Well, the last five weeks have flown by! 

I recently welcomed into the World my daughter Emilia who has filled my days with both joy and laughter.  Joy at her little half smiles (she is five weeks old) and laughter at how she loves to make me change her nappy twice in the space of 10 minutes.  She has a lot to teach me, but I am overjoyed and finding all the excuses I can to work from home and be around her as she grows.

One way I would describe life now is that the game has entered a new difficulty level!  If it was tricky before, getting things done with a little one in toe is twice as hard and requires a lot more attention to detail.

Having said that I wouldn’t change it (or indeed her) for anything, and I am excited to see what our futures have in store.  First up is a trip to Brazil to see her extended family and I cannot wait for what both the airport and airplane have in store. 

We started WKM Wealth to be a very flexible working environment for all to ensure our personal lives could thrive as well as our professional.  I am delighted to say that the idea of ‘doing better work for fewer clients’ has created so much more time to be able to both spend more time with clients but to not feel under pressure at the end of the day.

A client of mine described the early days of having children akin to being permanently jet lagged and for the length of my paternity leave I can vouch for that!  Now I am back to work, and we have a great home routine, I feel so relieved that I do not come home from work drained to continue fatherly duties. 

My work diary is already being filled with the mandatory appointments, first vaccination, birth registration, and in the years to come, parent evenings and the all-important sports day!

Part of my financial planning meetings with clients have at their core the following question:

“What is it you want to do moving forward? Where do you want to be?”

It can be very common for a client to be seeking a solution to a problem they have been facing which is exactly why they have sought out professional help.  Before tending to the problem, I find it better in the long run to understand what the ultimate objectives are and then solve the problem with those in mind.  Sounds simple but is easy to get distracted by the noisiest things in life … a little like our house right now!

Thanks for reading.