Insights

Published only when
we have something
considered to say.

Research notes, shorter perspectives, and the occasional foundational piece on how we think. We publish when we have something considered to say.

Foundations

Five things people get wrong about financial planning.

Before strategies, mandates, or markets, there's the question of whether you have a plan at all. We hear the same misunderstandings often enough that they're worth naming.

– 01

"I don't need a financial plan."

Everyone has a plan, whether they've written one down or not. The question is whether it's deliberate, or whether it's defaulted into being by inaction. Inaction is also a plan; it's just usually the wrong one.

– 02

"Planning and investing are the same thing."

Investing is one piece of a financial plan. Planning covers liquidity, protection, time horizons, taxes, succession, and how all of those fit together. A great portfolio inside a poor plan is still a poor outcome.

– 03

"It's a one-time exercise."

A plan written once and shelved is a plan that ages badly. Life changes – income, family, ambitions, markets – and the plan should be revisited often enough to keep pace. Set it and forget it isn't planning; it's filing.

– 04

"It's just about retirement."

Retirement is one milestone among many. A real plan addresses the next decade, not just the last one. Education, property, business capital, sabbaticals, and the unexpected all sit inside the same conversation.

– 05

"I'm too young to need one."

Compounding is the most important variable a young investor has, and it's the one most easily wasted. A plan in your twenties costs less and yields more than the same plan in your forties. The arithmetic doesn't argue.