Slow and steady…

Jemima Thomas
Jan 2022 • 3 min read

Slow and steady…

You would think (given that I work for a financial planning firm!) that I would be great at handling my finances. Unfortunately, this is not something I have totally figured out…

I am a 20-something woman, living in and galivanting around London. I like to keep myself busy with events and activities – I love the buzz and vitality of ‘city life’. Whilst I am thoroughly enjoying my time and having some fabulous experiences, I also know that I need to say no sometimes to try and save for my future endeavours … right?

“YOU’RE YOUNG; YOU HAVE SO MUCH TIME; JUST ENJOY IT”

I am constantly torn between living ‘in the moment’, enjoying London whilst I’m here, and also saving for my future lifestyle (my needs and dreams are sure to alter as I get older). I am frequently reminded by anyone remotely older than me, that I am ‘’SO YOUNG, you can do anything, you have no real responsibilities!” – which to me sounds like code for – you have no children or a mortgage so HAVE ALL THE FUN. Which on the one hand makes a great deal of sense, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that living in the moment is all well in good, but thinking about my future is something I mustn’t avoid. Whilst I enjoy hearing from others that I am in a period of my life where being young and free needs to be enjoyed, I still often hear people reflecting saying they wished they’d saved more when they were younger or they wished they had done xyz as well. Hindsight is 20/20 vision of course.

In the last few years, I have started to see friends of roughly my age buying their first home, getting engaged or having children. Whilst of course this is all a matter of perspective based on our individual choices, circumstances, income etc; I can’t help but feel I am now in a hurry to get on and do everything, as well as ‘save’ for ‘future me’. I am told that I have all the time in the world, and yet I feel like I am starting to run out of it at the same time!

MY WISE OLD MANAGER …

As I was beginning to feel slightly overwhelmed trying to compartmentalise my financial life whilst enjoying life in the city, my lovely manager Debbie brilliantly guided me to a realisation that saving little by little was possible, and that I needn’t worry about saving huge chunks (I was never able to save huge chunks, but little chunks didn’t seem to be enough in my mind!). She told me that every evening after having whatever fun I was having, I should move money into my savings account so that each night my account balance was left at a round number. I remember laughing and saying that this would make no difference – moving 50p here, £3.80 there … what a long-winded approach! And yet … she was completely right. Soon after starting to do this, I realised that each month I was actually saving! And I was also made to be more mindful at the same time. It didn’t hurt or stop me going out, it was done so subtly that it was easily doable.

It’s taken some time, and I still have moments of forgetting and missing a few days, but I feel I am finally at a place where I can feel comfortable and confident about putting away ‘a little something’.

And already in the new year, I’ve managed to keep saving. Admittedly it’s not a lot – but it’s a start, and I’m proud of what I’ve managed to achieve. It’s a reminder that it doesn’t matter how much it is, slowly I am beginning to create a little pot of gold for my future.

And in much the same way, it is incredibly satisfying for us to see the differences for our clients (which can be phenomenal) that a planned approach (even if ’slow but small’) can bring about … ultimately enabling choice and financial freedom.

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Slow and steady…Jemima Thomas2025-02-17T16:04:13+00:00

CHRISTMAS BUDGETING

TODAY’S BLOG

SO, WHAT WAS YOUR BUDGET FOR CHRISTMAS? DID YOU EVEN HAVE ONE? AND HAVE YOU KEPT TO IT?…

I have to confess … I’ve gone over mine ever so slightly. I always forget how expensive the ‘treat foods’ are … not just the turkey and all the trimmings, but the nibbles you tend to leave dotted around the place in the run up to the big day; the spare bottle of bubbly (just in case); the oversized tin of Quality Street – that seems to be devoid of toffee pennies within minutes of opening (I always feel a bit sorry for the strawberry creams that get thrown away in the New Year when I’m sick of the sight of the tin loitering on the kitchen worktop!); don’t even get me started on Turkish Delight (about which I find not one delightful thing!)

This year I congratulated myself for managing to stay within my budget for ‘gifts’, but then I chastised myself because I failed miserably (as every other year) to budget for wrapping paper, ribbons, tags, tape etc. (Anyone who has ever received a gift from me will tell you that I take the presentation of gifts quite seriously, so this is a rookie oversight on my part!)

What does all this boil down to in the context of what we do at Solomon’s? Simple answer … contingency planning (you knew the P-word was coming surely?!).

It’s about knowing that you are never going to remember every little cost. And planning accordingly. Giving yourself wiggle room. It’s something that every builder on the planet will tell you to do. Every project manager. Every business executive. We all KNOW this. But knowing what is good for us is the easy part. It’s the following through on that knowledge that is the tricky bit!

When we talk about ‘budgeting’ in general here at Solomon’s – we are encouraging our clients to be realistic and to err on the side of ‘over-estimating costs’ … thereby giving that wiggle room to the numbers.

We recently had some new clients who put together a really detailed and carefully considered analysis of their ‘normal’ spending. The numbers revealed that they potentially have a considerable sum ‘left over’ each month. When we presented this to them, they were stunned as this was not a fair reflection of their lived experience. So they had to look again and see where they were spending and not accounting for things. It was a revelatory experience … for them and for us! It was a really good reminder that this is an incredibly difficult but vital component of the financial planning process.

If you haven’t updated your expenditure figures for us recently – we would encourage you to be brave and have a go at this in 2022 (but maybe don’t use your December transactions as a reflection of your ‘normal monthly spending’!!)

If you need a template to work from – please click here or you can have a go at using our portal to record your numbers. Or you can just let us have your own budget/bank statements and we’ll do the legwork for you.

However you choose to do it; please just have a go. After all – it is the foundation stone of the framework that is your financial plan and it’s vital that we place it in the correct position for you, so that it can bear the weight of whatever needs to go on top.

Debbie Harris
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

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Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084

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GET IN TOUCH

Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Mill Cobham Park Road, COBHAM Surrey, KT11 3NE

Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk Call – 020 8542 8084

7 QUESTIONS, NO WAFFLE

Are we a good fit for you?

Take Survey

PRIVACY POLICY | DATA PROTECTION

CHRISTMAS BUDGETINGJemima Thomas2023-12-01T12:12:58+00:00

Don’t you forget about me – A tale of a Simple Mind

Daniel Liddicott
July 2021 • 3 min read

Don’t you forget about me – A tale of a Simple Mind

Reminders on my phone are a necessity. This singular function is one that I use to organise my life, attempt to not forget to do things, and often be in the right places at the right times. I truly believe that I would be lost without this very simple tool. However…

Setting yourself reminders is a very manual process – you create them, set the date on which whatever the task is must be completed. Most crucially, it is all too easy to change the due date on these reminders and push them back over what is, inevitably, a multiple-month stretch. If this process were automatic and unchangeable to prevent procrastination (which over the years I have come to believe is something of an art-form) I am sure that I would achieve more, all within a much more reasonable time span. We are creatures of habit, however, the discipline required in the early stages of forming GOOD habits is crucial in maintaining them for the longer term. This got me thinking about automated finances, which is a concept that I have been hearing and reading about a lot during my studies.

AUTOMATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Andy Hart, in his excellent podcast ‘Maven Money’ which I would highly recommend, states that automating your finances is one of the most important things that you can do. This means setting up standing orders or direct debits (whichever is more appropriate for the scenario), in order to ensure that your money goes to the places that you want and need it to go. One of the main focuses of this technique is saving, whether this be for a house, other large projects or emergency funds, though the same technique can be used to help yourself in many other ways – desired monthly pension contributions, for example, is another goal that this technique could be used for.

Not only will you never forget to make these savings/contributions ever again, but you are likely to become even better at budgeting for all other aspects of your lifestyle without these funds even coming into consideration – with the comfort of knowing that these funds have contributed towards achieving your financial goals and strengthening your financial plan.

MONTHLY SAVINGS HAS SOME OTHER ADVANTAGES

Some of you may have already seen our short video that explains pound-cost averaging. In a very clear way, this video explains how there can be a great benefit to making contributions to investments on a monthly basis, essentially meaning that you will always end up paying the average price over a particular period of time rather than being at risk of paying over the odds.

It’s ironic how we often forget the things worth remembering but remember the things worth forgetting. I have included our video above about monthly budgeting and setting up your bank accounts, to help make this entire process much easier.

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Don’t you forget about me – A tale of a Simple MindJemima Thomas2025-02-20T11:33:51+00:00

THE INVENTION CONVENTION OF CHRISTMAS

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

THE INVENTION CONVENTION OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas is nearly here and despite all of the preparation and expense, most of us will probably forget most of it, save a few carefully selected memories (good or bad). For some I imagine it will a story of how their Christmas was delayed or ruined by drones at Gatwick, for others it will be a particular gift, meeting with a friend or family member, or perhaps an event. Our memory, as we all know, is wonderfully selective.

Any good financial plan has to begin with understanding where money has been going. This is the account of “now” and can be a fairly depressing experience. Most people spend much more than they realise on things that in hindsight seem rather unnecessary. One of the categories of spending we ask clients to assess is their giving, both in terms of charitable giving (for tax planning) and money spent on gifts. There is invariably a link between the size of your circle of friends and family and how much this is.

Solomons IFA Christmas honesty from the Man Who Invented Christmas

Christmas – past, present and future…

I do not intend to turn you into some Dickensian character, like Mr Scrooge. However, as you enjoy Christmas this year, be mindful of how much the experience of celebrating this day has cost. The “day” of course tends to be rather more than 24 hours and likely begins when you buy (or rent) your tree. I enjoy the theatre and seeing friends and family. We tend to have a family trip to a show (perhaps more than one). In fact, there is a lot of “stuff” that we do that is an extra expense, precisely because… well… it’s Christmas.

The warm glow of honesty

All I ask is that you reflect on how much you really spend. This is not a value judgement, simply a call to be honest with your finances. If we are unable to accurately account for a day in the year, ok perhaps the “season” then we may well be fudging other numbers. It is tempting to say this is unique, but behaviours tend to be patterns. We all have limited resources and when earning money is no longer happening, for whatever reason, the harsh reality of living within budget or running out of money is the cold shower that will wake us from the warm haze of denial.

If we really want a good financial plan, we need to begin with honesty about where, when and how we spend money.

We know that many of the things we do today to celebrate Christmas have less to do with the birth of Jesus. The movie “The Man Who Invented Christmas” may help identify how much our Christmas celebrations have altered. Here is the trailer. I wish you a very happy Christmas.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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THE INVENTION CONVENTION OF CHRISTMASDominic2025-01-28T10:08:07+00:00