1. Beginning

You’ve left school, started a trade or finished uni – and earning a wage barely enough to cover a night out at a club. Although you hope that working 18 hour days, 24/7 will soon have you earning decent money, you’re beginning to realise that – working for a boss sucks?

2. Middle

Your career’s progressing, but the thought of spending another 20 years doing the same thing doesn’t have you leaping out of bed. Or maybe the changing nature of work and increased competition mean that your job is not secure. You need to reinvent yourself, upskill. Whatever it takes to stay employable and maintain your lifestyle, and that of your partner or family. Or worse still, perhaps a life tragedy – death, divorce, accident or illness have changed your life forever and you need to somehow earn more money.

3. End

You’ve retired, or about to – either voluntarily or not! But looking at your superannuation or retirement nest egg, it’s unlikely to sustain you. Especially due to government changes to taxation, pension or superannuation laws. Or you too suffer a change for the worse in your circumstances. So that overseas holiday, helping out the kids, or even a weekly dinner at a nice restaurant – are all looking pretty unlikely!?

Over the past 3 weeks we’ve covered a lot of investing issues. Some things you may have already known, others not. Whether you’re a doctor, nurse, lawyer, accountant, tradie, looking after the family at home – makes no difference. Here’s hoping you now ‘get’ that relying solely on your own efforts for income is pretty limiting. And that if you start investing – buy some shares, an investment property, start a business, or even question whether your superannuation is being managed properly – you’ll have more, better choices.