"Daddy, the lady at dancing class had toes coming out of her eyes and coming out of her ears!".

That's what 4 year-old Emily told me yesterday through rampant giggles, and I'm not one to disagree with her! One big observation of recent years as a parent - is the wonderfully wild imaginations that kids can have. Depending on what they may have been absorbing recently, whether it's Harry Potter stories or something lighter, such as 'Cocomelon' nursery rhymes, their minds can take a perfectly mundane daily event or encounter and turn it into a wild and scary thing. It's a wonderful privilege to see and hear it in action. The tangible impact of their imagination running mad are little or none, at least in the short term! The imagination does not usually cause an action or event to occur.

However, the same cannot be said of the imagination of us adult investors, particularly in the face of actual horrific world events, and subsequent detailed coverage of market movements. Reading the home page of any media outlet over the past week may well have had you terrified about your finances, even on days when the markets movements were up! That is their intention - to keep you clicking and reading. Clicks = Revenue, never forget!

This week we kick-off our podcast series where we share the journey of listener and client William Lacey, as he exits full-time employment.

This is a topic close to many listeners’ hearts, and William has offered to help us share insights that will help others.

William will join us every 6/8 weeks over the coming 12 months.

Each episode will see William and Paddy discuss William’s thinking, actions, priorities, concerns and outcomes as he transitions from full-time running his business.

This week hear his background, where he is right now, and the topics that are next on his list to clarify and decide-on.

Aside from deciding to actually accumulate money for your post-work living, the decision about 'when to take my pension benefit' is the biggest financial life decision that many of us will need to make. It is akin to breaking open the cookie-jar that we have been diligently accumulating for decades. For many, it is an emotional and financial conundrum, that I hope to help with. A combination of academic research and supporting people in this phase of life has given me some insights that I share here, and which I hope will be even somewhat helpful to you. No single article can address all that needs to be considered fully but the aspects we'll explore today in this questions of 'when to take my pension' are;

• The basics of taking pension benefits
• Tax & Income factors to consider
• Investment/return factors to consider
• Personal factors to consider

In this weeks' (really) short piece I'm going to share with you a couple of thoughts about investing in later life; for those that may be in the final decade or two. Key things covered this week:

• A new way to look at long term investing in later life
• The madness of only investing in 'low-risk' as you age

I hope it helps you or a loved-one.

Paddy.

Trust, they say, exists at the intersection of 'Character' and 'Competence'. In this week's piece I'm sharing a short story about a fictional accountant (Steady-Eddie), a fictional Financial Advisor (Friendly-Fiona), and you! Through this short story we'll look at at trust, and whether it is deserved or not, and we'll look at the murky world of unregulated financial advice and unregulated investments in Ireland. Before I start, I want to reiterate that I know and trust quite a few accountants and financial advisors!

I hope it helps.

Paddy

Financial Independence, when you hear it, often means different things to different people. For some, it's having more money/assets accumulated than they'll ever be able to spend - for others, it's having regular and reliable income that'll cover their every future need. For others, it's removing as many on-going expenses as they possibly can. Whichever way you look at it though; it almost always goes hand-in-hand with being confident about your financial independence. It is one thing seeing it on paper, it is another to actually believe it and have conviction that it is so.

This week I want to share some brief yet impactful nuggets from a legendary book called 'The richest man in Babylon', which details one man's journey to Financial Independence. I share these nuggets in the hope that it might add another layer of confidence and clarity in your own Financial Independence.

Paddy

This week I share evidence & facts about investment returns, and also invite you to ask yourself an important question! Our agenda for this first piece of 2022:

• The investments returns you should have got in 2021
• The investments returns you will get in 2022!
• Another way to think about 'New Year Resolutions'

Paddy.

Hi,

I'm delighted to share with you a conversation I had recently with UK-based Chartered Financial (&Life) Planner, Justin King. He shares his experience on:

- How to financially prepare to 'transition' to retirement

- Life-Planning's role in considering our priority & future-selves

- Justin's views on optimal Investment Management approaches for retirees

Hope you find it interesting,

Paddy

Justin's Youtube Channel

MFP Wealth Management

Justin's Book 'Ready, Steady, Retire'...FREE!

Retirement Cafe Podcast

Hi,

It is a sad state of affairs when we have to rely on individual authors and thinkers publishing books and articles, in order to help the youth of today to develop financial wisdom. Yet, here we are!

Despite sounding very negative, I was delighted to speak with such a thinker and author, Will Rainey (former Pensions Actuary!). In our conversations he shared his ideas on:

- Helping kids to save, spend, & importantly to invest

- Investing for younger and older children

- What he believes is the optimal approach to investing

- How he transitioned from being in 'high finance' in UK to moving to rural Vietnam with his family!

Hope you enjoy the chat.

Paddy.

Dennis Harhalakis - The Money Coaching Institute

Blue Tree Blog

Tim Ferriss and The 4-Hour Workweek (fourhourworkweek.com)

This week we share a few nuggets that I hope will offer clarity and assurance on a few key aspects of our investment and pensions planning; -Important changes to pensions in Ireland coming into force -An update on Active Manager performances -The link between balance and longevity!

I hope it is useful for you - I sure enjoyed doing it!

Paddy.