Do you feel invisible?

One of the statements I hear increasingly, perhaps I am more aware of it myself, is that with age, there is a growing sense of feeling invisible. Lately a number of thrillers or crime stories have played with the idea of being invisible in plain sight.

I was struck by this and had the sense rather amplified by an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art by Kerry James Marshall. His work depicts his background (a black man born in 1955 Alabama and living in the United States) and confronts this stark reality. An entire room is entitled Invisible Man based around the 1952 book by Ralph Ellison which I bought last year and still haven’t got around to reading. His study is fascinating and deeply unsettling at the same time.

His work confronts injustice, inequality and his African roots all whilst deeply engaged in various foundational aspects of art history and process; incorporating contemporary, even very temporary, aspects of pop culture. A striking piece is his 2003 Black Painting which is totally in black (a comedy sketch from The Fast Show immediately comes to mind as I write) but this is the polar opposite – a couple lying on a bed, the room gradually coming to life as you notice different items and symbols such as the Black Panther flag. It’s very potent indeed and may be an imagined depiction of Fred Hampton moments before he was murdered by Chicago Police in 1969.

What on earth has art got to do with financial planning? Nothing and everything. Art is story and an insight into how the world is seen through the eyes of an artist, yet of course we are largely surmising and viewing through our own lens. When we are building your financial plan, and you are asked about what you may wish to do in the future, it’s common to think that you are expected to offer up some ideas of the places you would like to visit, the beaches you wish to experience, on your yacht whilst popping off for a hot air balloon ride, the golf club membership and advanced skills that you can acquire. There is nothing wrong with any of these things of course, but they are invariably dreamt up by the Don Drapers (Mad Men) of this world and not necessarily what you really wish to do. The truth is that our unique sense of who we are can become invisible even to ourselves as we become so accustomed to social expectations of what we should want from life. I also tend to believe that “if you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice”. The question I ask you may even be unfair in the sense that it is so rarely asked at a deep level, and to provide an answer immediately is far from straightforward.

Most of us will struggle to explore much of our personality beyond the boundaries of our upbringing, which is perhaps why there is currently a palpable sense of rose-tinted nostalgia of a time “when things were better”, for which most of us really mean – less different or less challenging to an inability to address the life force of life – growth. It is evident that the struggle for equality is ongoing, the word itself seems to be a nuclear trigger to right wingers.

To honour who you really are and to embed your values deeply into your financial plan, to my developing mind, seems to require a sense of where you wish to arrive (if indeed that is possible) but certainly what impact, memory, impression or legacy you wish to leave with those who care about you and hopefully ‘know’ you.

I suspect that a common problem is the notion of being ‘ordinary’, but I believe that ordinary is surely what we wish to be, an acceptance of who we are yet a willingness to learn, change and improve what we can. The inability of world leaders to own the reality of their ordinariness is the fuel for their narcissism and inability to actually serve. However there is the other sense of ordinary, being ordinary but uniquely appreciated.

Anyway, you are appreciated and certainly not invisible to our small team at Solomon’s. We recognise and value your story and seek to help you to allow it to unfold. Whether you realise it or not, you have already made an impression on us. I certainly hope that you do not feel invisible when dealing with any member of the team.

Remember, the goal isn’t more money, the goal is living life on your terms.

The Kerry James Marshall: The Histories exhibition runs at the RA until 18^th January 2026. Here is a link to a video of Marshall talking about nine shades of black. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/video-kerry-james-marshall-black-paint