In my work as a financial planner I invite people to engage in a simple three part process. To Create a Budget – so that they know what is coming in, where it is being spent and what, if anything, is left over. This process includes a complete review of their assets, income, expenditure, investments and debts. It allows them to see a financial summary of where they are. They can then begin to determine their financial priorities. To Protect what they Have – their income, assets and wellbeing – from the financial consequences of premature death or unexpected disability and illness. The information on the financial summary enables us to quantify this accurately. To Save and Invest – once we have protected wh... read more

If you don't want to watch the video today, why not read the transcription below instead?: It's 2015, I am sixty this year and I thought it would be fun to do a series of short blogs in which I talk to my younger self in the four decades since my twentieth birthday. It's the stuff I would have told myself if I'd had the sense to listen!   Thinking back to my twenties I know I made plenty of mistakes which is probably what our twenties are about. The scenario is likely to look something like this: you've been to college and therefore have some debt, especially if you had a Gap Year. You are in your first or second job so have some idea where you are headed at least for the next ten years or so. By the way... read more

Unable to watch the video today? Why not read the transcript below: Our thirties are all about getting the balance right. Very often this is an intense period of our lives. Most of us have made long term decisions: we are in a committed relationship, we have or are intending to have children, we've bought a house and we are building a career or a business. The pace of life is fast, we are constantly busy as we move between child care, work, a social life and even (some of us) hobbies. There's no time to think and plan our finances – what we do is react and cope.   Where this goes wrong, or perhaps I should be more specific and say where this went wrong for me, is simply that I got the balance wrong. We... read more

Don't want to watch the video today? Why not read the transcript instead:  Now that I am sixty I have decided to send a little note to myself in my twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. This is my forties – it seems a lifetime ago and yet it's only fifteen years or so.   Let's set the scene – you've probably got some grey hair, you're well established in your career, your children are teenagers and there are thoughts about college education and the costs that could involve. For me, my eldest daughter was off to train as a nurse, my son was tackling GCSEs and 'A' levels and my youngest daughters were getting ready for secondary school.   Notice how our lives in our for... read more

Not able to watch the video today? Why not read the transcript below: The fifties are a little close for me as I am barely through them having reached sixty this year. I have a simple observation: we are the 'Sandwich Generation' . We are slap bang in the middle of our children in their twenties and thirties trying to establish themselves in life with careers and partners. They need our moral support, a listening ear and often our money too if we have any spare. And sometimes even if we don't! At the other end of life we have a responsibility for our parents many of whom are engaged in a guerrilla war of trying to maintain their independence in the face of failing health. They need varying amounts of support and so... read more