Financial Planning is a Journey. Enjoy it. Do A Cartwheel

November 16, 2021
November 16, 2021 Dale Kirkpatrick

Something that has struck me is a question nobody is asking. “At what age do we stop living in the moment?” At least nobody has been brave enough to admit to asking it.

When you’re walking in the park, there’s children running around playing, using their imagination,  jumping in muddy puddles (if you know, you know) or cartwheeling. Just because it’s fun. There’s nothing wrong with just walking or running; it’s just more fun. How come I am yet to see anyone over the age of 18 cartwheel in the park? Or jump in a puddle? At what age are we so caught up in things, that we stop the fun? The carefree attitude? Being ourselves?

We get so focused on the big picture and what others might think, that we can forget to live in the moment. This applies to everything in life.

Hold Back The Balloons

Modulus FP has officially been incorporated one year. Hold back the balloons, we’re not celebrating it as a birthday. We’d rather celebrate one year of opening the doors and trading, so we’ve still a few months yet to go until our first birthday. It would be easy for us to look at our plans for the future and think we’ve still so much to do. But equally, we must not forget to stand and look back.  Consider the distance we have come from one year ago, when it was all basically just a dream. We didn’t know how it was going to go. Thankfully, it’s gone well enough that we are stepping up some plans sooner than expected, and we’re still loving it.

We’ve achieved some of our goals, we’ve smashed a few, and we’ve come up short in others. And that’s OK. That’s life. The key is, we are taking the time to stop, reflect, and appreciate where we’ve come from. Taking the time to celebrate the little wins. Ultimately, this is going to be a long journey, but one we intend to enjoy.

A Lesson in 9.58 seconds

If sport has taught us one thing, it’s to break things down. Take each game as it comes. “The most important match is your next one.” You don’t set out to win the league by examining a league table. You just try to win your next match, and the one after that, and the one after that… and then at the end, if you’ve done that more than everyone else, you’ll achieve the goal. “One Game At A Time.”

Imagine you’re Usain Bolt. You currently hold the record for 100m at 9.58 seconds. If your entire life was devoted to achieving that, imagine the slog of the training, the injuries, the races, the tournaments. And then (literally) all of a sudden, your entire life’s work was achieved and finished in 9.58 seconds. Then you retire and won’t do that again. Everything you’ve worked for and achieved, as amazing as that feat is, in the grand scheme things is a tiny, tiny period of your life. 9.58 seconds to be precise. There’s 86,400 seconds in one day, so it took just over 0.01% of one day, never mind your life. You must enjoy the journey to reach the goal. Otherwise, you’d have given up long ago.

Financial Planning is a Journey

So what has this to do with Financial Planning? When we first talk to you about what it is you want to achieve, the most common answer is that you want to retire early. We’ve spoken before about retiring early, but if we’re talking to a client who might be in their 30s or 40s – retirement is a long way off! We’ll set short term goals, and every time we meet, we’ll reassess and adjust.

If you only focus on the end goal, then it’s going to be a long journey. We must celebrate the achievements and the wins along the way. Whether that’s setting up that first direct debit into an investment; paying off the car loan; or going on the holiday you’ve been planning since the first lockdown. Break it into small steps, and it’s more achievable. And more fun. I’ll admit, transferring money into a pension isn’t very fun.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

We have this quote (from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) on our homepage. At our meetings we’re going to make a point of celebrating what has happened, before we plan for the future. We’re going to try to make sure we all enjoy the journey. Take the good with the bad. Because there’s one thing, we can be certain about. You aren’t going to get a second chance to go and relive it and enjoy it again!

So don’t get stuck on the big goal or the big idea. Have fun, celebrate the small wins, and sure why not do a cartwheel…

If you think it’s time you started your journey, get in touch and book in for a free 20 minute call to see if we can help.

, , ,
Contact

Get Connected.

Contact Us

Modulus Financial Planning look forward for you to contact us for more information about any of our products or services.

Modulus Financial Planning

Suite 12, Avonmore House,
15 Church Square, Banbridge,
BT32 4AP, Co.Down, Northern Ireland

Let’s Talk About Your Finances

Here for all your saving & investment, pension & retirement planning, tax & estate preservation and insurances.

CALL: 028 40 33 68 67

Modulus Financial Planning Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are entered on the FCA Register under reference 965916. Registered in Northern Ireland, Company Number NI673772.
The guidance and/or advice contained within this website are subject to the UK regulatory regime and are therefore targeted at consumers based in the UK.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is available to sort out individual complaints that clients and financial services businesses aren’t able to resolve themselves. To contact the Financial Ombudsman Service, please visit www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Privacy Policy

Contact