There’s a story that was told many years ago (it may or may not be true…) about a Microsoft call-centre agent and their call with a deeply irate customer. Having recently purchased a computer that came pre-installed with Windows, the customer called to find out why his computer would not respond. It goes a little like this: Call-center Agent (CCA): Thank you for verifying your purchase; how can we help you today? Customer (C): My computer […]
Continue readingMore TagCategory: Blog
How to do it in the 4IR
“But we didn’t need it, and we turned out fine.” We hear this line more than we should. From tap water to technology, from diets to devices, from gender identification to genetic modification, from schooling to selecting a coach or advisor, our peers and mentors can often throw this line in our face – but we didn’t need it, and we turned out fine. It can leave our sails windless and stall our engines before we’ve […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Are you money-mental?
The simple answer is: Yes, we all are! In a recent blog, we looked at five financial trip-wires and glanced over the term ‘mental accounting.’ Introduced in 1999, it’s a concept that refers to the different values we place on money. These values are often based on subjective criteria; sometimes, this subjectivity benefits us, and sometimes it doesn’t! Mental accounting enables us to create emotional connections with our financial plan. When we consider investment strategies or […]
Continue readingMore Tag
If our feelings could talk
Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher, was the first to say it. “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” But listening is not always about what we hear; it’s what we can begin to intuit. When it comes to our feelings, we have to learn to become more intuitive and listen to what our emotions are trying to tell us. Our mental health is increasingly under […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Hold the line
“It’s not in the way that you hold me It’s not in the way you say you care It’s not in the way you’ve been treating my friends It’s not in the way that you stayed till the end It’s not in the way you look or the things that you say that you’ll do Hold the line Love isn’t always on time.” If you have the tune of Toto’s yacht-rock hit from 1978, Hold the […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Me, myself and Ikigai
From the stoics to the sentimentalists, most have one question in common: What is the meaning of it all? Searching for purpose and meaning helps us come up with a reason for living. As Aristotle always said, our ability to reason is what makes us different to other animals. This sits at the core of Ikigai, the Japanese concept that speaks to our lives’ direction, purpose, and meaning. Quite literally, iki means “to live”, and gai […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Discovery and discomfort
It’s nearly impossible to make it through an entire week without glancing at a blog, social media post or newsletter that reminds us about the pervasive and perpetual change in our lives. Hopefully, this blog won’t be one of those to add to the list. Instead, it will help us to identify the benefits of the challenges that we face. Change can be sparked in so many ways, some of them are by our personal choice, […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Five financial tripwires
If you’ve ever seen the mayhem from the middle of the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), you can be forgiven for thinking it’s a warzone! Whilst most stock exchanges around the world now trade electronically, having cleared out their trading floors, NYSE still hosts the traditional tussle of the floor traders’ open outcries. But this is not the only place where money mayhem can cause a right kerfuffle. Every day, in all […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Bias and your bank balance
When it’s a question of money – everyone is of the same religion, or so said Voltaire. Like religion, there are many different perspectives on how it helps (or hinders) us. It’s probably one reason why people always say you should never talk about money, religion or politics at the dinner table. There are so many differing views! It is not to say we should never discuss money; instead, it’s helpful to be selective about our […]
Continue readingMore Tag
The premium time to review your premiums
When it comes to financial planning, risk planning, estate planning and investing, many of us like to “set and forget”. Our lives are full of things to remember, for work, family and the communities in which we’re involved – often, the last thing we want to review is our financial portfolio. As a result, it’s easy to forget why we have some of these financial products in the first place. The complexity of financial planning and […]
Continue readingMore Tag