Gibson

I was at a series of seminars in Birmingham last week.  One of them discussed the different generational needs of clients.  Many of our clients are Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) with an increasing number in Generation X (1965-1979).  I am part of Generation X and my wife is Generation Y.  Our two children belong to a different generation again (no consensus yet on what that’s called).  When I went to Queen’s University in Belfast in 1997 our year was the first to be issued with email addresses – imagine!  The changes since then have been rapid and unimaginable back in 1997.  When Daisy had her two year health visitor review a few weeks ago she was shown a card with a picture of a telephone with a number dial which needed turning.  Needless to say, she didn’t know what it was.  Show her a picture of a smart phone and that’s a different matter.  As I thought about all the changes I’ve experienced in my short lifetime I realised that so much of what I grew up with and experienced will never feature in Daisy or Tobin’s lives.  There’s been a lot of progress and benefits but some of the important stuff gets lost along the way.

I’m convinced that we’re rapidly losing the ability to be still.  To be still and think.  I’m never too far away from an iPhone or iPad and it’s an effort to switch off from the constant beeps and pings which clamour for my attention.  I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago on the bike for a few days and I determined that I wouldn’t check my email.  I managed not to and it was amazing how much more relaxed I was.  Someone once said that you should spend twenty minutes a day meditating and if you’re too busy, spend an hour!  Whatever that time of peace looks like I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be disciplined enough to take time out for ourselves.

One of the benefits of proper financial planning is that we can get a sense of what they want from life, deep down.  If you had only a few years to live would you want to spend it doing what you’re doing?  If money was no object what would you be doing?  If we can then build what a client really wants from life, what they really wish they could do more of, into their planning isn’t that priceless?  Recently we’ve shown clients that they can afford to work one day less per week, others that they can retire five years earlier than they had previously thought.  

We all have the same amount of time, the same number of hours and minutes in a day, it’s what we spend our time on that makes the difference.

If you want to focus on your lifetime goals and work out what they look like, whether you can achieve them and how to set your money to work for you then please give me a call on 02870351164 to arrange a no-obligation appointment.

By David Gibson

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