Real Money Advice For Families (Your Family, Your Money)

Luna Group Pty Ltd Publishing (Published 2009)

Written by Analaura and Wilson Luna

Country: Australia

Review 4 Stars – Excellent Book

How the blurb describes the book:
Do you want to stop simply ‘surviving’ from week to week?
Would you like to secure your family’s financial future?
Would you like more time and money to spend with your family?
Would you like the freedom to live the life you want to live?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions... this book is for you!

Real Money Advice for Families is a one of a kind financial guide providing ready solutions for the financial challenges that everyday Australian families face through the use of an easy-to-follow model called the ‘Family Survival Plan’.

Wilson and Analaura Luna have over 20 years combined experience in the investment and financial services sector. Their private practice has achieved the sought after level of ‘platinum status’, and is widely known as leading the industry in terms of quality, thought leadership and the provision of simple solutions to traditional complicated problems.

Their trademark blend of simple, yet effective advice has given countless clients the tools and resources they needed to reach their financial potential – and they are sharing their knowledge and experience with you.

Here’s what some real families who have experienced the benefits of Wilson and Analaura’s Family Survival Plan have to say:

‘This plan holds back no punches, some of it is very confronting and made us take a really hard look at ourselves, but we needed that in order to get out of the debt we were in.’ Tony and Judith

‘The best way to describe the plan is that it’s simple, easy to understand, and it works. If you are a family looking for an easy money system to implement in your household, then give it a go – you won’t regret it.’ Dennis and Linda

‘After taking the four stage journey outlined in the Family Survival Plan, we realised that our family’s main problem wasn’t how much money we made but rather what we chose to do with it,’ Kerry and Kertus.

Mr Home Budget’s Review:
This book starts off with two quite powerful pages. In fact, I will rewrite them word for word. Remember this book was published right in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis. And these words sum it up very nicely: “The debt of a nation. That debt levels in Australia have increased substantially over the last five years is beyond question. According to a report released by AMP/NATSEM almost one-quarter of Australian households spent over 30 per cent of their disposable income on housing in 2005/2006 , compared with 19 per cent of disposable income just a decade earlier.
         Families are worse off in real terms now than they were in 2002, with interest on mortgage and personal loan payments more than cancelling out any income increases that have occurred in the last five years. These figures are shocking and they prompt many people to question how and why Australia became so indebted.
         There are a number of factors that have contributed to the current financial climate in Australia. Australians have enjoyed low interest rates and low inflation over the last decade. Households have also changed structurally; with more families having both parents in the workforce and enjoying the perceived financial ‘freedom’ this has given them.

The deregulation of the financial industry also contributed to this perception, with increased competition and innovation making it easy for people to tap into funds that they would never have been approved to access in the past. A great deal of this ‘new debt’ was accessed through redraw facilities and home equity lending, giving average families a feeling of prosperity as they were able to do and have the things they dreamed of.

People were secure in their employment and confident that soaring property values would keep going up and up. We were a happy, confident and seemingly prosperous nation with a future that was just going to get better and better. Unfortunately, this national euphoria hid a multitude of financial sins that the average person would never contemplate taking part in during the tougher circumstances of previous decades.

Families rushed in to snap up over-valued properties simply because the market suggested that the value of these properties would continue to rise. Many families used the equity in their homes that they had spent years accumulating, to fund swimming pools, cars and holidays with little thought of the actual cost of these luxuries.

But possibly the biggest factor was the introduction of no-doc home loans with no deposit mortgages, cleverly packaged to allow people to become trapped in the nightmare of living beyond their means. It was a time when money was easily borrowed and even more easily spent.”

Wow, this long statement really sums up a feeling which has taken place in Australian suburbs from around 2001— Powerful writing indeed!

However, don’t get the wrong idea about the book. It’s not all about the past or the history of home loans in Australia. The book is about getting your family out of debt and having a working budget.

It is broken down into four stages:
Stage One – Manage your debt
Stage Two – Protect your wealth
Stage Three – Take financial control
Stage Four – Build your wealth

Each stage contains 3 to 5 chapters on different subjects which will help you achieve the end goal of that stage. At the end of each chapter is an action station page. Summing up all the ‘to dos’ from the chapter conveniently in one place. Plus advice which you might not normally think about when you are doing your home budget. The advice subjects include: how to choose a financial adviser, wills, trauma insurance, superannuation, your own risk profile, buying shares, managed funds and franking dividends.

The authors will leave you in no doubt as to where they stand on different financial matters. And they even go as far as warning you against certain products or companies. Some subjects they will only give you a broad overview and point you in the right direction to get more information. However, with other ones they will give you all the nuts and bolts, with detailed information— allowing you to move forward with confidence.

Some of the other lines which I must share: “Get your priorities straight. Many people’s attitude to money is like their attitude to time – they can always find time for things they need to do and things they enjoy doing, but can’t ever seem to find time for things that are important. As far as money is concerned, they can always find the money to pay for the things they need (like food and bills) and the things they enjoy (like going out and having holidays), but can never seem to find the money to do the things that are important (like paying off their debts or saving for the future). Money is simply not a priority for these people and with no commitment to making it work for them; they find it easy to waste the money they have.”

The book is a great read with many real life examples. However at times you might feel like it reads too much like a textbook (however these times are few and far between). There is so much information in here; the authors could have easily broken down the book into two separate books. However, luckily for us they have kept it all together.

If your budget needs a retune, go out and get this book now!

Pros: Very easy to read and digest
Teaches you that you don’t have an earning problem, you have a spending problem.
It gets you to think about things not normally associated with a home budget.

Cons: At times it feels like you are reading a manual or textbook.
Some subjects take on too much information, probably more than warranted.