There is much financial advice floating around - some of it is even free. But you may think that the only financial advice worth taking note of is something you've paid dearly for. It must be some special, long report full of jargon that you can barely understand - and of course written by those professional financial advisors who charge an arm and a leg for it. In fact, you would need to take it to another financial advisor to have it explained.

Nope, not so. You don't need financial advice that is hard to understand or so longwinded it bores you to tears. What you need is something short and succinct. You need financial advice that switches the light bulb on in your brain; that gives you one of those moments of brilliant clarity with which to peer down the long years of your life. It should be easy to understand and easier still to implement. This financial advice should become a part of your life, your spending habits and character. And certainly it should be something that you can easily pass onto your kids.

The best financial advice I ever got was from my mother. She said, “Do you really need that?” Now how hard is that to understand? Do you really need it? You may desire it. You may long for it. You may even dream about owning it. But do you really need it? In other words, will not having it cause you to die?

You can apply this piece of financial advice to clothing. We all need clothing. We don't need designer clothing that is so expensive that it would feed a third world child for a year. We don’t need to have our wardrobes stuffed so full of it that we never see the bottom layer.

We can apply this financial advice to food. Everyone needs food: we don’t all need the most expensive cut of steak. Nor do we need to eat out every night, nor even once a week. Homes? Sure we all like to live in a nice, big home. A little one will do, though. We won’t die if we don’t have four bedrooms with ensuites and a swimming pool. New modern furniture would be great, but we can make do with stuff from the op-shop, or Gran’s bedroom suite.

Financial advice doesn't have to be difficult. Ask yourself do you need it every time before you buy something and you'll soon find that you have plenty of money to invest - and some left over to pay for expert financial advice on the best way to do it.