Many of the financial dreams, articulated to us by the people who spoke to us at Spring into Cranleigh at the weekend, have resonated with me but I have selected just a few of them for this blog.
We didn’t have the time (and it wasn’t the right environment anyway), to probe and ask questions of the contributors but some of the things that they said really get you thinking.
“To have enough for freedom”
I wonder what they meant? Was it the freedom to stop working?
Possibly the freedom not to have to get stressed anymore about what their boss was saying and doing.
Perhaps they were not enjoying the work that they were currently doing and having sufficient financial resources might enable them to change employment and choose to do something different.
Or perhaps they wanted to stop paid work altogether.
Quite a few of the contributors expressed a desire to help other people.
Having enough financial resource might enable them to do charitable work in the local or wider community.
Perhaps being free to help others is a valuable use of your own financial resources.
“To worry no more about money”
It is a shame that people have to worry about money but it is a quite common theme we encounter.
Sometimes people find themselves over stretched. Perhaps they took out a big mortgage to buy the house they wanted and have struggled to pay it.
Or the vicious spiral of borrowing and debt has left them with little available to do some of the things they want to do.
It is sadly a common thing that in the desire to have all the things that they want, when they want them, people are prepared to suffer the financial consequences in the longer term for enjoyment in the short term.
“Enough to retire and write my first novel”
I liked this one very much. They say that there is a book in each of us and this contributor clearly though that there was one in him.
Imagine being financially secure and having enough income not to work and then to apply the time you have to fulfill a dream.
Not necessarily writing a novel it could be any number of things, but this one really links well to what financial planning is all about.
Answering the question “what do I want to do with my life and will I be able to afford to do so?
Once again thank you to all the Cranleigh residents who participated in the #MyMoneyTree event on Saturday.
