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Not All Hope Gone – Millennials Can Bounce Back Amid COVIDUpheaval, Says Top Advisor

As a study conducted by Fidelity Life NZ revealed that millennials have been hardest hit by COVID-19 in terms of job losses, personal finance and money-related anxiety, it proves yet another setback for young Kiwis who don’t have a financial cushion, house or stable career.

Founder and Chief Advisor of iConsult, Satyan Mehra, says now is not the time for young people to bury their heads in the sand and get further disheartened by the world; with a shift towards a positive financial mindset and the implementation of the right planning, financial security can still be achieved by anyone, regardless of their current situation.

“I think everyone needs financial security – it’s not a nice position to be in when you’re struggling to make ends meet, yet it’s not something that many young people plan for.

“We plan holidays, we plan our studies, we plan our meals and we plan our weekends. Why don’t we plan for our financial security? Why don’t we think about who’s going to support us when we’re 65? Is the government superannuation going to be enough? Will it even exist years down the line? Who knows – so we really need to start thinking and finding these things out.”

As thinking and planning is crucial to getting your finances on track, Mehra also says that it must be relevant and specific to the person’s life for it to work.

“It’s finding out what your why is. You go to work, you make money, but what’s the real reason behind it? What are you ultimately trying to achieve? It’s finding out where you are, where you’re trying to get to and planning around that - and you have to do it for your future self.

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A common issue that isn’t helping the situation, according to Mehra, is the fact that many young people visiting him are wanting the best of both worlds – the lifestyle as well as the house and finances. While he appreciates and understands that, he says that one of the kindest things you can do for yourself is to work hard right now by making sacrifices, in order to reap the benefits later.

“While mental health and lifestyle is important, if you don’t have the finances to back it up, you won’t be able to do all those things that you enjoy. Money is not happiness, but it is required to be happy to some extent as it enables you to do things.

“The way I think is that if spending time with and supporting my family and kids is important, for example, I’ll happily sacrifice some things now for that to be possible in the long run. So that’s why changing your mindset and cutting certain things out is key.

Mehra offers this advice to millennials looking to turn their financial situation around:

1. Plan

“Planning and awareness is key. Think about your future and how you want to live. If you’re funding a fancy lifestyle based on debts or living pay check to pay check, how long could you do that for? Things go wrong all the time and COVID-19 is the biggest example”, says Mehra.

2. Don’t Compare

“It’s all about you and your personal financial circumstances – no one else. At some stage, you have to stop thinking that other people are spoon fed or have everything on a platter; you don’t know what’s going on in their lives, you don’t know how much work they’ve put in to get where they are - it’s a classic ‘grass is greener’ scenario.”

3. Reward Yourself

“I think something that works really well is to reward yourself. If you’ve set yourself some goals and you’ve achieved them, go and reward yourself – that will probably give you the motivation to do it all over again.”

“If you’re feeling defeated as a young person in terms of your finances, just remember that whatever is done is done. You can’t hold it against yourself or anyone else - things can easily be turned around if you take the right steps and have patience.”

For more information: https://iconsult.nz/

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