I have finally done it. After years of weighing up the pros and cons (and telling my optometrist every time I saw him that I would do it) I have just had laser eye surgery. Anyone who has had this procedure can tell you just how expensive it is, and there is only one health fund who covers the cost (after a 3 year waiting period). My health fund doesn’t cover laser eye surgery.

I was talking to one of the people who had it done the same day as me and she said that although the cost of the surgery was over $5000, she would make the money back in about 4 years. She was a regular contact lens wearer, which cost her about $110 per month.

I rarely wore contacts and had last updated my glasses about 2 years ago. By my calculations, the time taken to recover the cost of the surgery will be about 25 to 30 years! But this is not just about money. It’s a lifestyle change. A change that allows me to do lots of things I previously couldn’t (or at least do lots of things with much more ease than I could before). Laser eye surgery is a luxury, but one that had been budgeted for and covered by savings.

It’s part of what financial freedom means for me.

I grew up in a household where we always had a dishwasher (the earliest one I can remember was louder than a vacuum cleaner!) and I hate doing the washing up. As a result, I will put anything, everything into the dishwasher. Pots, wine glasses the good crockery with the fancy gold rim (yes, it was a gift), undies – you name it, it goes into the dishwasher. What can I say, I’m bloody lazy.

I’m also lazy when it comes to paying bills. Every regular bill we get is paid by direct debit. It’s a really easy way to pay bills. You do have to make sure that you have the available funds in your bank account for those bills and you must check your bank statements and bills so you know what you are paying for. But the time and effort saved is well worth it. And you never wake in the middle of the night worried that the electricity is about to be cut ’cause you’ve forgotten to pay it.

With election day getting closer, you will have to decide which person or party you will put a number 1 next to. I am not about to tell you which of the 2 major parties is better, and I don’t discuss how I vote. I would simply urge you to consider the bigger picture.

Both major parties have things going for and against them when it comes to matters of personal finance. The coalition started the Financial Literacy Foundation, whose aim was to raise the standards of money knowledge among all Aussies. The Labor party ripped the guts out of it. Labor has plans to increase super contributions so all Aussies have a better retirement. The coalition has said it will scrap these plans.

The next time you see a pollie (or candidate) in the local shopping centre, try not to focus on what is going to benefit, or hurt, you the most. Think about what will be best for society and the country. Then put a 1 next to the party, or independent, who you feel will do the job.

When I was young I asked my mum “Why do we have compulsory voting in Australia?” She replied quite simply “If you didn’t have the right to vote, you would want it more than anything else.” Please, don’t waste this important right.

On a recent work trip to Queensland I got talking with a cabbie – a bloke in his late 20’s or early 30’s who had come to Australia from the sub-continent. He arrived, aged 16, with nothing. It turns out that this guy had only recently moved to Queensland from Melbourne. For love, of course.

He told me that he owned 2 cabs in Melbourne as well as a house. Outright. Yes, all 3 of them. “What does it cost for a pair of taxi number plates?” I asked. “Five hundred thousand dollars,” he replied. I turn to my colleague in the back seat and said “There you go – the cabbie’s a millionaire!”

He had worked bloody hard and you wouldn’t pick his wealth to look at the guy. In fact, he would blend into a crowd as easily as many of the wealthy people I have met. The ones who stand out, displaying wealth with the clothes they wear and food they eat, are the ones who keep their credit card providers very, very happy.