Whilst it sounds great to bend over, pick up your children and give them a hug, sometimes (especially at this rather demanding time of year) it is easier said than done. Continue reading “What is the best way to deal with an angry child?”
Author: Jeremy Squibb
What should I teach my children about money ?
‘Parenting & finance’, ‘pocket money’, ‘treats’, ‘can I have’, all things which crop up frequently once you have children.
You may think that children only hear and see what we want them to, however, how many times have you listened or watched them playing, and thought ‘oh my – that sounds just like me’ or even more shuddering sometimes ‘wow, they sound just like my parents’.
Where do our children learn their money habits ?
Most of us, and our children may have learned these lessons about money from our role models (Mum and Dad), and so the cycle goes on. Continue reading “What should I teach my children about money ?”
How Important is Family Culture
Our friends are soon to have another baby, one which, without doubt will be brought up in the most loving, caring environment possible.
What does a family or business really need to flourish?
What’s the difference between Financial Planning and Financial Life Planning?
What is Financial Life Planning?
Anyone who has ever come into contact with a Serenity Financial Life Planner will be more than aware of our passion for not just financial planning, but financial life planning.
That small four letter word ‘life’ may not seem that significant but it epitomises the whole point of us being here. The whole purpose of being on the planet is about life, and without that key element, perhaps there is no point, no purpose, and no logic.
Where did Financial Life Planning come from?
In the attached article, George Kinder, the founding father of Financial Life Planning explains the huge difference between financial planning and financial life planning.
In short, one deals with people’s money, the other focusses on their lives and happiness first, then sets to work around the money part. In a way, I guess it is comparing living to living life.
Isn’t finance all about policies?
To quote one of our very great friends Andy Hart of Maven Adviser, ‘no adviser ever got a letter from a pension policy asking for help’.
What should my adviser really be doing?
Emotion drives decisions, and decisions drive life, this is when we finally figure out that people’s emotions drive everything. To understand emotions, and ultimately our clients’ drivers through their lives, we need to listen to them, not project our opinions on how clever we think we are.
Why is financial life planning different?
Ultimately, it’s all about having a deep and meaningful relationship with our clients through their lives, not a synthetic relationship with their money for as long as it lasts. Without that deep relationship, we are just continually guessing at what may be best for our clients, guesses which may have a long term detrimental effect on their happiness.
Together we can bring some Serenity to your life
How easy is it to save money?
Is saving money just like losing weight?
Well there is a question – and in short, yes – the principle is the same, and here is why…
How do most people go about losing weight?
Generally, people start by getting good idea of how heavy they are, figuring out where they want to get to, and start to monitor their progress. The progress is made by changes to behaviour, an approach of what is consumed, and how much energy is spent.
Is saving and weight loss just about will-power?
A disciplined approach to weight-loss is something many of us recognise, and in a way, is no different to how perhaps you should approach a disciplined structure to money management.
Discipline and structure is how to save
By figuring out how much money is needed to be saved, how the budget needs to be trimmed, or a particular financial focus is needed, you have the equivalent of a weight-loss goal.
Awareness of consumption is important
Follow this up with a mindful and intentional structure and monitoring of expenditure, the spending behaviour may well change (just like by eating apples instead of cakes for example). Less money is consumed (like less food), and perhaps less is spent (or at least spent in a more intentional manner).
Do I need a support group or mentor?
A sustained, monitored and coached approach is of huge benefit for many people with regards their finances in order to avoid the monetary equivalent of yo-yo dieting, yet it doesn’t seem to be widespread. People happily spend over £4 a day on take away coffee, and another £6 on lunch, yet many would baulk at the idea of paying to be coached around their money.
Do people pay for financial coaching?
A good number of our Serenity clients around the UK, although they have accumulated wealth, may have done so by accident (through an inheritance perhaps, or even having it retained within their business), yet still need significant ongoing support and coaching to retain their understanding and reality of money. This is the value our clients find in our relationship with them – and that is what it is, a relationship with our clients, not their money.
Do I need investments to have financial coaching?
In fact, more and more people are now paying for financial planning, coaching and support and not even having investments in place. Instead, they see the real value in changing their habits and being supported on a regular basis to keep them moving towards their goals.
That is what matters most – people arriving at their goals, and sustaining them.
Together we can bring some Serenity to your life
How to keep your routine going when travelling
How do I stop travel distorting my daily routine
It’s not easy building and developing a regular daily routine of eating well, caring for the body and mind, and generally looking after yourself.
Once you have established one however, travel, holidays or being in a different environment seem to take a swipe from the side, pushing you off track. Be it travelling to a different city for work (which if you do often enough, can then develop its own routine – such as finding a yoga session in a sleeper compartment on a train), a two week holiday, or a visit to friends or family, this disruption or disturbance can dramatically cause you to go off track, and potentially jeopardise the regular routine when you return to your normal environment.
How do I keep my routine when others don’t embrace it?
Perhaps the greatest challenge is staying with others who are not aligned with your own routine.
Does it appear unsociable to head off for a run, to lock yourself away to meditate, or to spend that 30 minutes a day focussing on the project you have committed to? Maybe in your own mind it does, but just think about the last time you had a guest to stay, and they took time out to spend some time on a task they are dedicated to (or turned down a slice of chocolate cake). How did that seem to you?
Will people be upset if I do my own thing?
Rather than being offended at your guest’s need for time, it is more likely that you admired their dedication, commitment and desire to move forward, and at the same time, opened up a great discussion about their routine.
Can I inspire others with my routine?
Rather than feel ashamed or uneasy of your regular routine when travelling, embrace the adapted version, be proud of it, explain it to others, and act as their inspiration to move themselves forwards.
Pension reviews – the new timeshare scandal
Even those of us in the profession get phone calls offering a free pension review (I have also been told that my investments have underperformed and I am entitled to compensation, my life cover was not advised properly, and my mortgage was not set up on the right rate) recently, I had this call which went like …
“Hello, I am from the pension review service, and we are phoning to give you a free review of your pension as it is probably underperforming”. Continue reading “Pension reviews – the new timeshare scandal”
Why just goals or objective based planning is selling the client short
Pure goals and objective based planning is far better than the greedy pursuit of ‘more’ which has been the bedrock of financial advice for many a year. Look at it, once we have more, we want some more of that more – it is a never satisfying cycle. Continue reading “Why just goals or objective based planning is selling the client short”
Is there a £500k hole in your pocket
The answer to that is ‘yes’ if you are the client who I was recently working with!
I’ll explain how… Continue reading “Is there a £500k hole in your pocket”
6 Reasons Spending Time With Family is Important
It is all too easy to get caught up in the pursuit of career, work, hobbies, even obsessive about cleaning or just ‘stuff’ in general. The downside of all of this, is that we miss those who are really the most important to us, those who we can be pretty confident will be there as we take our last breath. Continue reading “6 Reasons Spending Time With Family is Important”
Escaping The Bucket 