work I need to do in making my plans a reality.

I hope that you find my wins, stumbles, and insights help you on your own journey to getting the most in life.

No comments

 Here’s an interesting thought. “Thoughts are things” and our thoughts directly impact our lives. They are the building blocks of our focus, feelings, validation and self-esteem.

So there is some truth in the saying “Choose one’s attitude and you choose one’s life”, however what if our attitude is one of worry & fear?

Studies have found about 86% of us classify ourselves as worriers. Maybe a better career choice would be to become a Fearessional (a person who fears professionally).On average people are worrying approximately 2hrs a day.

Source How much time do you spend worrying?

Paradoxically we are living in a time when we have better health, environment, communication, transparency, greater safety, financial security and less wars.

No comments

The reason I get up each day and do business.

"To help you achieve your ideal life, live it worry free and make the world a better place". Peter Horsfield. Certified Financial Planner

No comments

Succinct, compelling and all about You!

1. Money isn't the answer. Any money that you spend that doesn't make you HAPPIER is WASTED!
2. Love what you do.- We are all attracted to authenticity and genuineness.
3. Do only the activities that you receive a direct benefit from. i.e. diet, exercise, relationships, education, adventure and spirit.
4. Discover your spirituality. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
5. Do it for you .i.e. Be true to yourself.
6. Challenge yourself often; mentally, physically, musically, spiritually, confront your fears and emotionally.
7. Let go of the past and future. The present is a present.
   1 comments

Growing up Dad would drive me to swimming training early in the morning and to pass the time we would tell each other jokes.

Trained as an accountant with a background in economics and having a very dry sense of humour, this is one of my favourite jokes I remember him recounting me.

A businessman was interviewing job applications for the position of manager of a large division. He quickly devised a test for choosing the most suitable candidate.

He simply asked each applicant this question, "What is one plus one?"

The first interviewee was a journalist. His answer was, "Eleven".

No comments

The American’s sure know how to market entertainment and sadly I’ve been sucked into watching Trump vs Republicans slagging matches, the Bernie Sanders and Hilary with the FBI. It’s House of Cards but Live!

I’ve even snapped at loved ones, just so I could watch a news grab or an interview with the candidates themselves, their fans or political commentators slagging or slandering each other like it’s a sport.

Then I asked myself “What value is this adding to my life?" It only freaks me out watching all this political sensationalism and it’s distracting me from the more important things in life within my control i.e. exercising, relationships, helping clients and trying new things.

At first my solution was to simply block news website pages and I downloaded movies instead of watching free to air TV. This only gave me more time to wonder about what’s happening, which lead me to an realisation that it might not be politics or news I am addicted to. It might be something more.

Looking inward and self-examining “What do I want more of? What can’t I get enough of? What don’t I have enough of?

Some of my discoveries were as follows.

No comments