Conversation, not isolation
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 could look more like hills and valleys than a steady incline or staircase. There are seasons of aggressive accumulation, where you […]
How strong is your financial plan?
Two key goals of a financial plan are to help you grow what you have, and help you protect what you have. This is why conversations about financial planning should pay attention to your short-term cover. Everyday insurance is a critical piece of your long-term wealth strategy and helps ensure the perimeter around everything you own is secure. In some ways, building wealth is a lot like managing a sports team: you need both an offensive […]
Why good health is a financial strategy
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 blind spot in how most people plan for these extra decades. We assume that because we are living longer, we will […]
Don’t avoid the struggle
Here’s why money shouldn’t buy your way out of friction. There is a common, unspoken assumption about wealth that many internalise early in life: we believe that the ultimate purpose of money is to reduce or eliminate our problems. We view a well-funded balance sheet as the ultimate shock absorber. We assume that if we just have enough capital, we can insulate ourselves, and the people we love, from discomfort, failure, and friction. But this is […]
Empty nest financial planning
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 a logistical headquarters. It has been filled with the noise of scheduling, the hum of constant activity, and the heavy financial […]
Talking to your family about money
As the playwright George Bernard Shaw famously observed, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Nowhere is this more evident than in our family conversations about our financial lives. We often assume that because we share a home, a surname, and a bank account with our loved ones, we inherently share the same financial goals. But in many households, money remains a deeply taboo subject. We happily discuss our […]