Category: LIFESTYLE

There is a powerful reminder that often surfaces when life feels overwhelming: You have survived your worst days, and you are stronger than you think. A.A. Milne put it like this: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” When we apply this simple truth to our financial […]

It’s not uncommon to speak with someone who believes that we spend decades of our lives looking forward to the day we can finally stop working. We build our financial plans, calculate our retirement numbers, and dream of a life with no alarm clocks or urgent meetings. This is a common cultural assumption. But what […]

It’s completely natural to obsess over the numbers on our investment statements. We track the growth, review our asset allocation, and carefully project how long our capital will last. This is good practice and solid foundational planning, but it’s not the whole story. What if, in all our careful calculations, we are overlooking the most […]

It’s so easy to look at our budgets, our financial planning and our risk products and ask questions about what we have and don’t have. But what if, in all this planning and evaluating, we miss a crucial question? What if we don’t simply ask what we have, but remember to ask what it’s all […]

We tend to model our lives, and our financial plans, as a straight, uninterrupted line moving upward and to the right. We assume that our income, our capacity, and our circumstances will remain relatively constant, simply growing steadily over time. But life is rarely linear. It is cyclical. It operates in seasons. An accurate graph […]

When we sit down to project a client’s retirement, one of the biggest variables we have to account for is longevity. Thanks to modern medicine, we are living longer than any generation in human history. From a financial planning perspective, a longer life means your capital has to stretch further. But there is a glaring […]

There is a very specific kind of quiet that descends on a house when the children finally leave. It affects our hearts, but it also affects our financial planning. If you’re in this situation, or know someone who is, here’s a little of the new reality… For a couple of decades, the home has been […]

When we sit down to build a financial plan, our eyes are naturally drawn to the summit, not the basecamp. We focus our energy on the big, inspiring goals: retiring with dignity, leaving a meaningful legacy, aiming for financial independence or funding our children’s education. We engineer our long-term investments to weather global economic storms […]

When working with a qualified and experienced financial planner, you should have a partner who will be exceptionally well-positioned to diagnose a balance sheet. They can easily spot a gap in risk cover, identify underperformance in a portfolio, and structure a tax-efficient estate plan. We are taught to read the numbers like a novel. But […]

There is a very common narrative that high-achievers tend to buy into. It is the idea of the deferred life. We work relentlessly in our thirties, forties, and fifties, pouring all of our surplus time and energy into building our careers and our portfolios. We tell ourselves that we are making sacrifices now so that […]

There is a distinct feeling that comes from being out of control with your finances. It is a quiet, low-grade anxiety that hums in the background of your life. When your finances are unguided, you spend your time reacting. You react to the unexpected bill, you react to the late fee, and you react to […]

Have you ever thought about how gratitude could be a key part of your financial strategy? Ken Honda calls it “arigato money”, which we could call “thank you” money. When we are children, the very first lessons we learn about social etiquette revolve around two simple phrases: “please” and “thank you.” We are taught that […]

We often look to our investment portfolios for ultimate security. We watch the markets, hoping the numbers will grow large enough to finally give us permission to exhale. This is so common; if you resonate with this, you’re not alone. But relying entirely on a bank balance, risk product or investment portfolio to provide your […]

When families who have spent decades building a substantial financial foundation sit down to talk about money, a quiet, often unspoken anxiety usually surfaces. As they look to the future, they worry about the impact their wealth will have on their children. Will the capital empower them to build meaningful lives, or will it remove […]

There is a subtle psychological trap that catches almost every successful person we meet. It is rarely discussed in financial textbooks, but it causes more anxiety than a market crash. It is the phenomenon of the moving finish line. It usually starts early in our careers. We tell ourselves, “I will feel secure when I […]

When we sit down to discuss finances, the natural instinct—is to get straight to work. We want to be productive. Because of this, the conversation almost always begins with a variation of the same well-intentioned question: “How can I help you today?” or “What are your financial goals?” These questions come from a good place. […]

How are you feeling about your retirement plan? For many, this is a stress-filled question, leading them to avoid diving too deep! For others, they like to spend a lot of time looking at spreadsheets when planning for the future. They love analysing cash flow, projecting inflation, and debating asset allocation. But the biggest variable […]

There is a persistent myth in modern culture about the “self-made” individual. We celebrate the singular entrepreneur, the disciplined saver, and the visionary leader. We are naturally drawn to stories of individual grit. But if we are honest, the reality of success is rarely a solo endeavour. Behind every person who has built a life […]

Have you ever felt a pang of anxiety at a dinner party when someone mentions the incredible returns they just made on a new tech stock or emerging trend? It is a very human reaction. We are wired to seek progress, and watching someone else seemingly sprint ahead can make us feel like we are […]

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” Whilst this quote by psychologist Abraham Maslow is not usually found in financial textbooks, it certainly belongs in the realm of human potential. We tend to think of our […]