The New Year is a great time to start a new chapter in life, and I am excited to start my next chapter by joining Thornton Charted Financial Planners as a trainee financial planner.
I would like to introduce myself and to let you know why I chose to change direction from investment management to financial planning.
I grew up in a small town in Latvia, but have always had a love for islands, nature and the sea.
After visiting the Isle of Man during my gap year, I liked it so much that I decided to stay. Curiosity led me to study the mysterious world of investing.
Not long afterwards, I joined Thomas Miller Investment. I worked my way up from administration to investment research and investment management.
This is when I took a career break to start a family, and left the Island to experience the Mediterranean life in Malta.
Two years later, we returned to the Island on holiday with one child in tow and another on the way, and decided that sunshine or not, the Isle of Man is the best place in the world to raise our children.
The Island has so much to offer in terms of quality of life!
After several years as a stay-at-home mum, I contemplated what to do next.
Investment management was very stimulating but I felt that there was something missing. I discovered that the answer lies in financial planning, which shifts the focus from what the economy and stock markets have done and will do, to what is going on in each person’s own individual economy.
It is not the returns from our investment portfolios that determine if we reach our financial goals, but rather the steps we take to build our lives on sound financial foundations.
This can be accomplished, for example, by setting up a rainy-day fund, insuring ourselves, living within our means, and being deliberate about saving and investing for the future.
The world of investing is based on numbers and can be measured to the penny.
In contrast, while there is a quantifiable aspect to financial planning, the benefits of financial planning are in many ways intangible.
Just the act of planning and taking steps towards our goals can improve our quality of life now. We worry less and are more present in our lives.
I truly believe that sound financial planning can change lives.
How satisfying must it be to say to clients: ‘yes, you can retire early’ and ‘yes, you can switch from a high paying job to a lower paying yet more satisfying job’?
By equal measure, the first step might be to say: ‘no, you cannot achieve your goal right now, but this is what you can do to make it happen’.
I am delighted to be working with and learning from a highly qualified and caring team at Thornton Chartered Financial Planners.
