A millionaire who retired at the age of 43 has offered advice to young people on how to get ahead in life, and to the Australian government on the price of utilities and the cost of hamburgers.
The 53-year-old man was interviewed on a Sydney street about his finances by Coposit St, an app that helps Aussies save for home loans.
‘I have between $1million and $2 million in my savings account,’ he said, having ‘semi-retired’ a decade ago from his job in ‘risk and investigations’.
He explained that meant ‘dealing with … economic loss at mine sites, in manufacturing, investigation type stuff’.
Similar jobs available now pay between $90,000 and $120,000 – a good salary, but one that indicates the man must have been careful with his money to get to be a millionaire and retire at 43.
‘Most people live outside their means, particularly younger people. They spend before they have the money, or they do it on credit or on Afterpay,’ he said.
‘My advice is live within your means now so that you’d be more comfortable later on in life. Paying off your house, work towards not having a credit card.’
He added that ‘If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it’ and said a lot of younger people ‘fall into a trap’ by buying things they can’t afford.
The 53-year-old man (pictured left) was interviewed on a Sydney street about his money by finance app Coposit St (interviewer pictured right)
The man said doing so can lead to people having to pay, for example, $400 a month in interest on their credit card debt.
‘You can flip that, that’s $400 that you have in savings, and then you can go to creating wealth by way of accumulation of asset or savings accounts,’ he said.
He then said that the cost of living in Australia ‘is out of control’ but that the government shouldn’t now ‘throw money at subsidising it because it creates a false economy’.
‘We should subsidise to help people to be able to exist, but if you subsidise where they don’t pay, they’re not accountable for it, so that doesn’t change their habits, and it’s about changing habits to change the cost of living,’ he said.
The man then took on international economics, say he doesn’t ‘necessarily believe in globalisation either, because the more people that you can have working within Australia and producing within Australia, they are spending within our own economy’.
‘I’m not anti-globalisation, but I think that we should look at ways of living within our means and protecting ourselves first.’
As an example of where Australia should do this, he said: ‘Energy is really important. We have an abundance of it in Australia. We pay too much for energy.’
The man advised young people to ‘live within your means now so that you’d be more comfortable later on in life’. Stock image
The millionaire said ‘If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it’, adding that a lot of younger people ‘fall into a trap’ by buying things they can’t afford
He said this means ‘it costs you more to make a hamburger, it costs you more to drive your car, it costs you more to build your house.
‘I think if you can have more secure, sustainable and cheaper energy in Australia, it would go a long way to reducing cost of living across the board.’
The man was then asked if he had any ‘unpopular opinions’.
‘My most unpopular opinion is listening to first world problems,’ he replied. ‘Cost of living is one of them.
‘A lot of people can do things for themselves to reduce the strain on themselves. We live in a welfare society and I think welfare should be distributed to the people (that most need it).
‘We have all these homeless people and they’ve got nowhere to live, wouldn’t that be your priority?’
Not everyone took kindly to his advice though, with one commenter writing that ‘Young people can’t get a house unless they come from wealth, very out of touch.’
Another suggested that the man inherited the money he has, while a third said if he had that much money he ‘wouldn’t have it in a savings account’.
But others were more receptive to what he said, with one writing that it was ‘Wisdom right there folks! You take notice kids.’
Another said he had also done well in life, as the 53-year-old millionaire had.
‘Bought a unit in the eastern suburbs and inner Melbourne in my early 20s bought a house in south west Sydney 4 years ago. And I’m a truck driver.
‘Next is Wollongong or sth east Melbourne,’ they wrote.
A millionaire has offered advice to young Aussies struggling with their finances. Stock image
A baby boomer (pictured) sparked outrage for claiming young people should stop spending their money on coffees after revealing he had amassed a $40million fortune
One person even offered their own piece of financial advice, writing that ‘People mistake their ‘basic needs’ for ‘creature comforts’.’
Others just made a joke of the whole thing, with one saying they use ‘Afterpay to pay for a $1 (item) at Kmart. It’s just better financial success.’
The latest instance of a wealthy Australian giving advice to young people about how to spend their money followed a baby boomer saying they should work hard and stop buying coffees if they want to build their wealth.
The 83-year-old man offering those pearls of wisdom revealed he has a $40million fortune.
He said he started out as a lawyer before he began investing in properties and became a hotelier.
The interviewer asked him if he had any ‘tips or tricks’ to save money.
‘I think, probably, if you can do away with your couple of coffees a day and things that are not necessary, then it all helps,’ he said.
‘Eating out and doing those sorts of things that you don’t need to do … just watch how you spend your pennies, that’s the main thing.’
