“But we didn’t need it, and we turned out fine.” We hear this line more than we should. From tap water to technology, from diets to devices, from gender identification to genetic modification, from schooling to selecting a coach or advisor, our peers and mentors can often throw this line in our face – but we didn’t need it, and we turned out fine. It can leave our sails windless and stall our engines before we’ve […]
Continue readingAre you money-mental?
The simple answer is: Yes, we all are! In a recent blog, we looked at five financial trip-wires and glanced over the term ‘mental accounting.’ Introduced in 1999, it’s a concept that refers to the different values we place on money. These values are often based on subjective criteria; sometimes, this subjectivity benefits us, and sometimes it doesn’t! Mental accounting enables us to create emotional connections with our financial plan. When we consider investment strategies or […]
Continue readingIt Is Emotional
Today’s investment environment is unprecedented and complex – it is easy to feel bullish on Monday, bearish on Tuesday, and have analysis paralysis by Wednesday. Sitting at our desks in our lockdown offices this time last year, none of us imagined that global stock markets would be at the levels they have now reached. The MSCI World Index, a measure of the world’s largest companies, is up 46% since 30 April 2020. If you have a […]
Continue readingIf our feelings could talk
Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher, was the first to say it. “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” But listening is not always about what we hear; it’s what we can begin to intuit. When it comes to our feelings, we have to learn to become more intuitive and listen to what our emotions are trying to tell us. Our mental health is increasingly under […]
Continue readingHold the line
“It’s not in the way that you hold me It’s not in the way you say you care It’s not in the way you’ve been treating my friends It’s not in the way that you stayed till the end It’s not in the way you look or the things that you say that you’ll do Hold the line Love isn’t always on time.” If you have the tune of Toto’s yacht-rock hit from 1978, Hold the […]
Continue readingMe, myself and Ikigai
From the stoics to the sentimentalists, most have one question in common: What is the meaning of it all? Searching for purpose and meaning helps us come up with a reason for living. As Aristotle always said, our ability to reason is what makes us different to other animals. This sits at the core of Ikigai, the Japanese concept that speaks to our lives’ direction, purpose, and meaning. Quite literally, iki means “to live”, and gai […]
Continue readingDon’t be afraid of being different
“Every next level of your life will demand a different you.” Leonardo DiCaprio If you’ve ever thought – I wish I’d known this in my twenties… then you’ve subtly acknowledged that the person you are now is different to the person you were back then. We are surrounded by conversations of change and forward-thinking, and it can cause us to panic and hold on to our integrity by not wanting to change who we are. But […]
Continue readingDiscovery and discomfort
It’s nearly impossible to make it through an entire week without glancing at a blog, social media post or newsletter that reminds us about the pervasive and perpetual change in our lives. Hopefully, this blog won’t be one of those to add to the list. Instead, it will help us to identify the benefits of the challenges that we face. Change can be sparked in so many ways, some of them are by our personal choice, […]
Continue readingFive financial tripwires
If you’ve ever seen the mayhem from the middle of the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), you can be forgiven for thinking it’s a warzone! Whilst most stock exchanges around the world now trade electronically, having cleared out their trading floors, NYSE still hosts the traditional tussle of the floor traders’ open outcries. But this is not the only place where money mayhem can cause a right kerfuffle. Every day, in all […]
Continue readingWhat are the financial implications of your life choices?
“When money changes, life changes, and, when life changes, money changes.” Susan Bradley Your money and your life are linked. As we move through life, we all experience transitions. For many, these have been referred to as milestones, but as the goals keep shifting, and we live in a world increasingly tailored to our personal choices – we cannot escape the reality that our life choices affect our financial situations; and they can’t be unlinked! Here […]
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