Smart Money Strategy

INTRODUCTION

I've been in the financial services industry for over 20 years, and it has always concerned me that I hear similar comments about money from a range of clients of all different ages: ‘I wish I had known that five years ago’ or ‘I had no idea you could do that’ (often followed by, ‘I thought you could only do it this way’). When our finances are such a key component of our lives, it can be very sad to realise that so many people have these gaps in their financial knowledge.

Money is often a driver for some of the big decisions in our adult lives. New clients often end up in my office after taking a leap of faith, normally via a referral from an existing happy client. I spend some time with them talking through where they're at in their lives (including with their financial life), what they would like to achieve, and how we can take some financial steps together to keep them moving in the right direction or get them to where they want to go. It's especially important that I identify the strategies and options that they have. I also need to help my clients understand why the strategies I present to them are valuable, so they deepen their understanding about how smart money strategies can work for them.

I was brought up to hate waste — be it a waste of time, effort, money, talent, opportunity or knowledge. Hopefully by working your way through this book you can limit the times you say, ‘I wish I had’ and ‘If only I had known’, and increase the times you can say, ‘Doing ...