27 Nov How can working with a financial planner add value? Freeing up time.
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
William Penn
It never ceases to amaze me the extent to which people will put up with something which negatively affects them before they will take action to do something about it.
Whether it’s a minor niggle such as your kitchen having been renovated three years ago, at which point your husband (naming no names) made a hole in the wall to fit a cat flap and said cat flap is still in its box; poor service in a restaurant or shop or a major health issue which is ignored for reasons of fear or embarrassment, we humans are pretty adept at continuing to accept an annoying or unpleasant situation.
That said, we all have our limits. At some point we reach the stage where we decide we can’t put up with the situation any longer. I see this time and time again when people contact me to enquire about Bloomsbury’s services. Often what has prompted them to make contact with me is not a positive event such as a large windfall but a frustration with the management (or lack thereof) of their financial situation which has finally reached breaking point.
In some cases people have been ‘putting up with’ a lack of structured planning and clarity for years, often because they feel the process of getting organised is going to be too complicated or painful (the good news is that our clients tell us the process they go through with us to create and implement their financial plan is neither painful nor complicated), and it is only when a change in circumstances – such as approaching the point at which they plan to stop work – occurs that they finally bite the bullet.
Increasingly what we see are cases where people have previously been managing their own planning and investments but have reached the point where they realise that the amount of time they are spending doing so does not align with their core values about how they spend their non-working time.
Time is, of course, a finite resource and once spent cannot be refunded. Our clients are successful in their chosen careers and as a result of that success they tend to lead pretty stressful lives with a whole host of demands on their time. Prioritising how they value and therefore spend that time is a crucial element in how they determine their discretionary spending. More and more they are coming to the conclusion that allocating some of that discretionary spending to the engagement of a financial planner to work with them provides huge value in that it enables them to spend their free time doing other things that they actually enjoy.
This was very eloquently expressed by a recent new client who commented that having reduced his working week from five days to four he didn’t want to continue spending that extra day off looking after the family’s financial affairs. If he costed his time at the rate he charges when working, then engaging us was a complete no brainer.
My favorite things in life don’t cost any money.
It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
Steve Jobs
Warm regards
Carolyn