Most of us would jump at the chance to see what our future holds if we could, especially when it comes to our finances.
Which is why the team at Time Financial Planning believe Cash Flow Modelling is such an important part of what we do.
This is the process of putting your finances under the spotlight and identifying whether you have enough money now or are on course to have enough money to retire on when you want to.
We find people are sometimes quite surprised by this exercise, especially when they’re shown that they’re hoarding money for the future when they can afford to have a bit more fun.
This information can also be incredibly empowering, especially when I tell clients that they should think about retiring earlier than they expected to be able to.
This happened with some friends of mine who I carried out a Cash Flow Modelling exercise with. I can tell you there were some eyebrows raised when I was able to tell them that they should think about retiring five years earlier!
The process is very simple – we gather together your financial information and feed it into our bespoke modelling spreadsheet. This then forms the basis of your financial plan.
The beauty of this is that once it’s done we can play around with the numbers and plan for lots of what-if scenarios. For example, ‘What if I did inherit some money?’ or ‘What if I increased my holiday budget to £10,000 a year in retirement?’
This will give us a detailed picture of your circumstances now and in the future and show if there are any changes you could make to enable you to realise your dreams in retirement.
This also highlights the importance of ongoing advice as your circumstances can change dramatically over the course of a year. Each year we feed the ups and downs of your financial life into our system to see whether you’re still on track to achieve your objectives.
In my view this is true financial planning. There isn’t actually the sale of a product anywhere within this. All we’re trying to work out is broadly speaking if someone has a chance of achieving what they want to achieve.
I think that people often query the level of fees we charge in financial services but I would say that if I could give you five years of your life back how much would that be worth? How do you put a price on this?
My work is inspired by my mother who was brought up during World War Two during a time of rationing and has been conditioned not to borrow but instead save everything for the future.
Sadly, my dad died at just 65 before they had chance to start spending their money. As a result, she now has too much money and won’t spend a penny.
A proper financial planner would have taught them that there has to be balance to enjoy some of your earnings now while you have the time and invest some of your money for the future in case you are blessed with longevity.
This is why I do what I do. And this is the ethos for the entire team here at Time Financial Planning.
If you’d like to discuss this, or any of your financial needs, please contact Tim Embleton on 0118 327 9895 or email: [email protected]
TIM EMBLETON
Time Financial Planning Limited is an appointed representative of The On-Line Partnership Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
