September 2026 Newsletter
- bespoke62
- 41 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Why We Always Like To Look Ahead
From our work with clients, we know families are often surprised by the range of topics we discuss in our planning meetings.
That range is deliberate. Without a strong life-centred financial planning philosophy, a planning meeting can easily shrink to one thing: reviewing how your investments have performed since we last met.
When that happens, the portfolio gradually drifts from your goals and circumstances, reducing your chance of financial success, and decisions start to be driven by short-term returns rather than the life you are planning for.
Investing your hard-earned money into the right investment portfolio is very important, but it must always remain in service of your overall financial life plan.
We will always review your investment returns with you, but it is only one part of a wider conversation. The rest of that conversation is a chance to step back and think about your whole financial life: what has changed since we last met, what you are working towards, and what to do next.
What We Ask
The clearest way to explain how we approach our work is to walk through a few questions we often come back to.
1. Have your goals changed?
A lot can happen in a year. A new child, a business sold, a family death, a retirement brought forward. If your previous plan is not updated to align with your current goals and circumstances, you will lose confidence that it will lead you to success.
2. Are you on track?
Whether your plans have changed or not, you need to understand your current trajectory. If the path you are on does not lead to success, something needs to change. If you are on track, you get peace of mind. If you are not, we would rather know now, while there is still time to adjust.
3. Are there any major gaps that need to be addressed?
Some clients are on track to achieve their goals, but only if nothing goes wrong. Are you ignoring a risk you can plan for? Surprises happen, and not just to other people. Be realistic about the risk measures you may need to put in place.
4. What should you do now?
No matter what we’ve uncovered in the planning meeting, there are usually one or two actions that will improve your future. However, we might agree that the plan is sound and the right thing to do is very little. Knowing when to act and when to leave things alone is an underrated skill.
Why We Ask
Financial planning is, in the end, a forward-looking activity. For this reason, most of the questions we ask are about the future and what we can do to improve yours.
Judging a plan well, then, has very little to do with the past. What matters is where you stand today, and where you can still go from here.
You don’t need to arrive at every meeting with all the answers, but by guiding you through these questions, we can improve your chances of financial success.
Our planning meetings are built around these questions, and we look forward to keeping your plan on track at your next meeting.
Compliance disclaimers:
“The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the full amount invested. Past performance should be used as a guide only and is not a guarantee of future performance.”
“Different investors will view these trade-offs differently depending on their objectives, time horizon, and attitude to risk. If you would like to discuss how this relates to your own circumstances, please speak to us”.
Read
A Billion Dollars [11 minutes].
Most people’s dreams are not gated by money.
The way. (Or, why we invest) [7 minutes].
What are you investing for?
What happens to strength, balance, stamina and reflexes as you age [9 minutes].
Muscle is not the same thing as strength, and strength goes first.
The Truth About People Pleasing [3 minutes].
Saying yes to everyone is not the same as caring.
How to rediscover your purpose later in life [12 minutes].
What gives life meaning changes as we age.
Find Your Fascination [4 minutes].
The case for reading more books.
Rational Optimism
The media is not a friend of the disciplined and patient investor. Ignoring the key determinants of lifetime investor returns, the media focuses on short-term returns, market predictions, and negative news.
We present the following as an antidote to the onslaught of negative news:
Road Deaths Fall by 21 Percent Globally
Despite the addition of more than one billion motor-vehicles to the world’s roads, the global rate of road traffic deaths declined by 21% between 2011 and 2025, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Philippines’ Poverty Rate Falls to Single Digits for First Time
The Philippines has cut its official poverty rate to below 10 per cent for the first time, a milestone officials hailed as proof that millions of Filipinos are climbing the economic ladder.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said poverty incidence fell to 9.7 per cent in 2025 – or about 11 million people – down from 15.5 per cent, or 17.5 million, in 2023. It marked the first time the national individual poverty rate had fallen into single digits.
UK Food Inflation Falls Despite Energy Shock
Britain’s food industry warned in February that soaring energy costs following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran could push food price inflation towards 10% by Christmas.
A Picture is worth a Thousand Words
Ranked: How Much Pensions Replace Your Salary by Country
How much of your paycheck would a pension replace in retirement? Depending on the country, the answer ranges from more than 80% to less than 20%.
How Inflation Has Eroded $100 Since 2019, by Country
A $100 budget doesn’t stretch nearly as far as it did before the pandemic. This chart compares the impact of inflation across 35 countries, based on data from the OECD. The figures show how much value $100 has lost since 2019 based on cumulative inflation in each country.
How Economic Power Shifted Over 200 Years
Over the last 200 years, economic leadership has shifted from China to the British Empire, then to the United States, and increasingly back toward Asia.
This streamgraph tracks how the share of global gross domestic product (GDP) held by major economies changed from 1820 to 2025. The visualization incorporates the latest available data from the Maddison Project Database, the COLDAT Colonial Dates Dataset, and the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.
All GDP figures are adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), accounting for differences in living costs and production across countries.
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