Many important questions in life involve money, and good choices can put us on the road to financial success. Bad choices, however, can lead to years of financial duress. While the questions we ask ourselves may not involve investing in the latest hot stock, they may likely deal with more basic matters like identifying howContinue reading “Making better money choices”
Author Archives: Shan Nissiotis
Are you on the road to burnout?
Are you wondering why some people get burned out while others don’t? What is the difference between stress and burnout? And, what can you do to manage stress and avoid burnout? Without a doubt, we are living in a time of significant stress and burnout and we need practical and self-loving ways to address thisContinue reading “Are you on the road to burnout?”
Diversify. Amplify.
Diversification is not just an approach to adopt during market volatility; it’s generally good practice. And, if you want to create a portfolio that mitigates risk and beats inflation, diversification offers one of the best ways to increase your portfolio growth and amplify your savings. There’s no single “correct” way to diversify your investment portfolio.Continue reading “Diversify. Amplify.”
Crush it, and rest; says Carl
Carl Richards, the Sketch Guy columnist from The New York Times, recently shared an enlightening view on our hustle culture. Online engagement has increased our stress levels by making work, social pressures and media agenda more invasive than ever. We can easily believe that if we’re not “on top”, we’re not working hard enough. WeContinue reading “Crush it, and rest; says Carl”
When the goalposts keep moving
“The only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.” – Martha Beck. Over the last few decades, investment strategies have developed and evolved to move away from market-related benchmarks toward personal goals and outcomes. Modern investors are now creating plans that are more personalised and unique than everContinue reading “When the goalposts keep moving”
What’s costing you more?
“As soon as we become aware of money, we develop beliefs about it, beliefs we cling to, sometimes for the rest of our lives, often at the cost of our souls.” – George Kinder What’s costing you more: what you do with your money or what you believe about your money? For many people, theContinue reading “What’s costing you more?”
Dollar-cost-averaging
People often joke about the weather in Cape Town, saying that you can experience all four seasons in one day. And, if you speak to a local, you’ll know that regardless of how warm it is, they’ll always pack a sweater in case the weather turns. Still, as a top tourist destination, the weather doesn’tContinue reading “Dollar-cost-averaging”
Protection from too much advice
Bruce Lee once said: Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. It’s an exceptional quote that is profoundly helpful when working with a financial plan. However, the difference between our current situation and Lee’s is that in the 60s, it was much harder to access information. Now,Continue reading “Protection from too much advice”
Saving vs investing
Financial planning is a complex and integrated activity that is often simplified in an attempt to make it more accessible. When we look at it as a lifestyle rather than an annual exercise, it’s easier to begin to engage with our financial plan in a more meaningful level. Saving and investing are two disciplines thatContinue reading “Saving vs investing”
How mindfulness helps our money
How much time do you waste trying to solve problems that haven’t happened yet? Many of us fixate on problems that might happen tomorrow, next week or several years in the future, and this is not what life and financial planning are about. Getting stuck in the future at the cost of living life toContinue reading “How mindfulness helps our money”
Need a little grounding?
Have you ever gone for a walk in the garden without shoes on? Remember what it felt like, as a kid, to come home from school – slip out of tight school shoes and walk barefoot? Whether it was on comfy rugs, soft sea-sand or lush grass, the sensation often felt so good because weContinue reading “Need a little grounding?”
Become a better networker
As our world becomes increasingly digitised, personal skills will become more valuable. Many salespeople call these the soft-skills and realise that the old-school hard-sell-skills are no longer as effective. People are less likely to be blown away by some widget and far more likely to remember the way that you’ve made them feel. It doesn’tContinue reading “Become a better networker”
Building wealth, one brick at a time
The root of our wealth is not in our income or our spending; it’s in our behaviour. Our habits make us wealthy, not the markets. Some have said that sound financial management comes down to spending less than we earn – but whilst this adage holds merit, it’s a lot more complicated in practice. It’sContinue reading “Building wealth, one brick at a time”
Planning vs Coaching
Regardless of what words we want to put to our journey with our money, there are a few realities that we need to face. First – everything we do is linked to money, whether we pay for it ourselves or rely on a benefactor. Second – some of our wealth-generation depends on luck and circumstance,Continue reading “Planning vs Coaching”
What a better financial plan could look like
It’s easy to think about a financial plan and consider the elements that typically go into it. For instance, we could picture a plan that consists of a retirement savings product, life and health insurance, investment portfolios, and maybe a few things like trusts, wills and estate plans. Or, we could think about what aContinue reading “What a better financial plan could look like”
What’s changed in your life?
WHERE TRUE FINANCIAL PLANNING STARTS One of the best ways to make any constructive change or difference in the direction of our lives is to take a moment to observe what’s currently going on. Life whizzes by so quickly that if we don’t check in with ourselves, we will find it hard to observe andContinue reading “What’s changed in your life?”
Thank you, money
Some people say that magic isn’t real, but what about the first magic words we’re all taught to say? No – not “abracadabra” or “zimzalabim”, although those are great words. Abracadabra is thought to come from the Aramaic phrase “avra kehdabra”, meaning “I will create as I speak”, and zimzalabim comes from the mythological tricksters,Continue reading “Thank you, money”
Building your Money IQ… and EQ!
Would you consider yourself to be financially intelligent? Depending on how you answer that, here’s another tough question: how much do you trust yourself to manage your own finances? Often we find that after answering the second question, clients want to go back and reanswer the first! And, that’s okay. As Ken Honda suggests, there’sContinue reading “Building your Money IQ… and EQ!”
Marketing yourself beyond 2022
In the next few years, we are likely to see a significant increase in small businesses, from home enterprises to startups. Many people have had to create sideline income or recover from losing their jobs in a shrinking job market. Jobs seeing the fastest decline are in production or administration support, primarily due to automationContinue reading “Marketing yourself beyond 2022”
Just one more
They say that getting old happens slowly, and then all at once. Most of the change around us occurs so gradually that we barely notice it; ageing, losing or gaining our fitness, losing or gaining weight, intimacy in relationships, and debt and investing. These are some of the areas of incrementally-unnoticeable change with which we’reContinue reading “Just one more”
Re-train your brain for healthier relationships
At the heart of everything, we find relationships. Most of these are unintentional relationships that happen situationally, but some are relationships that stem from our choices. From the moment we enter the world, we will have a relationship with everyone and everything: from the space around us to the people who are present and howContinue reading “Re-train your brain for healthier relationships”
Feelings – thoughts – actions
‘Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought,’ Marcus Aurelius. How we engage with our money reflects what’s going on inside our heads, which is an extension of what’s going on inside our hearts. They’re all connected. Our feelings affect our thoughts, which in turn direct our actions – butContinue reading “Feelings – thoughts – actions”
Don’t let tax get you down
We all know that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. Even after we’ve gone, taxes are still levied against our estate. The more money we make, the more money the taxman looks to take. Tax can be a serious stumbling block in our financial mindset, especially when we think about allContinue reading “Don’t let tax get you down”
The importance of being intentional
If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. Essentially, our actions will either result from what we choose, or what is chosen for us. Our days are packed full of communication and actions. From the moment we engage with our mobile device or open our emails, messages begin to stream in andContinue reading “The importance of being intentional”
Four ways to measure your fortune
We often don’t worry about something until we realise that it’s limited. If we have lots of something, it’s a fortune. If we don’t, it can become a focus of concern and anxiety. Young children generally don’t worry about much if their needs are met. With access to their parents’ love, attention and confidence, childrenContinue reading “Four ways to measure your fortune”
The best time to live
“Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.” The best time to live is in the present. It’s easy to get lost in a daydream of how life could have been different or how good life used to be. It’s equally easy toContinue reading “The best time to live”
Catastrophising and how to manage it
Have you ever gone down a rabbit hole on social media? You know, that moment when you see something triggering and you click on it, and then scroll down through the comments, becoming wholly engrossed in a conversation that turns out to be a waste of time and emotional energy. While we’re in that moment,Continue reading “Catastrophising and how to manage it”
Ask yourself these questions BEFORE switching funds
As financial planning conversations deepen and explore more value, we find ourselves moving from the empirical to the emotional, from processes to perceptions and from products to people. It’s an enlightening journey that takes us away from numbers and allows us to reflect and reconstruct our future planning approach. But, it’s also extremely challenging asContinue reading “Ask yourself these questions BEFORE switching funds”
How much do you need?
One of the hardest questions to answer when it comes to financial planning is: How much do I need? There are two ways we can look at this. Either, I believe that my external circumstances will eventually reach a point where I have earned enough, and I’ll finally feel that I have enough. Or, IContinue reading “How much do you need?”
Making goals easier to achieve
“If I had a penny for every time I put something off until tomorrow, and never got to it… I’d put them all in a sock and hit myself with it.” Unknown In our digital age, it has become increasingly easy to create lists of things to do and remember. We can just call outContinue reading “Making goals easier to achieve”
Sustainable sanity
When we stand together, we can succeed together. We can support and encourage one another. But this only happens in our smaller, more intimate groups. The fourth industrial revolution has slowly edged us into a communication environment that is overwhelmed with information. We are learning that whilst we can stand together in powerful support, weContinue reading “Sustainable sanity”
How much time is your money worth?
As we build businesses and seek to create various income opportunities, we are always confronted with the challenge of pricing. It’s a challenge because all of our situations are different. Those with qualifications and experience often charge more for their time. But it’s not a sure way to work out billing and costs; sometimes peopleContinue reading “How much time is your money worth?”
Learning leverages healthy decisions (3/3)
Readiness is key to learning something new. If we’re not ready to learn something… it will probably go straight in one ear and out the other. That was a favourite phrase of parents and teachers alike – if we weren’t paying attention, they’d lay that line thicker than peanut butter on a slice of whiteContinue reading “Learning leverages healthy decisions (3/3)”
Setting benchmarks
Whilst intentional reflection may happen at the end or beginning of a year or personal growth journey, unintentional reflection happens all the time. And, we barely notice it, most of the time. But, several times a week, if not several times a day, we measure ourselves against something or someone; we’re either measuring ourselves againstContinue reading “Setting benchmarks”
Building your business online
For many years the culture of all communication has been changing. Initially, many of us thought that the social media and digital branding space was merely a digital version of what we were doing in the real world. But it’s not. It’s more complex and nuanced than we realise. How we communicate with our familyContinue reading “Building your business online”
Don’t derail your finances
“As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.” Irish Blessing When everything is going right, we often feel that something is about to go horribly wrong. Sometimes, it’s helpful to smile at our human traits and do all we can to avoid derailing our plans! It’s soContinue reading “Don’t derail your finances”
Tired of being anxious about money?
Of all conversations about money, there’s a common emotion that comes up. It’s one that everyone feels alone in, that they’re the only ones to feel this, but time and time again, it appears in daily financial conversations, reminding us that we’re actually not alone. This feeling? Anxiety. One of the reasons for this isContinue reading “Tired of being anxious about money?”
Avoid being overwhelmed by change
One of the biggest challenges with change is that it can be overwhelming. There are many reasons why we might be averse to constant change, but when it is just simply too much all at once, we will find ourselves overwhelmed and in this space, our ability to make healthy decisions is seriously hampered. TheContinue reading “Avoid being overwhelmed by change”
How do you measure financial success?
In a recent article from Morningstar, they raised two excellent points about measuring financial success. Like so many of us, Morningstar believes that great investing advice means understanding our hopes, dreams, and ideals to determine what really matters. It doesn’t just focus on the finish line — it focuses on the journey. Great advice canContinue reading “How do you measure financial success?”
Learning leverages healthy decisions (2/3)
“I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” Winston Churchill So often, after about 12-14 years in conventional schooling systems, all we want to do is “get out”! There are exceptional educators out there who take time and energy to nurture not only the minds of their learners butContinue reading “Learning leverages healthy decisions (2/3)”
It’s time to turn up the kindness, to yourself
In a recent blog from Marelisa Fabrega, lawyer and entrepreneur, she spoke of 17 ways to be kinder to yourself! It seems like a lot, but when we think about all the ways and times that we put ourselves down, it’s not that much. There’s a reason why this message of needing to be kinderContinue reading “It’s time to turn up the kindness, to yourself”
What’s an annuity?
Have you ever heard someone say that you need to make your money work for you? It seems like an impossible achievement for many of us because we immediately think we need a stack of dollar bills to leverage this strategy. And, that’s not entirely incorrect. We do need a large sum invested, but weContinue reading “What’s an annuity?”
The best place to invest
Somehow, despite all the messages to be kinder to ourselves, we have this predisposition to put ourselves down. Along the line, the early messages of “You can do better” become “You’re not good enough.” We live in an age where the focus is on self. As we scroll through social media, we see countless selfies,Continue reading “The best place to invest”
Can you change how you feel about money?
Here’s the quick answer: yes! That’s the easy part. The challenge lies in the next question: How do I change how I feel about money? There are plenty of books, blogs, podcasts and short courses on how to change how to manage your money better and change how you budget, spend, save and invest. ButContinue reading “Can you change how you feel about money?”
Levels of financial dependence
At the very surface level of constructing a financial plan, the journey can feel linear. We begin with what we have and plan to move towards an end goal of ‘having enough’ and being financially independent. But this is not where financial planning ends; it’s just the toe-dipping beginning as we gain courage and confidenceContinue reading “Levels of financial dependence”
Learning leverages healthy decisions (1/3)
A curriculum doesn’t drive learning; curiosity drives learning. When we consider the learning pattern of those who are outside of schooling systems, it’s curiosity that drives their learning, not the prescribed milestones of an education system. From Google to TED, from books to stories passed down from our elders, learning is more about readiness thanContinue reading “Learning leverages healthy decisions (1/3)”
Charge what you’re worth
“How much should I be charging my clients?” This is a common question as we work with an increasing number of people setting up their own businesses. In the wake of a radical economic downturn, our creativity and necessity to generate an income spark new business ideas. The entrepreneurial spirit begins to take centre stageContinue reading “Charge what you’re worth”
What happens to our passwords when we pass?
Estate planning, wills and final testaments are not easy processes to navigate. Setting up life cover and considering what will happen to your family when you pass away can be deeply emotional and an experience many would rather avoid. But as technology helps us create farewell videos, family portfolio galleries and digital vaults, it hasContinue reading “What happens to our passwords when we pass?”
Six areas of financial planning
Have you ever gone down the #Fintwit rabbit hole? According to fintwit.ai, #Fintwit is a vibrant community of investors on Twitter, who tweet trading ideas, active trades, personal portfolios and well thought out insights about financial securities. Millions of investors around the world are increasingly using Twitter to stay abreast of the financial market andContinue reading “Six areas of financial planning”
Ready to be more resilient?
We can’t change what happens to us, but we can change how we respond to what happens to us, and within us. Everything ages, but not everything ages well. Some things can wither from the inside out if they do not have a well-developed resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back and withstand stressors.Continue reading “Ready to be more resilient?”
Shan Nissiotis 