Every client I meet has their own version of financial freedom, whether stopping work by age X, retiring on income X or having the ability to make more choices in retirement. This is the most important, enjoyable & possibly easiest part of retirement planning.
Once they have that picture in their mind, they decide that working bloody hard for a long time is the most efficient way to get there, however a common trap is the harder you work, the closer your identity aligns to your occupation, it bleeds into every part of your life and it is easy to lose sight of the reason you are working so hard to begin with!
This situation is even more difficult for the self-employed, because they are already emotionally linked to their business, given they took the leap into self-employment plus their retirement is often closely connected to the eventual sale value of that business. Naturally, it then becomes harder to take an objective view because the path of least resistance is to keep working and work even harder, however, how do you stop your work defining you and refocus?
Obviously, as an adviser, that is exactly how we help people and to give you an example, I met a new client this week, aged 55, with a business whose sale price would allow him to achieve his version of financial freedom. Before we came to that conclusion, I strategically asked when he wanted to sell the business, and he naturally said, ‘in a few years’ however would that change if I told him selling today means he retires tomorrow and ticks all his boxes?
The conversation fell silent, and it was the very definition of the ‘cogs turning’ as he opened himself up to the reality of what is now possible. It was an awesome moment, because financial advice isn’t about creating overly complex, confusing and long strategies – we simply connect actions and outcomes!
