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There is a phase in our financial lives that is purely about accumulation. We work hard, we save, and we watch the numbers grow. We are taught that a bigger number equals a better life. But there often comes a point where the goal of "more" stops bringing satisfaction and starts bringing anxiety. We see this often. People spend decades building a fortress of security, only to find themselves trapped inside it. They worry about losing what they have built. They obsess over mar

In the world of finance, it is easy to get distracted by the shiny objects. We hear about the next big tech stock, cryptocurrency, or complex hedge fund strategies. We are naturally drawn to the exciting, the new, and the sophisticated. Especially after the holidays, when we’ve sat with everyone who seems to have “done so much better” than us. But true financial success is rarely built on complex, exciting moves… and it certainly isn’t based on comparing ourselves with others

We live in an era that seems to worship speed. We are conditioned to believe that faster is always better. Faster internet, same-day delivery, instant replies, and real-time market updates. When we face a problem—whether it is a stalled career, a family complication, or a sudden shift in the economy—our instinct is often to match the speed of the issue with the speed of our response. We feel a compulsion to do something. This is the tyranny of urgency. It whispers that if we

We tend to assume that the journey to financial success is linear. We imagine that as our net worth rises, our stress levels will fall. We believe that once we hit a certain number (let’s call it the "freedom number"), anxiety will simply evaporate. Yet, in our conversations with successful individuals and families, we often find the opposite is true. There is a strange gravity to success. As you accumulate more, the stakes feel higher. The focus shifts from "how do I grow th

Have you ever found yourself waiting for the "right time" to tackle a difficult task? It may be a complex conversation you need to have with a partner, a looming deadline, or simply opening an envelope from the tax people that you have moved from one side of the desk to the other for a week. We often tell ourselves that we are waiting for motivation. We are waiting to feel ready, energised, or confident before we begin. But behavioural science suggests we might have the equat

We often talk about the emotional side of money, but sometimes the barrier to peace of mind is purely logistical. Over a lifetime of working, moving, and saving, it is normal to accumulate a "financial junk drawer". You might have a pension from a job you left ten years ago, a savings account opened on a whim, an investment app you stopped checking, and perhaps an old policy collecting dust in a filing cabinet. Maybe you’ve emigrated recently and had to explore a whole new la

For generations, families have carried financial stress in silence. Conversations about money are so often still avoided, shared in whispers, or shut down entirely. Sometimes out of shame. Sometimes out of tradition. Often out of fear. But what if we could change that? What if you could be the generation that stops the silence and starts the conversation? Because here’s the truth: secrecy breeds anxiety, not security. And when we don’t talk about money, we don’t just miss out

(This is the last blog of three about biases and how they impact our financial planning, all published this month.) If you’ve ever walked away from a brilliant webinar or insightful podcast thinking, “Yes! I’m going to make a change,” and then done… nothing, welcome to the club! Change is hard. Not because we’re lazy, but because our brains are wired for survival, not clarity. In this final blog of our series on cognitive bias, we look at the subtler biases that shape our sen

There’s a myth that responsible planning means sacrificing joy. This myth often has people believing that if you budget, you’ll feel restricted. If you invest, you’ll have to wait forever. If you plan ahead, you’re not really living in the moment. But what if the opposite is true? What if responsible planning is the very thing that allows us to live beautifully, with intention, freedom, and peace of mind? Responsibility is not a restriction. For some of us, the word “responsi

If financial planning were just about logic, calculators would replace conversations. But as we all know, that’s not how life works. Your relationship with money isn’t built solely on maths; it’s built on meaning. And meaning is shaped by how we see the world, how we were raised, the communities we belong to, and what we believe makes us “good” or “successful” or “safe.” So let’s pack those calculators away for just a second. This second blog in our series on bias looks at ho