It cannot go unnoticed, that at this time of the year the amount of focus, concentration & effort that goes into getting ready for a 2 day holiday, always seems to me, massively disproportionate to the time and effort people put into planning their 25 year holiday for when they retire! Or indeed other areas of their financial planning!
Not far from our office is a Retail Park, that I think people spend more time getting in and out of than they do on reviewing their long term financial planning issues and I include making a will in that!
How bonkers is that!
Don’t get me wrong being a parent of three girls, I have spent many an hour queuing up for the latest Barbie or some weird looking creature and have equally spent many an hour trawling the shops and getting in and out of the car park mazes and yes some of it was fun! But only some!
I also appreciate that no matter how good I may convey my opinions and beliefs, I will never be able to totally convey the love and passion and commitment for my business and profession and that all it stands for regarding advising people and thus fully understand that planning for your retirement, reviewing your mortgage and liabilities and setting up the correct amount of life assurance will never surpass the enjoyment of a Starbucks and a chocolate muffin after a hard days shopping or indeed the face of a child when receiving a gift.
Financial Planning is often lower on the order of priorities and that’s fine!
New year will be here before you know it and everyone will be advising you to “review your ISA’s for the tax year” “dust down your finances” “make a New Year resolution to save” etc- all good advice incidentally.
But you should be doing these things on a regular basis with a Financial Adviser.
How much difference do you think would it make to your plans, if you reviewed your circumstances on a regular basis with the same passion, commitment and focus that you do when Christmas shopping and planning for the two day break!
Financial planning is an ongoing project and invariably a long term project and if you’re serious about your future or your family’s, you need to employ the same tenacity that you employ when getting that limited edition Barbie, or cuddly toy or latest Xbox game or indeed the Muffin!
Planning includes short, medium and long term goals and make sure your planning includes focus and commitment for all those wonderful Christmas times ahead of you when you will hopefully be watching others cram a year’s worth of energy into a two day holiday from the comfort of your Christmas past planned!
We do provide coffee in our financial planning reviews and a hobnob if required, we may even stretch to a muffin and I cannot guarantee it will be as enjoyable as a 6 hour shopping spree, but I will guarantee it will be far more rewarding in the long term.
Book a meeting with your Financial Adviser now and a Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to you and yours.
