What a week off!  I’ve recently returned from Devon enjoying some time away with my fiancé and golden retriever to have a small break from the office and enjoy the UK “summer”.  The temperature didn’t break 20C and we had to dodge the showers to spend most of our time on the surrounding beaches.  It was our first break away with our dog and he was in his element with lots of likeminded friends (humans and canine) to play with.  He’s still largely afraid of the sea and strong winds but he’s getting there, and I can testify that fish and chips taste better with sand between the toes.

The week gave me time to reflect on the past two years and plan for those ahead.  Being a member of a strong team has given me the confidence to dive deeper into client planning.  My fellow director Tim Kirby has challenged me to work with more tech to better illustrate my ideas to clients and to use these illustrations as visual aids in client meetings rather than me using a pen and pad.  The results are empowering.  Clients have enjoyed the experience to date of being able to visualise how their capital will support their retirement income needs and it has freed up more time in meetings to dive into other areas of planning (most commonly inheritance planning), which as an advisor is exciting.  

Even millionaires need reassurance in these times that they are on track with their income and succession planning.

In the week I left work, I finessed a cash flow model for a client that optimises their historical investments and plans for the next seven years of their immediate cash flow needs.  I could not have done so without first showing the client how their capital will react to such a strategy at the headline level using the above visual aids.

We all take inspiration from those around us and adopt new ideas to improve ourselves.  In working to the top of a team you then become the person to show others the way.  But in getting to the top, you can lack the challenge of a peer daring you to do better. 

At WKM we are a team built around a client rather than a team built around a successful advisor to service more and more (the latter is very common in most client led businesses).  When I think of successful sports teams, you can see how teams achieve a level of success in building themselves around a key individual.  Teams that go on to dominate switch this up by encouraging the key individual to step back, share the game more, which empowers the whole team. 

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – Aristotle. 

Enjoy the journey ancient Greek philosopher and sports fans!

Thanks for reading.