Most people leave it too late to start planning for their financial future. It’s just one of those things that we will get around to doing one day – you know, invest for the future.

I have kids and have taught them that as soon as they start to earn an income, they need to put some money away to invest.

First come the savings and the savings are then dedicated to investing.

Many become stuck at this point as the lure of taking overseas holidays and owning luxury cars is far more enticing than the ‘retirement strategy’, especially if you are in your twenties or thirties.

What I’ve noticed is that once you know HOW to save and invest, the vast majority of these people also manage to take the overseas trips and own the toys because they learn to use their money wisely. They also understand the power of leveraging their money.

The dedication to investing becomes a lifestyle decision and makes all the difference to the long terminvestment goal.

After all, if the aim is to have a really great retirement, there needs to be some serious thought around investing to actually make retirement possible.

I will give you an example of how one woman had started to build wealth for her future in her thirties and through a very difficult time in her life, had to sell her assets and is starting again to rebuild her asset base.

Georgina is now 53 and has been a property investor in the past, owning 3 properties. She fell on very hard times a few years ago and had to sell two of her properties to keep her afloat.

Georgina came to me late last year and expressed her desire to get back into investing as she understood that her previous investment properties actually saved her from falling into bankruptcy. She knew how to invest and wanted to rebuild her property portfolio so that she would have a good retirement.

Because she now had a well paid job and equity in her home, she was able to start the process of purchasing her investment property and start to build wealth for her future again.

Once we have the skills to invest in property, it’s not difficult to rebuild a portfolio. In Georgina’s case, she is determined to make sure that she has a great retirement despite the issues that have come her way.

Investing starts with a decision to use these two valuable resources:

• Time
• Income

The level of dedication and focus on building the property portfolio will determine the outcome. So, what’s stopping you?