2017, Business Insider produced this great article about financial advice for 20 year olds. There are 2 simple elements to a great foundation for young people – save and don’t spend. Continue reading “What’s the best financial advice for a young person?”
Quick answer – no! Continue reading “The Quick Way to Fix Your Finances”
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
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
Escaping The Bucket 