Hoxton Life

How I Helped a Couple Quit Work and Retire 10 Years Early! - with Bobby Sahota

• Hoxton Wealth

Share episode

What REALLY Happens in a Financial Planning Meeting? | Bobby Sahota | Hoxton Life Podcast

Most people think financial planning is just about numbers, pensions, and investment charts. But what if it's actually the first step toward peace of mind, freedom, and even early retirement?

In this episode of Hoxton Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Bobby Sahota from Hoxton Wealth to explore what really happens in a financial planning meeting. No jargon. No pressure. Just an honest look at how one conversation can reshape your life.

We hear the incredible story of a couple who thought they had to work for 10 more years - until Bobby helped them see they could retire now. Within a year, they were off their meds, living by the coast, and finally enjoying life.

Sam also opens up about his own experience and the shame that kept him from creating a financial plan - despite working in the industry for years.

🎧 Expect to learn:

  • What to expect in your first planning meeting
  • How Bobby helps uncover what really matters
  • Why financial planning is more emotional than you think
  • How it can help you retire earlier than you thought possible

🔗 Book your own meeting with Hoxton Wealth: https://hoxtonwealth.com/contact
📌 Subscribe for more real conversations about money, mindset, and living a life on your terms.

Ready to start your international financial planning career?

Hoxton Wealth is looking for ambitious individuals ready to take their careers to the next level. Whether you're interested in international financial planning, compliance, client servicing, or marketing roles within the financial sector, we offer unparalleled opportunities for growth and success.

Don’t miss a beat! Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch full podcast episodes featuring insights from those that work for Hoxton and some of our special guests and partners. Stay connected by following us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X for more exclusive content.

Curious about our career opportunities? Visit our website to explore open positions and learn more about joining the Hoxton Wealth team. Your journey in international financial planning starts here!

For sponsorships, partnerships, or media inquiries, reach out to us

Speaker 1:

And what we actually did is we built a plan and they retired. I think it was about six years early. They retired within 12 months of our meeting.

Speaker 2:

And what I think anybody listening to this needs to understand you're going to have that feeling at absolutely every stage. When it comes to thinking about your retirement, when it comes to thinking about financials, money expenditure, living costs, it's naturally ingrained to freak us out a little bit living costs.

Speaker 1:

It's naturally ingrained to freak us out a little bit and they might think that they've had a fantastic advisor because he's got them six percent, seven percent, eight percent per year and they've had them for 20 years.

Speaker 2:

But they're creating them a massive tax liability there's always a mate down the pub who thinks he's a financial services expert, so sometimes like avoid all those people. Go to somebody who is highly qualified, who is an expert, who is regulated, and sit down with that person, who's not there to judge you.

Speaker 1:

Your financial plan is not just about you. It can be for other people as well.

Speaker 2:

We're only here for a very short period of time, and whilst I'm here, I want to enjoy myself.

Speaker 1:

One of the things I tasked them to do was go and go out every day for 28 days and go and spend.

Speaker 2:

Almost kind of like counselling side of it and fact-finding side of it. I said that's where the magic really, really, truly happens. A piece of paper, and it was you asking me questions and just getting me to talk about everything. It was like a therapy session.

Speaker 1:

Put the money and the assets aside. Where are you now, when do you want to get to and how do I bridge that gap?

Speaker 2:

Bobby, thanks for joining me today on the Hoxton Life podcast. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm good, thank you. How are you, sam?

Speaker 2:

amazing. Look, I am super pumped because you've joined Hoxton Wealth. You know we've been communicating for the last year. You first came on the Financial Planner Life podcast, where we had a deep discussion about vision boards and the power of manifesting your future, and really we got excited, didn't we, about how you can incorporate that into the financial planning process, because not everybody is numbers focused right, put my hand up on that one. That's me. I'm not a numbers focused individual.

Speaker 2:

So we talked a lot about how we can visualize our future, how we can plan for our future without getting overwhelmed or anxious about the numbers side or about the money side, which, as I said, for me, is one of my biggest anxieties in life.

Speaker 2:

I'm somebody who visualizes my future and you share that. So you've now worked within financial planning for over 20 years and you've come on at Hoxton Wealth to add value in a consultative manner, and we're really pleased to have you on board. I certainly am One of the things that you have done whilst being here in the business is personally helping me with my own financial planning, which has been life-changing. If I'm yeah, it really it really has been life-changing, yeah, um, and today, what I wanted to do with this podcast episode was to be able to share the process that you went through with me, so if any of our clients are actually listening to this, then hopefully it will give them an insight into what good financial planning looks like and what a discovery meeting looks like and we can start to throw in things like testimonials, client experiences, my own personal experiences and why this process that you do is so helpful and why it helps so many other people create financial security and overall financial well-being.

Speaker 2:

All right, so that's a good introduction. I'll let you speak now. No, pressure.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for having me, sam. It's always delightful. I can't believe it's been over a year since our first podcast. It's said so much has changed since then. And, yeah, start of the year it's been great joining hoxton and being able to share my financial services career expertise with the other advisors. Um has been like incredible. Um, especially because we've got such a young team as well. So, like, knowledge is power, isn't it? And um, it's quite funny now because we're everywhere where I've worked before, I've always been one of the youngest and now I'm like one of the oldest.

Speaker 2:

Yeah join the club.

Speaker 1:

It's a big change. It's a it is a big change. So it's nice to be able to pass on that knowledge and what's worked for me and I don't always say like um just because it's worked for me, follow this process. But how I've learned and um developed over the years is by taking a bit from somebody, taking a bit from someone else and then kind of using my own style and building something um which then I've kind of mastered and kind of used as a process, but not like a structure that has to be followed, like in a certain way, in something that flows and that's comfortable for clients, based how, how I think and how my mind is, and to be able to tap into um, a client's um kind of uh life plan and helping them visualize that. That for me that's really rewarding um, but, like I said, not just for clients but also with advisors as well and sharing that expertise. So that's been good. Three months nearly in, so yeah, all good.

Speaker 2:

Great stuff. You're based in Birmingham in the brand new office in Birmingham. We're here today because we're opening up the Birmingham office and celebrating the fact that Hoxton Wealth have opened a new office in the UK. I was over in Liverpool last week with Jonathan Jay. We're here today with you to celebrate Birmingham. There seems no stopping Hoxton Wealth in the UK. We're going from strength to strength and, of course, we're an international financial planning business which adds another layer of expertise.

Speaker 2:

Like I'm somebody that lives in Dubai in our Dubai office right Now, me moving from the uk to dubai creates taxed situation for me. I didn't really fully, completely understand it and, um, based on my own personal financial goals. You were able to pick up that within our exploratory chats and you were able to educate me a little bit around tax um, my own financial planning basically well, being international, and that's one of the usps for me in why hoxton is such a great place to work and why they're so well positioned right now, especially within the uk, with so many people expected to leave the uk and go to other countries. Um, and that's going to create tax issues. It's going to create complex financial planning needs and more and more people need to do that. But yeah, let's not be around the bush.

Speaker 2:

I think there's a huge amount of people out there in the uk that definitely need financial planning but don't quite know how to access it and perhaps have a preconception of what they think it actually is. And today, really, I just want to kind of talk somebody through a process and say, look, you know, this is the kind of thing you're going to expect, so don't be overwhelmed. Um, embrace it, allow it in, because it might just transform your life, like it transformed mine and like it's transformed hundreds of the clients that you've worked with over that 20 year period. Let's just kick things off, then. So client meetings, right. So what's the first meeting like? What's an exploratory meeting like for you?

Speaker 1:

So I think it's really important both for the financial planner and for the client to make sure that you're aligned. So, um, can we work together? Um, so the first meeting don't talk about like plans or what you have or money or anything like that. It is just a introductory meeting. This is who I am.

Speaker 1:

This is what I'm about, a little bit about what I've done in the past, how I work and to see if there's a good fit, because it's not just about whether the client is happy to work with the planner. Like for myself, I need to make sure that I'm comfortable and I'm not and I'm able to add value, because there's no point in me taking on a client that wants to, for example, dictate what they want, because they've come to me, they're paying me for advice, so they're not getting value if they're, you know, coming to me and going all right, okay, here's a hundred grand, go and invest it for me, they might as well just go and do that themselves. Um, so for me it's like how can I add value? And also for me to explain to them why I do what I do and what the process is. So that would be the first meeting in terms of let me stop you there.

Speaker 2:

So let's just explain that. So if you're in a meeting and you're explaining why you do what you do and why if I've got a hundred grand I want to invest, I should go and do it myself and what's the difference in using you in your services, what would you say? How would you lay it out to them?

Speaker 1:

I think it's um kind of just explaining, not just I want to know what, because I think people sometimes are a little bit reserved about um sharing what they have um. So I mean, I've had it in the past with clients where you know, I've gone to see them. It might be like a an advisor that's had them in the past and I've taken over and I've gone and looked at their um previous details and it's showing me that they've got one pension and that's it. And I go and see them and they've not just got one pension, they've got lots of stuff. But they haven't told the advisor previously because they think, oh, if I start talking about this, they're going to want to invest that money for them. So for me it's like no, it's not.

Speaker 1:

It's not about you know how much money have you got so that I can invest it all for you. It's making sure that you know where you're going, what your plan is. Put the money thing, like, put the money and the assets aside. Where are you now? Where do you want to get to and how do I bridge that gap? Um by a using your existing assets first of all. Um and also, if you haven't got anything in place? How do we get there? What can we use? What's your income, what's your expenditure? Um, you know, are you saving on a regular basis? Um, have you got things in place if the worst was to happen, if you're from work? So it's. It's kind of looking at things on a holistic basis, not product pushing or trying to sell them something cool.

Speaker 2:

It's kind of like testing the water. It's understanding where they are in their life and how ready are they to be able to actually work with you. Are they coachable? Are they willing to change? Are they willing to make a change? Are they ready for change? As you said? Are they just looking for someone to invest some money for them? They can do that themselves, but are they looking to put a plan in place?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's not always that Sometimes people don't know. So that's where the education piece comes in. If they've always done things in a certain way and they might think that they've had a fantastic advisor because he's got them 6%, 7%, 8% per year and they've had them for 20 years, but they might have created them a massive tax liability, had them for 20 years, but they're creating them a massive tax liability, they don't know any difference because all they're seeing is, oh, my money's going up each year. Um, so, without kind of sitting down and getting to know what their objectives are, what's what? What in? What is most important to them is that children, grandchildren, living and leaving a legacy, getting their children to school, helping with a deposit, deposit for the house, for themselves. What are their plans for the future? Like, do they want to kind of go and retire and move to Dubai, or like you know things like that? It's getting to know not just where they are now, but kind of their short, medium and long-term objectives as well and, as I said, helping them get there, um, by kind of sitting down and looking at what they currently have, how important it is to them. Is it a dream? Is it a dream or is it just a thought? But sometimes people have the thought and they don't do anything with it. But by sitting down and creating a plan, um, it becomes more real. A bit like you, wasn't it? Like when we were talking about where you want to be in 12 years, 12 years time, um, you knew what you wanted, but you couldn't. You're not a numbers person, so you couldn't figure out how to get there. So this was where I think the creative, um kind of putting things together in terms of, like the visualization thing. People work differently, but you've got to be able to, um kind of help a client visualize that.

Speaker 1:

So even like, for example, when I talk about retirement, I'll say, okay, you know, send a question when are you looking to retire? What does that look like? And they like, oh, I don't know. Okay, so if you woke up tomorrow and you didn't have to go into work, what would you do? And then it's automatically like oh, they haven't thought about it because they're thinking 10, 15 years to go. So I'll think about it. But if you said to somebody right, okay, you're retired now, what are you going to do? It gets them to start to think actually, what would I do, because a big chunk of your life is at work. So and this is why I talk about different things Like what do they enjoy doing now, if they had more time, what would they do more of? You know how many times do they go away on holiday per year Three, four times, whatever.

Speaker 1:

Is that something that they'd want to continue in retirement? Yes, no, probably, yes, yes, probably want to do more. Okay, so what plans have you got? Have you put in place to get there? Because if you decide to retire at this age and you've got nothing in place, how are you going to continue to maintain that standard of living? So it's about it is about kind of exploring, um, what their wants and needs and desires and, um, things like that are, and trying to get them into that mode of right. Okay now, like I said to you, sam, you're 65, 60, please don't say that you're 55, you're retiring now.

Speaker 1:

Now, and you've woke up, what's the first thing you can do, except for have your coffee. After your coffee.

Speaker 2:

I want to be walking outside of my house down to a beach. That sounds very cliche, Sitting on the beach having a swim in the sea or working out in my outside gym at my villa in, say, Thailand, for example, before I go and get changed and go along to my next career, which will be running a coffee shop in thailand that's how I visualize, yeah that's what I see and I close my eyes and that's what I want from my future.

Speaker 1:

That's my dream but some people like they don't think about it until much closer to the time because they just think you're on that like kind of um hamster wheel, aren't you like? You're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, and then, before you know it, it's actually I need to think about it now one of the things you did really well was to challenge my beliefs.

Speaker 2:

So in that initial exploratory chat I could, I felt I didn't want to kind of articulate my dream without a, without a way to get there.

Speaker 2:

But the way to get there I didn't know, I didn't understand yeah, because when I close my eyes and I visualize something, I see that so clearly I'm confident I will get there, yeah. But when I close my eyes and I visualize how much money I'm going to need or how I'm going to get there, it's as if my mind gets jumbled and numbers start moving all around and I can't think I can't, fix, I can work out. There is no financial plan to get there, right? And that was the bit that I always said to myself I don't know how to do it, I can't do it. My brain doesn't think that way. I'm dyslexic with numbers. There are all these things that I was putting around me that was blocking me off from even looking at that, even writing it down, even engaging with a financial planner.

Speaker 2:

There was an element with me as well and I wonder if anyone's listening to this when they're thinking about using a financial planner where they almost feel slightly ashamed that I'm 43 years old and I don't have a financial plan. You know, but I've spent 16 years building a business. You know, I spent 16 years building a recruitment business. Now, when you're in your throes as an entrepreneur, you are in your business. Yeah, you think your business is going to be the thing that's going to give you an income later on, even though I haven't worked out how that was and actually the reality was, after 16 years, I sold my recruitment business and I didn't have enough money and I walked away and I was like, oh shit, you know, it really got me thinking and I was like, oh no, and it really affected me. But it was at that point as well that I had to then go right, I need a path.

Speaker 1:

But then it's better that you did it then and not in the 15 years time 100%.

Speaker 2:

Is it?

Speaker 1:

So you having that realisation moment then and going actually what I've been working on for the last 16 years like this thing, it's made you think about the next 15 years.

Speaker 2:

Massively. I think the key thing here is, like you know, we have these ideas in our head, these beliefs, that we create these money stories, that we feel that we don't know what we're doing or we're slightly ashamed and we should be further ahead and we compare ourselves to others, and that was where I was living massively. But I think when we sat down and we had that, no, there was no numbers in the exploratory chat, it was quite simply a piece of paper and it was you asking me questions and just getting me to talk about everything. It was like a therapy session. So for me, doing that and opening up is how I interact, is how I respond positively, because I need a, I need an environment of trust and I need that's so important, yeah, and I need to feel like I am telling somebody, like pretty much my, my secrets or the things that are the my insecurities. Yes, this is it right, we've all got these insecurities. Some people are right on it and some people are. We all have our insecurities. Yes, this is it right, we've all got these insecurities. Some people are right on it and some people are. We all have our insecurities. Mine was massively around money. Money made me anxious. Having it or not having it makes me anxious, like I'm that type of person. It's like a financial insecurity. I'm working on it, you know.

Speaker 2:

I'm really starting to pick it apart and understand it so that exploratory meeting for me and anybody listening is look, it's an opportunity for you to sit with somebody who is fully qualified, who sat down and done hundreds of financial plans with people in varying stages of life, their careers. You are no different. They have, they've seen everything. There's nothing to be ashamed of. That's the thing. There's nothing more that you're going to see and look at me and go, oh my god, because you're not. That's your job is to kind of get that information out of me. So it's out in the open, it's on the table, yeah, and then we can go right, let's see whether or not your dream is realistic or not and if it's not, guess what? We'll put a realistic plan in place.

Speaker 2:

And it might not be. You know the Bentley sitting outside your six bedroom house. You know that you think you've got in retirement. It might be something looking slightly different, but there's a plan and let's get there and let's start working on it. So we've got that bit, the exploratory chat, and I want people to understand that that exploratory chat is about you. It's about putting everything on the table, sitting down with the trusted advisor, and their job is not to judge you. Their job is to pull out of you everything which is sitting inside your head and start to put it on paper so we can start to develop a bit of a plan. Yeah, and then from that, that therapeutic process is that it's out and it's like, oh gosh, great, what next? So what is next?

Speaker 1:

So the next stage of the meeting is really getting to know you. So there's four main areas that I'll talk to you about lifestyle, career, family and property, what your current position is, what your plans are for the future, and also what you've done in the past as well, because that's really important Sometimes, and also what you've done in the past as well, because that's really important Sometimes, decisions you've made in the past can have an impact on future decisions. So it's good for me to kind of get a good understanding of each of the different areas, and I said what's most important to you.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic. So what are these areas?

Speaker 1:

So generally we tend to stand. You know I normally say we'll start off with what's most important. Most people it's family, right?

Speaker 1:

So I'll ask the question tell me a bit about your family, tell me about you know, have you got children, have you got grandchildren, what are their ages, what are their names? Just getting to know because your financial plan is not just about you, it can be for other people as well um and what your hopes and dreams and goals are, for example, for your children, your grandchildren, um. So I'll ask things like okay, so how old are they? That forms part of the getting to know you, building that trust, finding commonality as well. Um, I mean, children are a big one, aren't they?

Speaker 2:

They're pretty expensive as well. George and I are expensive. My daughter goes to a private school over in Dubai. You have to pay for schools in Dubai and it's costly, right? When you were talking to me about family, it was about factoring in. Well, how long are you going to be there?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And over the rest of the 10 years of being in school. How much is that going to cost you, sam?

Speaker 1:

plus the bus fees, plus the buses and the very expensive dinners.

Speaker 2:

I don't know what they're eating, some sort of five-star dinner?

Speaker 1:

so it's things like that. So getting to know, like you know, okay, what are the kids wanting to go to university? Are they? Are they looking to help the children with university fees? Um, have they got older children? Are they married? They're not married. Are they, you know, looking to put some money aside to help them with a deposit? So it's those kind of things that talk about family, but also things like um, the other side to it as well. So you know parents are they still alive? And you know any of the dependents, because they may have parents.

Speaker 1:

That are not financially dependent, but they may be dependent on them in other kind of ways, especially if they're elderly, because, again, if they've got other things going on, like caring for a, caring for a parent or an elderly relative, then that can have an impact on their plans as well. Um, have they received any inheritances recently? Um, it all forms part of the bigger picture in terms of things like what their end goal is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. No, brilliant Stephanie, an area that we went into and I do think about my family a lot. I think about the future. We talked about Isabella and how I would like to be able to help her in her life. I only have one girl. I don't have any more children. That's enough. One's enough.

Speaker 2:

One as well, but I don't have any more children and you know one's enough one as well. But there, but I don't know whether or not it's a daddy daughter thing, I don't know, but I feel like I want to build wealth, to also pass wealth on to my daughter and to not just let her waste it or squander it. I want to be able to create wealth that can help her achieve her goals as well, right and live a purposeful life and not just chase money but have a level of financial security yeah I think for me like one of the biggest things.

Speaker 2:

This goes back to our exploratory chat and for me, this is why it was so important. It was like uncover and discover. You were discovering lots of insecurities that were probably more to do with myself and my upbringing and my relationship with money, but then it was projecting onto my family and then how it was then affecting my family or my view of the future and how they and what part they had in it. So it was quite interesting to to delve into the family side and again look, you know, it's all about being honest, it's about bringing it out into the light. Right, you can keep it in the dark, you can bring it out into the light. But the more I brought it out into the light oh yeah the more you knew about me and the more I felt like I was coming towards a solution around it. Now you've got family. You touched on that one. There's four key areas that you touched on with me. The next one, I think, was lifestyle yeah, so there's a little bit about lifestyle yeah.

Speaker 1:

So family lifestyle is like when they're, for example, are they retired? Are they working? When they're not at work, what do they enjoy doing? How often do they go away on holiday? What's important to them, like you know, if they're looking to retire, um, what do they plan to do? Do they plan to continue to maintain that current standard of um living, for example, if they go away three, four times a year? They've got more time now. What does that look like? Or have they got a bucket list, these kind of like day-to-day stuff, and it might be like golf or, I don't know, gym or it might be inexpensive things, but it's just getting an idea of what again, what's important to them? That kind of work like work-life balance, retirement, it might be they look after the grandchildren like two, three times a week, so their plans are around the family, um. So that's why the family lifestyle, it all kind of interlinks, yeah, because they're all.

Speaker 2:

All the areas are important one of the things I think we develop with me and I'm going to share on there here, because maybe a lot of people think it as well is that scarcity mindset. So when you look at lifestyle, you almost think, oh my God, I've got to save every single penny I've got, otherwise we're going to go broke. And that was how my mind was right. So, when it came to buying clothes or going on holidays, or going out for a meal all things that you want to do and enjoy in your life you know we're all at different stages of our lives.

Speaker 1:

Right, there are certain things we can and can't afford, but we're only here for a very short period of time and whilst I'm here, I want to enjoy myself that's so important and I think I've had it in the past with clients where where, like some of my like, most rewarding client stories have been the ones not where they're investing, but when they've actually started to spend. Um, I mean one of my long-standing clients actually quite a sad story. I met them probably about maybe 10 years ago. Um, met them about 10 years ago, but they were of that generation, they were retired, of that generation. We've just saved, saved, saved, saved, saved and retired and carried on saving, saving, saving, saving. And I, like I've gone to see them at home and they're like, oh, you know the bank statements. They knew what was coming in, what was going out. They needed things doing around the house, but they had this fixed thing I think they used to use. I know some people use those jars like money jars. They used to use them, but they upgraded to the bank account.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, isn't it funny how bank modern bank accounts now go back to actually using the jars saving spots?

Speaker 1:

yeah, the jars, yeah so they used to have these jars. So they went and they knew exactly what was coming in, going out, but they had, you know, they needed things doing like the kitchen and there was loads of things that they wanted to go away. But they never did it because it didn't fit within this little plan, because they were so used to doing this, and I was like, okay, right, let's just take a step back. What you're actually doing is building wealth because you're not spending it and what's going to happen is, when you are no longer here, your children are going to have to pay 40% inheritance tax. So you're not enjoying it because you think that you can't spend. You think it's going to run out. It's never going to run out the amount that you're spending and what you've got coming in. You're both retired. You've got guaranteed pensions in place. It's not like when you're working, I've like you know, if I lose my job, if I haven't got enough money because I haven't earned enough, whatever, this money is guaranteed for life. So just that little bit was a change in mindset. This money is not going to go. You're always going to get this money in. But what? But what was nice?

Speaker 1:

Was that one of the things I tasked them to do was go out every day for 28 days and go and spend. And I remember I went out for lunch one day, about two weeks in and I met one of the clients Jen her name is. She came out. She's coming out of I used to work in Sutton Coalfield at the time. She's coming out of House Appraiser and she's like barbie guess what I was like, what she's like I've just bought a dress. She's like I've been spending every day and I was like good for you. She started spending.

Speaker 1:

They started um, like they got their kitchen done and things like that. He did like, um, he did a wing walk because he um, he'd, um, he got, he had cancer, um, and then he got the all clear. So he did this. Like they did all these fantastic things. They could have done a lot more. So I think over a three year period they started to get there and then, unfortunately, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He passed away a couple of years ago but I'd wished I'd met them sooner. That's what I wish like, because they never got, but I'm glad that they did that little bit that they did and if they didn't meet you, maybe they wouldn't have done that.

Speaker 2:

I think that's a beautiful story. The lifestyle piece for me as well, is both reflective in the moment and aspirational. So when you think about lifestyle, you think about what lifestyle do you want to lead when you are living on that beach, sam in thailand, with your cafe and whatnot?

Speaker 2:

machete yeah, machete cafe. You know, like how much is that going to cost you? Do you think what sort of lifestyle you're going to want to be living over the years? How do you think it's going to look? And it got me kind of thinking about that as well. But it also got me thinking about the lifestyle I lead now. Am I living my life to the fullest? Have I got the money to be able to do that? But I think one of the things it also does and very much again dependent upon when you were born, I think, and your lifestyle and how you have been financially educated what types of or not educated or yeah, like the vehicles that are in place, the debt, the lending that is out there at the moment.

Speaker 2:

Maybe I'm overspending, maybe people are overspending and maybe that's because you don't want to look. You don't want to look. So when you go through that process and this is what I loved about it it challenged me to look at my spending. And then later on, obviously we did the budget and it was just like God, maybe I am overspending in certain areas and if I took that money, I didn't spend so much on takeaways. It's one of my nightmare ones. Alcohol free beer yeah, this is it. I don't drink alcohol. So I thought to myself this is the funny thing, right? So I'm like I don't drink. Therefore, I drank. I used to spend a thousand pound like taxis and booze and all sorts I had partied. I loved it, but then I got rid of that, but I still. I just kind of just upgraded to getting delivery every day, so you got fatter.

Speaker 2:

I got fatter. I got fatter. I was still spending probably the same amount of money. I was just spending it on something else. So like it was a brilliant opportunity. You need a replacement.

Speaker 1:

do you yeah?

Speaker 2:

exercise made was a big one because it doesn't cost anything. But anyway, it kind of got me looking at my lifestyle and and I thought that was really valuable and again like how many times do you sit down, look at your lifestyle and actually be challenged on it? And then how that lifestyle plays into your money, beliefs and you know your habits how does that play into your spending? How does that play into your saving? How does that plan into the play into the future of who you think you're going to be and how you're going to get there? You know how does it play into your saving. How does that play into the future of who you think you're going to be and how you're going to get there? You know. How does it play into your dream. Is it connected to it? Can it be connected if you make some slight adjustments and the person who's not you on the other side of the table? It's another view, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

It's another perspective, because you're just like kind of one track, but we've got sometimes you have that one kind of fixed mindset in terms of this is where I am and like I don't want to delve into any of these other areas because a, like you said, beliefs. It's a bit scary, yeah, but it's important if you are being challenged. It's the trust things very important, which is why you can't just someone.

Speaker 2:

If I just came out to you, didn't know me, whatever, and I started talking to you about xyz you'd be like oh, interestingly, I would find it more comfortable talking to somebody who is not a family or a friend yeah because they are invested in my life. They're not affected by my decisions, they're not emotionally connected to me. They might not.

Speaker 2:

They might be scared to upset your decisions won't impact yeah, so somebody on the other side of the table who's an expert, who is doing it for my greater good and not bringing any kind of emotion, let's say, into it or judgment or judgment yeah, yeah, I'll say space again it is a great way to challenge me and to challenge my thinking, because you don't know me from adam.

Speaker 2:

You're looking at facts and you're asking. You know it's a great way to be and that's why, again, I don't feel worried or nervous about sitting in front of somebody and opening up around money. Money, you know, is a kind of feeling of my. Don't talk about that. But if you do sit down with somebody and you don't know them, sometimes it's brilliant. It's like going to a counsellor, right. Sometimes you can tell somebody in therapy your deepest, darkest secrets, because you can close this door and say I'll never see that person again. But you can offload and it's a good thing. It's a good thing when you go to friends, when you go to family or a podcast. I'm setting up with a well-known financial planner, my mate down the pub. Right, there's always a mate down the pub who thinks he's a financial services expert. So you had a few beers, you listen to him and he tells you to invest in crypto, in properties all these things and you lose all your money.

Speaker 2:

And you lose all your money, right. So sometimes like, avoid all those people. Go to somebody who is highly qualified, who is an expert, who is regulated, and sit down with that person who's not there to judge you. And this again it comes back to this part of the process. Right At this point of the process, it's a discovery about that individual. Yeah, what makes them tick? Where do they want to go and why? How much do you think they need? What does the future look like for them? This isn't trying to sell somebody a product or a service or anything along those lines?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely not. This is a and discover right, so we can look at whether or not that person can be helped. So you've looked at lifestyle, big one right. What else do we look at?

Speaker 1:

So, career and property. So, depending on, obviously, what life stage they are at, we'll talk about what they do. Are they employed, are they self-employed, how long they've been doing their current role for, when they enjoy it that's quite important, as well as about clients um, that, um, you know it's kind of towards approaching retirement, um, and absolutely hate their jobs but think that they need to continue because, like, for example, one of my clients who were like 57, 57, 58, um, and in their mind retirement, they weren't getting their state pension until about, I think it was about 67 or 68. So they thought, oh, we'll have to continue to. Both of them were like, in education one was a teacher, one was a university lecturer will have to continue to work until about 60, 65 to build up this money because they were both on high incomes, thinking that they needed it. But when they were looking, when I was looking at their income and their expenditure and it's quite silly like actually they were counting their expenditure as the £1,000 a month that they were saving. And when we sat down I was like, actually, you know, you're both getting between you say it was like £8,000 a month, you actually only need two or three because by then you should have gone XYZ and it was sitting down.

Speaker 1:

But what I loved about this probably again one of my um nice, nice stories where I've helped a client is when I first met them. They were living like in Birmingham and, um, I said both in these jobs that they didn't like both on antidepressants, um, I'm quite open with telling me, um, because I'm sorting out their protection. They had to anyway, both on antidepressants, um, I'm quite open, we're telling me, because I'm sorting out the protection. They had to anyway, both on antidepressants, um, and just like they weren't, they were just working because I thought they had to work and just looking forward to the weekends. So when we started talking about whether they enjoyed work and retirement and we talked about lifestyle, talking about lifestyle and what they enjoyed doing so they loved like kind of looking forward to like long weekends, loved Wales, had friends over in Wales and their dream was to, when they retire, to go and sell their house here and buy something in Wales and live like a quiet, like you know, out of the city and quiet lifestyle and just have like simple things right, um, and this is where I said like in terms of when we sat down and had a look, they had all these pensions. But in their mind. Because when their statements come through pension statements it says when you retire at 65 and I think that's another thing as well people see their statements and automatically it's like it's written, isn't it so pension, I must retire at 65 because this chart here is telling me that if I retire at 65, it's going to give me this amount of income. So that's what was in there. Like mine, I've got like seven years or whatever, um, till I retire. And um, when we sat down, I was like actually you've got all this. Like, if you could retire earlier, would you? And they were like yeah, but we can't. And I was like okay, but if you could, I'm asking the question, would you? And they were like, oh, it's a bit scary. But like, okay, no, but then, like it took me a good like three, four times and I'm asking you if you could, if I can help you to get to retirement quicker. How would you feel about that? And they're like okay.

Speaker 1:

So again, going away finding out what they, the initial meeting about finding out what's important to them, I knew what they, what, what was important. I knew that they were in like high stress jobs and like the medication that they were on. They were just kind of it's almost like just ticking off the years, which I thought was quite sad because they had it all there but nobody actually sat down with them to say, right, actually we can use what you have now. And what we actually did is we built a plan and they retired um, I think it was about six, six years early, so retired within 12 months of our meeting.

Speaker 1:

That weekend when I went to meet them, they went and viewed a house in um Pembrokeshire, went and viewed a house, got a text from them and I was like, oh, wow, like things are moving quickly, um, and yeah, literally. So she waited for um the summer term to finish for school, chanted a notice he handed. They found a house, sold theirs. They moved, like I said, within 12 months and I went to visit them. So they did all that, put the, we did all the cash flow forecasting and what they needed and they realized they didn't need what they thought they needed paid the mortgage arc, use the lump sum.

Speaker 1:

So we did a lot of planning around that yeah um, which was great, and they were able to do what they. You know what they wanted to do. But what I loved the most about that, when I went to visit them about 12 months later, both off medication, like both of them, I was like wow. They were like, what were they doing? They had like chickens, they were like making honey, like they were doing, like all these things. She'd found a little community. She was having, like, um, these coffee money. It was just a different. Just they were smiling okay.

Speaker 2:

So something I would definitely pick up that right, it's life-changing. Financial planning can be absolutely life-changing and I love the term financial planning and I love the term financial well-being. Having that sit down with somebody who is fully qualified, somebody that has had tons of conversations, built plans left, right and center for everybody at any stage of their life, you physically can change their well-being. They're on antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, ticking off the days, giving up, basically ticking off the most valuable thing that they have in existence, which is time yeah yeah, ticking it off in this idea that they're ticking down to a day that they're going to do what they want to do.

Speaker 2:

It wasn't even like ticking it down and feeling happy about that day. It was almost kind of like I can't get there yet. You know, you made that a reality six years sooner and that direct impact that they had on their mental health, their mental well-being, is massive. Yeah, the community that they started to build, the connections that they started to make, that would never have happened if they didn't sat down and start to uncover and discover their beliefs and their ideas. And even when you said, do you want to, if you could recite, really could you? It freaked them out. Yeah, and that's a natural, that is a natural response and that's absolutely fine.

Speaker 2:

And what I think, what anybody listening needs to understand, that you're going to have that feeling at absolutely every stage. When it comes to thinking about your retirement, when it comes to thinking about financials, expenditure, living costs, it's naturally ingrained to freak us out a little bit. Right, it's that insecurity, it's that security that's still going, which is why, again, when you sit down with somebody and they can just put it all on a table and say, look, I'm going to look at this completely differently. I'm going to look at this with my financial planner hat on, not an emotional hat on, not inside your head. I'm going to make something, a plan that's going to change your life. Do you trust me? I love that. I'm going to create a financial plan that's going to change your life and that's what you did.

Speaker 1:

It is life changing.

Speaker 2:

It really is so we've gone through the fact that we've got these different family career, lifestyle, property.

Speaker 1:

So again in terms of property where they live now. How long have they lived there? What are their plans? Do they plan to downsize where they live now? How long have they lived there? Um what are their plans? Are they planned to um downsize?

Speaker 1:

size move, move areas, um, any home improvements, things like that, just to get an idea of kind of what they're kind of. You know even like, how long have you lived there? Where did you live before? Have they kind of moved, um, counties, moved countries. It gives you an idea of, like, are these people going to stay in this place forever? What are their objectives and plans? And like kind of how can they use their existing assets to help build that plan? So it'd be things like you know, have you got a mortgage? Have you got other properties? Have you inherited any properties? Things like that.

Speaker 2:

I want to bring my experience when we spoke into this, because I've got property in the UK. I'm living in Dubai, I'm renting in Dubai. Rent is really high. I've got this vision of me owning a property in Southeast Asia. We'll get into the property laws around that and ownership at another time because I've been looking into that. I need to come back to you on that. But actually in my future there's potentially three. There could could potentially be the opportunity for three properties.

Speaker 2:

Right, and I kind of was toying with that idea because I've got a lump sum of cash right now and I was thinking, well, don't pay rent in dubai saturn because it costs you like 50 grand a year. It's expensive. Why not get a mortgage and have a property in dubai, have a property in the uk which I'm renting out at the moment and then perhaps start looking towards the property in southeast asia? Can you bring that further forward? What can you do about that? And we started building a plan around that and some of the things you threw at me were you can afford because you're not say, paying into a pension or something like that over in dubai the extra tax-free cash that you've got. You could actually overpay on your mortgage in the uk and, instead of having a 25-year term, you could bring that down to a 10-year term and own that property within 10 years and actually, based on your current earnings and protection, you can actually do that, and I was like oh my god.

Speaker 2:

And then we looked at the actual idea of owning a property in dubai and could I afford? So I started doing some calculations and it was like, well, it makes total sense to do something like that. And then we started even like visualising and planning ahead and what I could get from rent from these properties in the future, and does that then factor into my Supplement, your income, supplement, my income in the future when I choose to retire? And that was like really eye-opening for me Because, again, right, that freaks me out.

Speaker 1:

I don't know the ins and outs of it all, I'm not a numbers man you know, but before our chat, like in terms of your views and your perception around financial planners, did you ever think that they'd be talking to you about overpaying your mortgage or anything like that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I kind of understood and knew, but my issue was my reluctance to open up. That was mine. It was a pride thing and it was a feeling of I wasn't where I should be. I fully understand what financial planners do, so I should hope I do, after 16 years of working with them and having a podcast for five years and asking them about it terms of more like, in terms of like I'm not, I'm not talking about just you but in terms of, say, clients would they be like?

Speaker 1:

generally, I think people think that financial planners are there because they want you to invest money correct they don't care about the other side. They don't care, it's the added value. They don't care. It's the added value and I think.

Speaker 2:

Every time I ask somebody, what do you think a financial planner does? Tells me where to put my money, tells me where to invest my money. There's never this when I turn around and go, actually there's more to it, and I talk about the uncover, discover, the actual, almost kind of like cancelling side of it and fact-finding side of it. I said that's where the magic really really truly happens. The plan follows, the financial plan follows, but it's actually the therapeutic uncover and discover element of it that you probably don't understand and I always say look, it's financial well-being.

Speaker 2:

If you're feeling depressed or you're feeling anxious about something, you would go and sit there and talk to a counsellor. Now you might even sit there and talk to that counsellor about how depressed and anxious you are about money, or go and speak to somebody that understands money and can clarify your feelings. Are they real or are they false evidence appearing real? Yeah, so, yeah, so those are the four key areas that we went through right. Yeah, okay, great. So we walked away from there feeling like, wow, that person absolutely knows me. And even at that point as well, you're gradually building a plan, you're building a picture and you're breaking down barriers and you're making things like well, actually, that thing you just said that you can't do, you can't it's giving you options, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I'm getting these little wins as I was going.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's not as big a problem as I thought. So you can. I can do something like that, can I? And then do you know what that does to me? And when I was in it? It spurs me on to be more open. Yeah, but you were more comfortable as we got a lot yeah, yeah, definitely as it's a journey.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah as the journey went on, I felt more and more comfortable and that's a bit I suppose I want people to understand. From the initial kind of not knowing what's going to happen to actually going through the process, you become more open and you get positive feedback as you're going through. So that feedback loop is working really, really well. Now, great, we sat there, we planned everything, we did everything right and we looked at it all and you looked at it and you really understood and I was really excited. And that point I'm thinking to myself how, how am I going to get there? So what's next?

Speaker 1:

So then, what we do is we, like I said, we look at your existing. Well, what I did was I looked at your existing assets, how we can use those to get you to where you need to get to. So, one of the most important areas of financial planning you know, we, everybody looks at growing your money and building your wealth and things like that, but but everything that you do is underpinned by your ability to continue to receive an income If your income stopped tomorrow. So the most important piece of financial planning is the foundation. Laying the foundation is the protection side.

Speaker 1:

So when we looked at the different areas, we looked at, like you know, what plans have you currently got in place If any of the worst was to happen, things like that mortgages, investments, pensions, property will at your overall like, holistically in terms of the different areas.

Speaker 1:

So, things like what plans you have in place for your protection debt repayment, mortgages, pension plans, investment savings have you got a will in place? Your short, medium and long term needs as well, planned expenditure, all those kind of things we look at to see with your existing assets. From those assets there, what can be used to help you to get to where you need to get to and your plan, or, if we haven't got anything in place, what do we need to do? So, when we look at your income and expenditure, there's a reason that we look at your income expenditure. What surplus have you got each month? How much of that can you afford to commit to to ensure that your family is protected or to ensure that you're building up some wealth to help you to get to where you need to get to, or, like we said, using some of your disposable income?

Speaker 1:

So have I don't know, one less coffee a day and put that towards overpaying your mortgage, whatever it is. It's looking at, as I said, the source, the areas that we can use from your existing assets and your disposable income to be able to put a plan together. So then, um, create kind of like an agenda um, outline, um where summarize the different areas that you have shortfalls in and what's most important to you. So, with financial planning, I think, um, people have got to understand that you don't have to do everything in all together. You might have five different need areas and another client might just have one, but you might go right. Okay, I want to get everything done all in one go, and we can, but we've just got to prioritize what's most important, um, or what you want to do now and you might want to do something later, um, but it's taking that first step and once we've got that first step and that first hurdle, it gets easier because you're then, as you're getting closer and you're kind of following that journey, you can start to see things in place, so things that we've spoken about, and that's why I love the visualization um the lifetime planner that I use, because when I've gone back in meetings and I've gone.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is where we were last year. Okay, you were going to buy, you were going to spend 10,000 on your kitchen, or you were going to go on holiday. Have you been like what's next? So you continuously kind of Not just. It's not just about doing a plan and that's it. You see, things can change, life can change. It can be like curveballs that come along the way, which is why it's important Not just what you said in terms of feeling comfortable initially and putting a plan. This, whoever you choose to um be your financial planner, is going to be part of your life for a long time. Um, so it's important to be able to feel comfortable, that you can share all this and, as I said, if things are not going the way that you had planned, what alternatives can we look at as well?

Speaker 2:

So for me massively important is the person I work with. I trust right. And I can be honest with and if something comes up in a life event, I can run it by you and you can reassess my plan. So the key thing here today was really I want to really what to expect, right when you sit down with a financial planner, right it's more than that, sorry, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

so your financial planner is more than the financial planner. Yeah, they're your go-to person exactly any decisions financially, sometimes even personal decisions. I have clients that ring me up, but it is because of that foundation and that trust You've got to have that trust in place for a client to be able to come to you and it works both ways.

Speaker 2:

You need that. This is why the meeting is so important to you as a financial planner. Can I work with this person? Are they coachable, are they willing to listen to my advice? And also, from the other perspective, is like does this person trust me, you know? Are they willing to open up to me? I can imagine in times you've worked with somebody and said, look, I don't think I'm right for you with your level of expertise required around maybe your career.

Speaker 2:

I know somebody who's works with um solicitors or accountants or private bankers, and maybe you should go and sit down with that individual.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they may be a better fit. They may be a better fit.

Speaker 2:

Exactly that. So the aim of the game here is just so when people understand. What I really want to do on this podcast is bring you on and just sort of get people to understand that the initial engagement with a financial planner, the exploratory chat, the uncover and discover process, is highly therapeutic. The plan follows, after all, the information is gathered, gather all the numbers in. You do all your budgeting and then, if there's an agreement in place that a financial plan needs to be created and that there are services that you can offer, then a discussion around fees, ongoing fees, how that operation works. But really don't be scared of a financial planner. If you think you need to speak to one, you probably do. Sit down with them and have that conversation and reach out and let's see what can be done Definitely.

Speaker 1:

I think people as well. They think that they have to have loads of money to speak to a financial planner, but they've got to start somewhere. You've got clients that have got high disposable incomes but because they don't know what to do, they think they've got to build this wealth up before they start speaking to a financial planner. That's not the case, and like what you said as well, when you stop spending a thousand pound a month on what's it?

Speaker 1:

delivery no, what was it before? Oh, and drinking going out, yeah, booze. So when you stop drinking, you replace it with Deliveroo.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1:

But if you'd had a financial planner in place, I probably would have said stick that in your eyes, we'll put it in a plan. But that's what it is, isn't it? It's like having a sounding board.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, 100%, exactly. Yeah, 100 exactly. Someone to check with, someone to check in with and somebody to hold you accountable. You know you go to a pc to try and lose weight, right, and they hold you accountable. Yes, it is that accountability yeah, it's as simple as that. That's how people got to look at it, you know yeah, that's a really good analogy, pt it is when you know you're paying like 50 quid a session.

Speaker 2:

You're not going to order liveroo correct 100, you know, and you've got to check in. So in the pt you might check in with like well, what's your weight that week, how many workouts to be done, what's your active calories that you burn, how many miles have you ran?

Speaker 1:

it's also like valuing yourself, investing in yourself, like if you can't invest in yourself, like the pt analogy for me when it comes to financial.

Speaker 2:

This is why I like that, that's why I like the term wellness, financial wellness coach or a, you know, financial planner should be part of your overall um wellness strategy. And if you lean into somebody's a pt, you know you don't have to spend an absolute fortune on a pt. Right, there are different ways to do it. It's the same with money. You know, you've got pt. You've got somebody who's an expert, maybe on nutrition. You've got somebody who's an expert on money, got somebody's an expert on property. You know, whatever it is that you want to, you might have an area of your life where you want to become an artist or something, or you want to become a great dancer, you want to be better at paddle or whatever. You'd lean into those specific people to get that help and support and guidance right and that's all it is.

Speaker 2:

When it comes to money, you know, lean into a financial planner. They're an expert. They'd be scared of it, they'd be embarrassed about it. It's just another area that they can add value in your life. And guess what, once that pillar of well-being is in place and it's strong, yeah, then those other well-being pillars in your life will start to get stronger as well. Um, and it's about that balance, isn't't it? And why I left it so long. You were in the business, weren't you? I was in the business, I was in, and my story was one of I was an entrepreneur and I genuinely head down and I still do now. I still with my financial plan alive. I still think my solution is to work myself to millions and millions of pounds, and that's how my mind works.

Speaker 1:

It's like well, well, if I'm going to do it, I'm all in and I'm going to do it all in.

Speaker 2:

Over there, you're not making the most of your like being in the moment exactly, and what I'll end on is this having that mindset that all you're going to do is make your millions one day, right, you still carry every single day financial insecurity of not hitting that figure which you think you you need, which in my head sometimes is like five million quid, which is crazy, right, yeah, exactly, which is which? Yeah, I don't need that, by the way, just an example. But all that does is put pressure upon yourself, high expectations on yourself, right, when actually you sit down, you work out a plan and you think, well, actually I don't need as much as I think I do, and there is a different way of actually achieving that money, not just through building a business and selling it. All of a sudden, you are educating yourself that the plan you had might be wrong and if you follow a different path, it might have a positive impact on your financial well-being today.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's what I love about the investing side, which is now what I'm moving into. It's like wow, like compounding and all of that. You know. It's like it's impressive, really, when you look at the opportunities that are around pensions. Are people taking full advantage of the opportunities that are in them? Do they fully understand what investing is and how, if you put a little bit away it's all built up, doesn't it't it it all builds up 100%.

Speaker 1:

It's taken that first step.

Speaker 2:

Bobbi, thank you so much for your time today, really really appreciate you, I really appreciate the service that you've given me and I really appreciate that you're part of the team here at Hoxton Wealth, and thanks for sharing your Hoxton life.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.