Money
Hard work usually pays off - but not when it comes to money
Work hard and success will come, right? Hmm, not if you try hard. When it comes to money the harder you work, the more likely you end up with a crappier outcome.
By Alex Brooks
Laziness trumps effort, especially if you’re my husband.
His favourite phrase is ‘ride the bell curve‘ - because he understands maths and statistics better than me, he knows you only have to be a teensy bit above average to accrue better than average results.
And the same is true of money.
When it comes to investing and planning your superannuation for retirement, that same instinct to hustle can work against you.
The more you try to be “good at investing”, the more likely you are to chase returns, dabble in the wrong things, react to the market, and end up with worse outcomes. That’s not a moral failing; it’s behavioural economics.
The best investors are often the laziest. Or to put it more kindly: they’re patient, low-fee, autopilot types who let time and compound growth do the work.
Like my husband, they ‘ride that bell curve’ and let design - not effort - help them achieve.
3 ways to be a gun with money
There are 3 big levers within your control that matter more than TRYING to be good with money:
- How much you invest
- How much you pay in fees and taxes
- How long you stay invested
Let’s start with the one with the biggest impact early on: your savings rate.
Investing means you put money away. Whether it’s in super, a term deposit or buying ETFs or shares, investing puts you ahead.
Read: Shane Oliver’s no-nonsense tips to invest for future wealth
Gun money move #1: reverse lifestyle inflation
Over the long term, how much you save - or invest - matters more than how well your investments perform.
And the easiest way to increase that savings rate? Don’t cut your current lifestyle. Just treat new money like it doesn’t exist.
Got a 3% pay rise? Funnel it straight into super via salary sacrifice.
Unexpected bonus or birthday gift? Lock it away to invest. Tax refund? Don’t upgrade your couch or go on a holiday – invest it.
An inheritance or windfall? Park it in super and mop up one of your ‘caps’. This approach is known as ‘reverse lifestyle inflation’.
You get richer in the long run by putting the money out of your head so you never feel like you deprive yourself.
And the bonus? BANG! You have more money in the end. It’s one of the most quietly powerful money moves you can make.
Gun money move #2: Look for lower fees and charges
In Australia, our superannuation is one of the cheapest and easiest low-fee ways to invest in diverse income streams.
Yet still, people try to chase the sharemarket or keep money outside of superannuation, where active funds can charge more than 2%+ in fees.
Many professionally managed funds fail to beat the market over time.
Ratings agency Morningstar says actively managed investment fund fees can average 0.8% but go as high as 2.3% and above.
The best investment strategy – for the vast majority of people who aren’t professional investors – is a low-cost, broadly diversified index fund (like those in many industry super funds or ETFs).
In a tax-sheltered environment like super, super can make even more sense.
Gun money move #3: Compound interest
The first rule of compounding investment: never interrupt it. That means don’t withdraw; don’t sell if the market gets shaky.
If you invest $500 a month for 40 years and earn say 8% a year, you will accrue $1.74 million.
Sounds great! But $1.5 million of that comes from compounding, not your contributions.
Around 60% of that return comes in the final 10 years of that 40 year term.
It’s time IN the market, not timing the market that works. And that’s why Albert Einstein called it the eighth wonder of the world.
Riding that bell curve
In statistics, a bell curve (also called a normal distribution) shows how most outcomes cluster around the average – whether it's test scores, income or investment returns. The majority fall in the middle, with fewer people at the high and low extremes.
So what does it mean to “ride the bell curve”? It means understanding that:
- Small, consistent advantages compound into big differences over time.
- You don’t need to be in the top 1% to succeed – being in the top 51% consistently can take you much further than people think.
- The system rewards persistence, not perfection.
In terms of retirement planning:
- Choosing a low-fee super fund and sticking with it = riding the bell curve.
- Saving 2% more than your peers = above-average savings rate → significantly better outcomes in retirement.
- Not panicking during market downturns while others sell = a small behavioural edge that puts you ahead of the curve.
My husband would never say to aim low. He would say play the long game by being just a smidge above average. Because being just slightly better than average, consistently, beats heroic effort followed by burnout or bad luck.
This article reflects the views and experience of the author and not necessarily the views of Citro. It contains general information only and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about any financial products or investments. Readers’ personal circumstances have not been taken into account and they should always seek their own professional financial and taxation advice that takes into account their personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
Feature image: iStock/Paul Bradbury
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