Network Financial Planning

When I'm not being the financial adviser, I'm training and coaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It’s been one of the greatest things I’ve done and is responsible for a large chunk of my personal and professional growth. And it overflows to my clients.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a ground-based martial art that uses the principles of timing, angles, pressure and leverage to achieve a non-violent control and submission of an opponent. It was developed so that a smaller, weaker person can defend themselves against a bigger, stronger opponent. Regardless of age, size, gender or physical limitation.

I recently received my Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - it’s a big milestone for me. And I’m thankful to my Professors and training partners for helping me get better because I need the skill of others to keep me sharp.

Still, even with the help of others, the journey is personal and one that I must travel alone.

I have to face my own fears, deal with failures, embrace the daily disciplines needed to progress - and at times, accept that the path ahead isn’t always clear. But I’m up for it. I’m all in. Because I know that feeling of personal success which comes from hard work and discipline. And it fuels my motivation to keep moving.

One of the greatest things for me professionally is how Jiu Jitsu helps me to help my clients. Many people feel like they’re the smaller, weaker person and that they’re inferior to big, bad life, or debt, or financial mistakes and uncertainty. But I help them learn how to work with concepts that give them confidence and financial power so they can achieve their own goals with whatever resources they have. This is what drives me to be the best financial adviser I can be for my clients.

https://www.networkfp.com.au/

I knew the setup before I got there. Mikhaila called me to come and have a ‘chat’ with her and Rod about getting their money stuff sorted. She feels like Rod spends a bit too much and they don’t really have any direction with their finances. They weren't in sync.

There was a moment during our chat when Rod looks at me a little sheepishly. I think it just dawned on him that our little get together today was in his honour. We talked openly. I made it clear that there’s no judgment from my end. Instead, I gave him my very own confession – that it was my wife who first taught me how to budget. When we first got married, I didn’t have a clue – I was a spender, she was a saver. I ended up teaching Mikhaila & Rod the same spending and saving strategy that we use in my family, and which has got us through for the last 25 years. This was one of those times when they just needed someone on the outside to give them a hand.

As a financial adviser, I don't just help people with their money - I'm also a coach, a mentor, and a mediator. I provide advice to people who are dealing with the dramas of everyday life and help them succeed.

https://www.networkfp.com.au/

Even when most markets are being savaged, this question still gets asked. But sometimes you just need some wise words to point out the obvious.

This article discusses the best investment you can make. But to do so, we need to stop thinking in terms of dollars only.

What should you invest in? Most markets are down, and everything looks nasty out there. It's not just those markets you expect to be volatile, like crypto, but even the so called 'good stuff' too, like what your super fund is invested in. It's all been painted red and left to plummet. Even gold and silver, those great safe-ha...