When George and Louise first started working with us, they were already running a successful farm partnership. On top of this Louise had a very demanding role as a speech therapist.
Whilst they found work and life satisfying, it is fair to say that they were very busy people.
On chatting with them, it became clear whilst they both enjoyed their work, they had other interests they also enjoyed. George, in particular, had a love of cycling, running (then) and skiing and was keen to devote more time and energy to these pursuits.
They also have three children – Lucy, Brodie and Ronan – each of whom was and is making their own way in the world. What was apparent was they loved spending time/holidaying with their family and were keen, if at all possible, to help them out financially.
Whilst they had always been conscious of making financial provisions for their futures the problem was that:
- They did not know exactly how much was going to be ‘enough’ to enable them to live their desired lifestyle – namely more time spent with the family and doing the things that they really enjoyed
- They also were not making full use of all the available tax breaks to them which would just help get them to that point much quicker.
What we did for them
First of all, we got Louise and George to map out the kind of lifestyle they wanted for now and into their retirement. We also got them to think of ways that would be ‘nice’ to help their children out.
Using powerful financial planning software, we developed our BettrPlan with them. This helped calculate how much they would need to earn and save over the new few years to be able to eventually retire (and begin to ease off immediately) and be able to live the life of their dreams without the fear of running out of money.
It turned out to be a lot less than they had ever thought.
George in particular recognised that he had been ‘conditioned’ to be a ‘full-time’ farmer continually striving to make more money. It turned into a very powerful conversation in that we established he could instead ‘pick and choose’ the jobs he liked and step back from those that he didn’t.
George immediately got to work reorganising how the farm worked and selling off some cattle.
Louise meantime felt secure enough to start reducing her hours at work over the coming years.
Since then
Since then, George and Louise have become grandparents spending some of their week looking after their granddaughter Rosie.
Louise has now retired and is in receipt of her superannuation pension spending her time working at a local charity shop.
Over the years they have organised and paid for many family holidays all of which has created shared experiences and memories to treasure for the rest of their lives.
George has engaged his cousin to manage a large part of the farm’s activities leaving him free to have the time and energy to focus on the things he enjoys doing both around the farm and beyond.
Financially they have never felt more secure and have really benefitted from having a structured portfolio designed around the risk level they are comfortable with and the kind of lifestyle they foresee for themselves. They have also benefitted hugely from making full use of tax allowances and reliefs that were available to them but largely unused.
Family
As a result of this work, George and Louise have been able to live their lives by design and not by default. Again, using powerful financial planning software we have been able to identify some money and assets that Louise and George no longer need to rely on.
Together we have been able to bring forward a planned gifting strategy to the children meaning that Louise and George have the satisfaction of helping their family out at the time when their family most needs it.
Going forward George and Louise meet with us twice yearly to ensure that their financial planning remains on track and that they continue to grab the opportunities that life offers them.
