You’ll never amount to anything
“You’ll never amount to anything.”
I had a new client in the office yesterday He’s 70 years old, Sold his business a few years ago. No children. Hundreds of thousands of pounds sitting in investments, growing each year – untouched.
He had shared with a friend the previous evening that when he was at primary school, his teacher told him he would never amount to anything.
He proved that teacher spectacularly wrong. He built a very successful business from nothing, created real wealth and lived (and continues to enjoy) a life of fulfilment and achievement.
Despite all of that success, he didn’t feel he had permission to spend his own money. His plan was to leave it all to relatives – not because of a carefully considered legacy plan, but because somewhere deep down, he didn’t believe it was really his to enjoy.
A throwaway comment from a teacher 60 years ago had shaped how this man related to his own wealth for a lifetime. The belief that he wasn’t enough became the belief that he wasn’t entitled to benefit from what he’d built.
Now it’s shifted and since our last meeting he had made the decision to begin withdrawing from his investments and start enjoying himself.
Not going mad at the casino or at a high end car dealership. But with intention and with permission he’d never given himself before.
It was one of those moments that reminds me why I love this work. The numbers matter, but the story behind the numbers matters more.
Sometimes the most important thing a financial plan can do is give someone the confidence to finally live the life their money was always meant to support.
⚠️ A mate doctored this photo of me at the weekend and challenged me to use it 🫣
