Feeling Supersonic?

June is typically conference season in our world and we recently attended a conference specifically focussed on Financial Wellbeing.

Increasingly, in the busy world in which we live this subject is, quite rightly, being given greater focus. It is generally established that physical and emotional wellbeing are important areas that need nurturing in order to live a happy and fulfilling life, but, increasingly, Financial Wellbeing is also being identified as an area which deserves much greater focus.

One of the biggest causes of stress is concern about money and Financial Wellbeing seeks to address this.

In the shadow of Concorde

The conference took place at the last resting place of Concorde 216, Aerospace Bristol, almost exactly 50 years after Concorde’s maiden flight. In 2003, the final flight was made when Concorde 216 flew into Filton, Bristol where it has remained ever since.

To see Concorde at close quarters was awe-inspiring and one could only imagine the sensation of supersonic flight. There was a tinge of sadness about seeing Concorde, however, in that Concorde represented an era of optimism where we were encouraged to ‘dream bigger’.

Against that backdrop, the conference was packed full of speakers from all walks of life who shared their stories about why wellbeing matters and why Financial Wellbeing, in particular, is important.

At the heart of Financial Wellbeing is the process of taking time to understand what it is that is important to you and why that matters. Only then will you gain control and clarity about the road ahead.

Not only does this entail controlling your daily finances, but it also involves building resilience to cope with any financial shocks. Financial Wellbeing will only be achieved when you open yourself up to the possibilities and to start making your money work for you, not the other way around.

‘The only limits in your life are those you accept yourself’

Some of you may have heard of the conference’s keynote speaker, Miles Hilton-Barber. As a teenager, Miles had dreamed of joining the Royal Air Force. Owing to an eye condition which eventually led to a total loss of sight in his twenties, Miles never it made it as an RAF pilot. But this hasn’t held Miles back.

In fact, Miles will have achieved more in his life than any of us will ever achieve. He has run ultra-marathons, climbed mountains, trekked the Arctic, dived to the bottom of the ocean and raced sports cars. In addition, he has raised millions of pounds for charity.

And the reason for his success?

He took a deep look at himself, decided to stop seeing himself as a ‘silly old blind man’ (his words) saw that ‘the only limits in your life are those you accept yourself’. Oh, and Miles got to fly that supersonic plane in the end. Check out Miles’s story here: https://www.mileshilton-barber.com/

So how does this relate to our work?

As financial planners, the key to our work is understanding what our clients are looking to achieve.  This spirit of openness allows us to explore different possibilities with our clients. Often, we see people who wish that they had met with us much earlier in their lives as, with a good and sound financial plan, they may have made different decisions in life.

In essence, our role is to uncover whether our clients have ‘enough’ – enough to give up work, enough to take the trip of a lifetime, enough to pass on assets to children, or whatever that may be.  Harnessing money to the lifestyle that we want for ourselves and our family is absolutely key to our Financial Wellbeing.

Here at BlueSKY, we very much welcome this increased focus on Financial Wellbeing and we are committed to playing a part in promoting the message. This means operating in a spirit of openness, being inquisitive and genuinely interested in our clients’ lives.

We will also encourage our clients to ‘dream big’ and to challenge preconceptions – could we all be a little bit more like Miles Hilton-Barber and the inventors of Concorde who dared to dream?