Category: Finance

Is my ideal retirement possible?

Is there a chance my retirement may be different?

Many people find that their view and experience of their retirement may be very different from what they expect. Reality can be a pretty harsh awakener (especially if it’s your own retirement).

How do I get a picture of my income in retirement?

In the financial part of the equation, you can of course model, plan and adjust assumptions and figures as you head towards the big day and the rest of your life.  Of course it takes a high degree of  knowledge and skill to get the figures absolutely correct, and with the aid of technology, it is easier to get pretty close, even building in re-runs of the 2008 credit crunch (remember that?).

What if things don’t turn out like I thought?

Even if you have the financial plan in place, it may be that the other side of retirement – LIFE – can all of a sudden, not unfold quite as you had imagined.

What do I want from retirement?

Will your retirement be all holidays and lunches at garden centres? Will it be just looking forward to watching your favourite TV show with an eccles cake and a cup of tea at 3.30pm ?  Or, could it be full of purpose, full of fun, a brand new start?

What do I want to achieve when I finish work?

Frequently people who had such high expectations for their retirement, find that a year or two in, they have managed to find themselves in a rut of mundaneness (they may even be fulfilling their spouses retirement and not even thinking about their own). They may even look back and wish that they had stayed working and be paid to be bored, rather than sacrifice an income and lack little social interaction.

Should I start to plan my life and money?

People just like you are quickly realising that they need to plan their retirement just as they plan their future.  That planning is not just about scheduling in a month-long break to Malta each October, but figuring out how each day and week may look for you.  What will you do to happily fill the time, and regain your purpose and passions which may well have been put on hold for 50 years (whilst ‘grown up life’ for in the way).

Is there more to retirement than just money?

Finding your happy retirement is not just going to be attached to a number – a certain amount of income, especially if all those years lack fun, freedom and a real purpose. You will probably find that the things which bring you the most joy, may not even cost much at all, you just need to find them and not be trapped in a retirement bucket.

Together we can bring some Serenity to your life

 

How bad is commuting for your mental health?

Many of us acknowledge that the journey to work is a real drag, that arduous commute, changing from 1st gear to 2nd, or jammed into a stuffy bus or tube train.  That is no way to make you feel uplifted and positive about the day to come – far from it!

How has commuting changed?

According to research by the University of West of England (analysing 26,000 people over 5 years), not only has the commute time increased by 25%, but 1 in 7 spend more than 2 hours commuting every day – that is 10 hours a week!

What is the impact of commuting on your mental health

An increase in stress and worsening of mental health for workers (not to mention the impact that then has on their families).  There are of course only 24 hours in each day – so choosing how to spend them is a very important task indeed. Continue reading “How bad is commuting for your mental health?” →

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 ?” →

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

 

 

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” →

How the Tax System Works – in Beer

A bit of tax fun (not words which usually go that well together)

I came across this tax analogy from Toby Morris.

It takes the example of a group of people going out for a beer, and distributing the bill according to their means in life – so far so good, some obviously pay more than others, and some pay nothing at all as they are unable to. Continue reading “How the Tax System Works – in Beer” →

The cost of missing out on university

Can you imagine the cost of missing out on university ?

Now, I am not talking about a specialist role which needs a degree, but rather (as tends to be common) someone who has no particular direction, but thinks that uni will be a good option for a few years, because all their pals are going there.

The big question here is, are you willing to invest a huge amount of YOUR FUTURE money on the speculation that you may get a better outcome.  Let’s see… Continue reading “The cost of missing out on university” →