Every first meeting with Manta Financial Planning starts with a simple question:

“What do you need your money to do for you, now and in the future?”

No two answers are ever the same, but there are many common themes.

There may be a clear, overarching priority such as:  

• To retire at age 60  

But more often our clients will have several objectives:

• Buy our ‘forever’ home
• Repay the mortgage early so we can retire in good health and be able to enjoy life
• Ensure our children experience excellent education, can attend university and leave with minimal debts
• Help the children to get onto the property ladder
• Balance future needs with enjoying life now, with enough money for socialising, family holidays etc. in case we never see retirement
• Protect our family against the financial risks of illness or premature death

This one simple question takes our discussion into what is important to every individual client. The unique and personal answers it elicits are the starting point for holistic, goals-based financial planning.

This exchange shapes everything. Without an understanding of the client, our advice has no context or relevance. By linking our recommendations to our clients’ priorities, we can show what success looks like. In turn, our clients are far more motivated to take action to achieve this.

Of course, not everyone knows their life goals, and this can be a daunting question. It also requires time and consideration. In these cases, I use a consultative approach to either draw the clients’ goals from them or to help them understand what is possible. Together this means we start on the right path and it allows more formal goals to be set in due course.