The energy Gill exudes is quite something. From minute one you know you’re sitting with a very intelligent woman. The same can be said for her husband, Tony, but it comes across differently.
I like them and that’s important. Engaged, energetic people are great to work with.
They’d had financial advice before but never any financial planning. For whatever reason they felt now was the time.
My notes from our first meeting are telling and typical. They begin with factual bits and bobs before we both relax into talking about the things that really matter – work, children, relationships. All the emotional and feeling things that actually make up our lives.
Gill hadn’t contemplated stopping work before the children had finished their educations and couldn’t think what she would do if she didn’t work.
Tony had stopped recently and was enjoying it. I felt he was worried for Gill. She was still going two to the dozen, six days a week, for many more hours than contracted.
It was apparent that Gill had no idea how good their numbers looked.
Not being able to see the financial wood from the trees is common. But, then again, you can never see what you’re not looking for.
In that first meeting we were able to open the door just a little bit. Creating space to let new thinking in allows a whole new world to dawn.
It seems that a lot happened for them between those first and second meetings. My second meeting notes have a completely different tone.
Gill’s thinking had shifted. She told us her children had asked “Mum, what are you doing still working?” and she had realised it was time to “have another stage” of her life.
Thinking differently is the precursor to changing anything. In our small way we’d helped that happen. That’s where our real value lies.
That was all back in August 2017. 10 months down the line they have a plan and strategy in place and Gill has stopped working.
And in the two weeks since stopping her heart rate is down eight beats per minute. We joked that we hoped that trend wouldn’t continue indefinitely.
Who said financial planning wasn’t good for you?