Over the past year, it has been undoubtedly difficult to plan what you will do at the weekend, never mind planning the monthly and annual cash flow for you and your family.
I for one was always a firm believer in the theory that you are what you are today because of how you reacted or adjusted from something that happened in the past. My belief in this theory has been slightly skewed from a recent podcast I listened to with the Ex-England World Cup winning hero, Johnny Wilkinson on The High-Performance Podcast. Wilkinson remarked on how he changed his thinking from the same theory I had and flipped it on its head, with his career and performances taking a sharp upward trajectory. He felt every day gave him the opportunity to be better and he never looked back. Always looking forward and seeing life (rugby specifically) as an opportunity to be better rather than an opportunity to just learn a lesson.
Control the controllable
This thought process struck a chord with me both personally and in a professional context. On umpteen occasions I have discussed the financial situations of clients and been overwhelmed by how bogged down they are with bad habits and their guilt for the mistakes they have made in the past. To apply Wilkinson’s logic, why not forget the past decisions and instead control the controllable? Why not see here and now as an opportunity to get better. You don’t need initially to be great, but you can always strive to be better. So, if you can seize the moment and decide to be better with your finances, you probably start to wonder, “Where do I start?”
If you’re at this point you can rest assured, you are on the right path. In my honest opinion the fundamental step you then need to take on this path is to contact a Qualified Financial Advisor (My details are attached ). An advisor will and should sit down with you to gather as much information as possible on you and your family’s financial needs, wants and most importantly goals. Its paramount that you, the client, engage with the process and as a result your advisor will be able to make recommendation’s as to how to get you further down the path on financial security and efficiency. This will give you a financial plan for you and your family and should be flexible but also achievable.
Understanding your financial journey
The above image is from a recent client meeting. The black line is the “Total Need” amount. Based on the image above for this year, the clients have an excess of almost €50,000 before tax. How bad your probably thinking, €20,000 “ish” left over to play around with, how bad? Imagine I told you these clients couldn’t believe they have this much excess annual cash and had a credit card that was almost at capacity and an interest only mortgage repayment structure in place? How bad now? People are often fooled into thinking if you earn the €X salary a year and you have a nice new house that “Jesus the Jones’s are well off aren’t they”. Unfortunately, the keeping up with the Jones’s mentality is foiled on many levels. Without a plan and an understanding of what you have and what you spend, your financial journey is like driving on black ice.
The road to financial freedom
To finish, if you are unsure why you can’t get a hold of your finances and you are worried by habits of days gone by, please reach out to an SYS Financial Adviser and before you know it you will be on the road to financial freedom. I hope you will continue to follow these series of blogs that will be on the SYS platform on a regular basis and hopefully we can continue to help you along your financial journey.
This article was written by Financial Consultant at SYS Group, Daniel Nagle.
