I love my job. I get to help people realise their dreams. I know it can sound a bit trite, but I am not exaggerating. That is my job. Let me expand on this a bit so you can see how real it is.
As a woman with responsibilities you make decisions every day that affect your family. Their future is in your hands, to some extent. It is a lot of responsibility. You move things along every day, sometimes with more planning and purpose than others, but move on you do.
Sometimes you may hit the supermarket with a vague idea of how many mouths you are feeding and need the quickest most convenient options to get through the week. Maybe on another occasion, inspired by an online healthy eating plan and gratefully following the shopping list the app so helpfully produced, you will stock up on the required ingredients to follow recipes in the week ahead. Whichever option, the family will be fed and you will have organised it.
A bathroom makeover maybe inspired by the fab colour of a set of towels you spotted. A quick lick of paint, some new fittings for towel and loo roll and those all-important towels and the jobs a goodun. The other route maybe a budget of thousands, weeks of sampling tiles and paints in different lights, professional guidance on space optimisation and the most effective shower system to complement your plumbing peculiarities.
Money stuff is no different really, a lot of the time we follow the guidance available online and do our best to work out a good ISA rate and insurance premium, but at the back of our mind we know they are all trying to sell us their products and are presenting them in the best possible light. It’s only when you get into the detail you find it was cheap for a reason, or the rate only applies in very unusual circumstances that don’t include yours. We guess how much we might need in retirement and use online calculators to tell us we are seriously underachieving on the pension contribution front to such a great extent that it seems pointless even trying to rectify the situation, so we just save what we feel we can afford and hope for the best.
Unplanned food shops and ‘lick of paint’ bathroom makeovers don’t deliver healthy meal plans or a new modern energy efficient bathroom, but they do get the family fed and the bathroom cheered up.
Buying some insurance, setting up a savings plan will get you some insurance and savings, but not necessarily the financial future you aspire to.
There usually comes a point when you have a bigger question or a grander idea of what you want, but you need some help to organise it. That’s when you call on a healthy meal planner app, bathroom design consultant or financial planner to help you move things on to the next level.
Whatever it is that inspires you to get some help with planning finances will be very close to your heart; children’s futures, your future post children, health and wellbeing, how to build enough resources to give you more choice about how much time needs to be dedicated to earning, rather than living. When you identify your passion, I can show you how to achieve your goals. Yes it can be challenging to agree the priorities, and let me tell you few of us can have everything our hearts desire, so there will be compromises, reality checks and decisions to be made along the way, but by being focused, informed and empowered you can and will achieve the things that matter most to you.
I am a highly qualified, very experienced, authorised and regulated financial adviser and importantly I am completely independent and unbiased – I do not work for anyone except you. No one can influence me with commission, bonuses or any other inducements because I don’t accept them, and the result is you get better priced products that have been chosen because they are absolutely right for you.
When you get to the stage where you have decided a financial plan is the best route to building what you need, maximising what you have and designing your family’s financial future I would be delighted to hear from you. I can’t wait to help you make your dreams come true.
#Savvy Sam
Samantha Secomb FPFS
Chartered Financial Planner and founder of Women’s Wealth