THE STARRY MESSENGER

TODAY’S BLOG

THE STARRY MESSENGER

I was working with clients the other day and they noticed one of the icons in the software I was using with them. It was marked as “midlife crisis” and the icon was a sports car. They thought the IT company could do rather better with its icons (no I had not used it in their plan). However perhaps the sports car isn’t that bad an icon – a cliché admittedly. Perhaps I should suggest that they use a star now that a new play (well new to the West End) “The Starry Messenger” is running at Wyndham’s theatre.

The play explores the now recognised normality of a mid-life crisis. 50 something male falls for vivacious female, some 20 years his junior. Like him, she has baggage though I struggled to see how it even vaguely matched. Mark Williams is a teacher at the New York planetarium teaching evening classes of adult education. He loves his subject, but his va-va-voom has long since departed, his career has been side-lined to the extent that he clings to the hope of even a data entry job so that he can at least be associated with a worthy project. He laments that others are simply better at what he does than he himself. He is un-inspiring. He meets Angela, a hard-working single mother, training to be a nurse. Her genuine kindness somehow enables a relationship to develop.

THE STARRY MESENGER - SOLOMONS IFA BLOG

Ordinary Pain

There is something terribly ordinary about the play. By that I mean the ordinariness of real people living a real life. Many of us, have occasion to contend with huge disappointment and trauma. This is the bread and butter, or perhaps blood and tears of author Kenneth Lonergan. You have probably seen or lives a version of this story. The question remains whether Mark and Anne Williams will be able to face and overcome the chasm of a void in their relationship.

Extra-ordinary Plan

As someone that partakes in the new permitted addictions of social media, within my own field I regularly come across claims that lives are changed by a great financial plan. Part of me wants to agree with this, but another part also would wish to make the point that stuff happens, or as John Lennon put it “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. We can plan sensibly, even brilliantly, but sometimes life throws up a problem or two. A financial planner can help make allowance for job loss, serious illness, long-term illness, business collapse or even death itself, but all these assume relationships last. Sometimes they don’t. I would urge caution, however detailed, however much room for error has been made, life is not as predictable as we may think. That does not negate the value of a good plan (or a brilliant one) I am simply making the point that we don’t know the future and some people talk as though they do. Beware.

As for Mark, Anne and Angela – you can see their story develop at Wyndham’s. Mark is played by Matthew Broderick, most famous for his role as Ferris Bueller (1986). A casting that seems entirely appropriate, how would 50-something Ferris face the day? I wonder if he would repeat “You’re not dying, you just can’t think of anything good to do”. Elizabeth McGovern (Downton) plays Anne and rising star Rosalind Eleazar plays the luminous Angela.

The play has begun a 3-month run. You can find tickets here. Here is a short video of the cast members discussing the play and the trailer.

Cast Discussion

Trailer

How will your story play out? Get in touch to consider your options.

Dominic Thomas
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?

THE STARRY MESSENGER2025-01-28T10:08:06+00:00

Delicious

Delicious

I wonder if you have seen a new Sky 4-part mini series starring Dawn French, Emilia Fox and Iain Glen called “Delicious”. I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying that it is the story of an apparently successful, once divorced remarried chef, who has an affair with his first wife, who it turns out is the real culinary genius.

Like most good stories, the drama of ordinary lives holds our attention when under the scrutiny of dramatic pressures. The series exposes the problems beneath a beautiful façade of a middle-class life. Set on the idyllic banks of the Tamar river, an entrepreneurial temple of hotelier cuisine is the bling that diverts the eye from seeing what needs to be seen.

Just below the surface

There is an understandable and customary dig at middle-aged men but with a twist on the usual, predictable affair with a younger model, with Leo attempting to have his cake and eat it. A setting of fine dining, lends itself to the customary style over substance debate and of course the market price of every thing.

Wood for the trees

From a financial planning point of view there are numerous warnings that I would hope business owners can heed. One of the problems that business owners, or indeed anyone has, is that they are often too close to the problems to be able to see them clearly, let alone any workable solutions. It is certainly hard to fathom how any decent financial planner could not draw attention to what is revealed within the plot (which I shall not spoil).

Virtually reality?

One of the most popular criticisms of social medial is that it has encouraged us to live false lives, like those contained within magazines, or indeed within television or film. Whilst I’m sure this has some truth and resonance, this all rather depends upon each of our ability to be truthful, yet mindful of impact, timing and social etiquette.  There is nothing new about attempting to be something you are not, which is perhaps one of the oldest dramatic tools.

The truth can be painful

Of course, not everyone wants to see or hear the truth, particularly when it is going to require some change. I sometimes wonder if this is what puts most of population off from seeking financial advice. Deep down most of us know that we need to master our money lest it master us. A financial plan is designed based around your values, grounded in truth and enables you to see ahead to any potential “surprises”. In essence making sure your plans for style have substance.

Here’s the trailer for the series on Sky.

Dominic Thomas
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

Delicious2025-01-27T16:08:29+00:00
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