With inflation surpassing its 1982 peak and interest rates at their highest since 2008, now is a great opportunity to review our expenditure each month.

Let’s start with a little honesty. Just because we are Financial Planners, doesn’t mean we aren’t a little wasteful with our own money sometimes. If we had to justify our spending, yes, there would likely be changes we could make.

Is it necessary to spend £100 at the hairdressers every eight weeks when my natural hair colour is just fine?

Do I really need gym membership when I could just walk around the block a few times?

Do we need to run after the ice cream van when there are choc ices in the freezer?

The fact is, as Financial Planners we don’t have to justify our spending to anyone (well, perhaps to partners on occasion), so it can seem like we have it all in hand. When we ask clients about their expenditure, it’s not because we want to critique their spending, it’s because we have a duty to know them.

To help you plan, we need to understand what is important to you and what cost is attached to that.

A good starting point is to understand:

• How much money do you need just to pay bills, put the food on the table and other essentials?
• What is the cost of the things you wouldn’t want to compromise on, such as morning coffee, Netflix, a round of golf at the weekend?
• What would you like to do longer-term; retirement provisions, early mortgage repayment, travel the world?

Whatever your goals, having a good grasp of your financial commitments is vital to the planning process and it affects all life stages.

Together, we need to understand whether your long-term goals are achievable and if not, what we can do to help make them achievable. What compromises may need to be made?

Ultimately, Financial Planning is a service, and to provide you with the best service possible, we need to know you well.

What next?

If you feel it is time to get to grips with your financial expenditures, and to establish your long-time goals, the CBW Financial Planning team are on hand to discuss what they can do to help. In the first instance please contact Jade North or contact the CBW Financial Planning team here.