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What is Financial Life Planning

What is Financial Life Planning?

Our typical clients don’t want to slow down or retire too early only to discover their money runs out. On the other hand, they don’t want to retire too late and continue working when they could have been playing. Also, because of the savage taxes due on death, they don’t want to die with too much money, but they’re often afraid to spend it or give it away.

Most people don’t have a financial life plan, but everybody needs one.

When client’s come to us, they don’t beat down our door asking for one either, as they generally come to us with a financial question, something to do with pensions & investments, where & how to invest some money, want to get their Wills sorted, are bothered by their potential inheritance tax issue, want to talk about legacy, etc. The thing is, these are generally symptoms of not having a full grasp of the bigger picture …. and getting that grasp is a hard things to do.

Life can be broken down into a series of stages:

  • Work
  • Pre-tirement
  • Active Retirement
  • Traditional Retirement
  • Later Life

Your financial circumstances will change from stage to stage, as will your income and expenses. So will your goals. All of this will also have an affect on your assets. Left to themselves, people focus on their immediate surroundings and the very near future. They also have a tendency to believe things will always be the same and to be surprised when they change without warning, often with dire consequences.

To cope with these changing circumstances, we need to create a financial life plan.

To create a financial life plan, we need to first have an understanding of what your life looks like now and what’s your vision for the future – the life you want, or if that seems too big a question, the life you don’t want. It’s a starting point.

By analysing your current life & expenditure, and building a vision of your future we can get a picture of what your future expenditure will look like. We will also make you think about your “big one-offs” – what larger single purchases will you want to make, or be forced to make, through the rest of your life. With this in hand, we can map out what income and assets you have today, and how they will change over time.

Most of our clients are looking to answer the question “do I have enough?” Whilst an important question to get an answer for, and we will answer it, we re-frame things and help you get a fuller understanding, over time, to the more important initial question “Enough for what?”. Once we have as fuller answer to this, understanding whether you have enough is easier.

WHAT DOES HAPPINESS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

For some it may just be the comfort that you have enough to live worry free, spend time with family and potter in the garden. For others, it could be seeing the world, holidaying every month or buying a 2nd home in the UK or abroad. Let us help you find your suitable life …. your happiness.

Answering the two questions “do I have enough?” & “Enough for What?”, great right? That’s it, job done! Well, not quite.

As human beings, our lives are always changing. Internal factors will influence our lives & change the circumstances (& hence our planning):

  • What you thought you wanted to do – binge on leisure, lots of holidays, golf twice a week, etc. – you now don’t want to do so much (as crazy as that sounds)
  • You’ve just had a personal health issue
  • Someone in your close family has just had a health issue – health of a child, concern over an aging parent
  • You’re bored, you’ve lost some purpose
  • A family member needs financial assistance
  • There are additions to your family – children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren
  • Family transitions – end of private education, start of university, weddings, significant birthdays
  • You lose your partner/spouse
  • You lose another close member of your family
  • You downsize
  • Move location
  • You’ve made a bad investment, and lost money

As will external factors:

  • The wider economy
  • Property market has fallen
  • Property market has significantly risen
  • The equity market has bombed
  • Global pandemics ….!

All of these factors & life events create transitions that you need to go through. You have either planned for some of these transitions, or you are (like most people) repairing after the financial shock of them. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO PREPARE THAN REPAIR.

Financial Life Planning is an ongoing process that helps you achieve and maintain that desired lifestyle – whatever happens. By subscribing to our Ongoing Programme, we can help you navigate what life throws at you on an ongoing basis. This helps ensure that your roadmap is constantly up-to-date, to give you full peace of mind. It helps you manage, protect and, most importantly, enjoy your life! Before it’s too late.

Knowing how much is enough will give you the freedom to live your life smarter. Life is not a rehearsal, it needs to be lived to the max. How fast did the last 5 years fly by? How quickly do you think the next 5 years will go? If you’re like most people, you said “fast” and “faster” – and if you’re also like most people, you’ll say that you’re going to get yourself financially organised … tomorrow. Eventually … Someday. And time will keep passing you by like it always has.

We help you remove financial anxiety and provide clarity on your whole financial life.