Why is it important to ponder regret?

A Discovery Meeting is the first step in our process to help you build a financial plan that works for you and your family for the rest of your lives. Whilst you may be expecting us to ask about your wealth you may be surprised to find that the focus of the discussion is actually something far more fundamental – if you were living your ideal life, what would it look like?

For many, this is a surprising question to be asked, though for us, it’s the logical place to start when reviewing any family’s financial wellbeing. Having wealth is one thing, using it as a tool to help you live as you wish, free of anxiety about the future, is quite another.

On the face of it, you may think you have the answer, and hopefully there are aspects to your current life which you recognise as ‘ideal’. But when you think more deeply and try to articulate what your ideal life should look like overall, you might be surprised at how tongue-tied and foggy your thinking becomes. Couple this with a conversation with your spouse and children about what their version of ‘ideal’ looks like, and things get even more interesting.

The fact is, few of us have a clear path, let alone a clear path which we’re already following.

Our service revolves around WealthPlan™, our unique methodology to help you build what we term an inspired vision for you and your family at various stages, backed up by a financial plan that underpins your vision and helps you make your plans a reality.

In many ways, the WealthPlan™ process is about being imaginative, thinking about what you would have, do and be, if there were no barriers. One way to approach the question is to think about what you might regret not having, doing or being.

We were interested to read a book by Bronnie Ware, an Australian palliative carer who wrote a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. It’s well worth a read but in summary, those regrets were people’s wishes that they’d:

• had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
• hadn’t worked so hard.
• had the courage to express my feelings. It is only by being open and honest about your thoughts and feelings can you form genuine bonds with other people.
• stayed in touch with my friends. It is dispiriting to be disconnected from those who truly understand you and accept you as you are.
• had  let myself be happier. Happiness can be found in the journey, not just the destination, which you often never reach.

Pensions, investments, savings, spending plans – these are all an important part of the financial planning process. But we’re here to help you spend your time well, not just your money.

It’s not always an easy process, but it’s our unique approach to financial planning which we have seen make a huge difference to the families we support for more than 20 years.

Click here for more information about WealthPlan™ or get in touch to arrange a Discovering Meeting.