Last night Alan Kohler, the economics presenter on the ABC news, presented some interesting statistics relating to some Australian spending habits.  Australians spend, per capita, $17.50 per week on gambling - mainly on pokies, scratchies and casinos. 

This is an extraordinary amount of money - about 5% of the average weekly wage spent on gambling.

You know what every financial planner does next: if this amount ($17.50 a week) of money is invested into growth assets that return 10% a year, then after 40 years the value of the portfolio will be $485,000. 

40 years is an interesting time, as it represents about a person's working life - from age 20 to 60.  Imagine having $485,000 next to your superannuation at retirement, you would be in great shape to enjoy retirement.

Isn't it ironic, that the habit associated with financial hope might actually stand in the way of financial success achieved through the discipline of investing regularly in growth assets over time!