In Praise of Work
Eighteen years ago today, on April 9th , my father died. My brother Simon, my mother and myself stood at his bedside in Intensive Care as his breathing faded. I remember the moment clearly.
I have talked about my father's death before and how it has helped me to understand why my work as a financial planner matters so much. Earlier today walking down a street on paving slabs made shiny by April showers, I remember he used to make concrete slabs at a yard in Walsall. This was a man in his late fifties with a heart condition who spent his working days lifting concrete slabs on and off a truck. On and off. Over and over.
I have a black and white photograph of him on my office wall standing in his yard. Looking straight into the camera, a benign stare as he waits for me, a photography student, to take the picture. It is one of my treasured possessions. He was always working. Even when he was not at work, he was digging the garden, replacing the engine in my Mum's Mini or building a gazebo. He never stopped.
Talking to a friend about this she told me how lucky she felt to have parents who taught her how to work. She complained bitterly as a teenager that she was always expected to help out in the family business at week-ends, while her friends were off playing. Now in her early forties she is grateful to her parents for teaching her the habit of working. It has served her well helping her to be fearless and competent as she starts her own business, whilst being a Mum and running a home. Work provides her with financial security and satisfaction from doing a job well.
My Dad has inculcated that work habit into me and I too am grateful. Other than the fact that my children are no longer children I could not have predicted any of the things that have happened to me over the last eighteen years. The real benefit of financial planning is about planning for an unknown and uncertain future. As John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.”
The paradox is that without a plan we are tossed hither and thither with no sense of direction, no insight and no goal to strive towards. It's the striving that makes it all worthwhile. My Dad never recognised the moment to stop striving, he never had a plan to arrive. I see men and women striving upwards and onwards with no plan. It can only end in exhaustion and disappointment. This three minute video tells my Dad's story.
Have you a plan for your future? Do you know when to stop striving? How do you know if you've arrived at your goal?
If you would like to spend an hour with Nicholas at his expense to discover how financial life planning may be able to help you, drop him a line at nicholas@makingsenseofmoney.co.uk or call him on - 07725 784348
I have talked about my father's death before and how it has helped me to understand why my work as a financial planner matters so much. Earlier today walking down a street on paving slabs made shiny by April showers, I remember he used to make concrete slabs at a yard in Walsall. This was a man in his late fifties with a heart condition who spent his working days lifting concrete slabs on and off a truck. On and off. Over and over.
I have a black and white photograph of him on my office wall standing in his yard. Looking straight into the camera, a benign stare as he waits for me, a photography student, to take the picture. It is one of my treasured possessions. He was always working. Even when he was not at work, he was digging the garden, replacing the engine in my Mum's Mini or building a gazebo. He never stopped.
Talking to a friend about this she told me how lucky she felt to have parents who taught her how to work. She complained bitterly as a teenager that she was always expected to help out in the family business at week-ends, while her friends were off playing. Now in her early forties she is grateful to her parents for teaching her the habit of working. It has served her well helping her to be fearless and competent as she starts her own business, whilst being a Mum and running a home. Work provides her with financial security and satisfaction from doing a job well.
My Dad has inculcated that work habit into me and I too am grateful. Other than the fact that my children are no longer children I could not have predicted any of the things that have happened to me over the last eighteen years. The real benefit of financial planning is about planning for an unknown and uncertain future. As John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.”
The paradox is that without a plan we are tossed hither and thither with no sense of direction, no insight and no goal to strive towards. It's the striving that makes it all worthwhile. My Dad never recognised the moment to stop striving, he never had a plan to arrive. I see men and women striving upwards and onwards with no plan. It can only end in exhaustion and disappointment. This three minute video tells my Dad's story.
Have you a plan for your future? Do you know when to stop striving? How do you know if you've arrived at your goal?
If you would like to spend an hour with Nicholas at his expense to discover how financial life planning may be able to help you, drop him a line at nicholas@makingsenseofmoney.co.uk or call him on - 07725 784348