Tilly – the day my dog died

The day my dog died

You may have met Tilly, my golden cocker spaniel… well in truth she was a mix between a Cocker and Springer (a ‘Sprocker’). She often came with me to the office and (being a little too friendly) may have greeted you or been ushered into one of the other rooms.

Tilly was my first dog, after much ‘discussion’ and persuasion, I eventually capitulated to the calls from my family to take the plunge. That was back in 2009. I can tell you that the reasons for my reluctance to become a dog owner were largely right, but also totally wrong. The daily walks come rain, shine or snow did me enormous good – indeed much of this quiet time was spent thinking about how I could help clients, develop the business or simply be a better human.

Tilly became a companion and the phrase ‘a man’s best friend’ resonated. Not a human friendship of course, but one of complete acceptance of me. During lockdown, I took to posting rather more pictures of our walks together as I’d been encouraged to do so – some found it helpful to see the normality of a middle-aged bloke walking his dog. You can see many of them on my social media accounts should you wish to.

On holiday this summer it became evident that Tilly was not well. We returned home a day earlier than planned for a trip to the vet. Suspicions were confirmed and drugs to help with eating and weight loss prescribed. A couple of weeks later, she was in a poor state and reluctantly we made the decision to say goodbye. The vet said that this was definitely the right thing to be doing. I called my family so that they could all come home to say goodbye.

It was horrible. I suspect many of you have had such an experience, it’s horrid. There is the lingering feeling of ‘was this really the right thing to have done?’; to have been alive one moment and gone the next, so suddenly.

I was struck by my own feelings about the loss; genuinely deeply sorrowful. I could reflect on many lovely memories, but was acutely aware that this part of my journey was at an end. I found myself replaying that last day over and over in my mind – could I and should I have done things differently? The thing is, as we all know, it’s all so final isn’t it?

To be clear, grief isn’t a new experience for me. Sadly, over the last 30 years I have lost several close family and friends, and another dear friend in February. Not people from the expected older generation and not dying of ‘old age’, but invariably very sudden and catastrophic changes in health. These are experiences that many of us have had, and all of us have in the end.

Tilly

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

Tilly – the day my dog died2023-12-01T12:12:43+00:00

Working in financial services … A calling?

TODAY’S BLOG

WORKING IN FINANCIAL SERVICES… A CALLING?

Normally when someone asks what I do for a living, my answer creates a knee-jerk reaction of eyes glazing over, hunching of the shoulders and the stifling of a yawn before the sarcastic comment “that sounds … thrilling” (or variations thereof!)

And I get it – to an outsider, financial services is Dull (with a capital D).  In fact, to many ‘insiders’ as well, financial services is pretty dull!  But I consider myself truly fortunate to be working in a firm like Solomon’s, with a great team of people, and a fabulous bunch of clients, doing the work that we do.

As a relatively small company, we don’t have hard lines between our roles here, which means we all get some exposure to marketing, finance, report writing, admin, client liaison, writing content, editing, checking each other, creative processes, planning, business growth.  It’s a dynamic work environment for us and it’s the absolute opposite of the toxic workplaces that grace so many threads on social media at the moment.  The team works well together as we all like and respect one another (even when we disagree).

Financial planning is not known as a caring profession (that expression seems to be reserved for medical personnel) but at Solomon’s (as a firm and as a team of individuals) – we genuinely do care about our clients and the work we do with them and for them.  It is a great pleasure and an honour when a client realises they can retire earlier than they imagined; or that they can afford to do something that had seemed out of reach; or quite simply that they can ‘stop worrying’ about some of the ‘big stuff’ like “will I run out of money?” or “what would I do financially if I lost my spouse?”.

Most of our clients have been with Solomon’s for MANY years (some are counting in decades) and we know them very well … to a point of reading an article in the news or social media that reminds us of a client (a football team winning a big event, the sale of a very old and valuable stamp, or an interesting gardening fact – you catch my drift).  We are invested in our clients’ lives (not in a stalker-ish way!) quite simply because we care what happens to them.  We care that they are separating from their spouse, we care that they have been diagnosed with a critical illness, we care that they have lost a parent (or sadly a child).

We aren’t just about the money; we aren’t just about the work; we ARE about people; we are about empathy; we are about relationship.

We are a small firm with a big heart.

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

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?

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?

Working in financial services … A calling?2023-12-01T12:12:52+00:00
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