Best Laid Plans Come Unstuck…

Alarm blaring away at 3:30 am on Monday morning.

As I was dragging myself out of bed I was thinking to myself why was I doing this, it was 3:30 am the morning after all…

We were about to embark on a family holiday to Palm Cove, to get some sun in the dead of winter and relax a little.

It had been a hectic 6mths.

We had booked it some 9mths ago, but why did I ever book flights so early, how stupid was I?

I got dressed and proceeded to wake our 8 and 5-year-old.  They were excited and woke immediately.  If it was a school day they would be struggling.

We packed the car, made sure we had everything and headed to the airport for our 6 am flight.

We were due to arrive in Palm Cove around 1 pm.

Our plans were pretty simple, spend 6 days in Palm Cove, spending most of that time around the pool relaxing and the odd excursion to break it all up.

After all, what’s the point of visiting far North Queensland without making a trip to the reef and the crocodile park.

So, there we were, we had been picked up at the airport and making our way to our Palm Cove accommodation.

I was having a chat with the driver about the weather for the week, the reef and he gave us some very useful information on what was happening around cairns/palm cove.

It was a warm day and we were all getting excited as we weren’t too far away from the hotel where we were planning to drop our bags and head to the pool for a couple of hours.

We finally arrived at our accommodation, it was just after 1 pm, sun shining, there was a warm breeze and you could feel that laid back atmosphere of people on holiday.

As we exited the car we were looking at the typical tropical hotel.  Wooden walkway with plants and palm trees all around us.

As we walked towards the check-in counter, the kid’s eyes lit up as they could see the pool straight in front of us.

Here’s what that all looked like…

As you can see in the image above there were plenty of guests enjoying the warm weather.

It was a massive pool with sand around one side for the kids to play in and the water looked so inviting.

We couldn’t wait to drop our bags and head to the pool.

Here’s where things came unstuck…

As we were checking in the staff at the hotel said they had some bad news for us.

What bad news could they have, our room wasn’t ready was all I was thinking, no big deal if that was the case.

Nope, not that.

Sorry, Mr Doherty, the room we had you booked into was unserviceable and given the hotel is fully booked we have had to move you to another hotel for a couple of nights.

What the…

I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it.

I was a bit numb while I tried to process what the staff had just told me as I looked at my two boys, looked again at the pool watching everyone enjoying the spoils of the pool.

As I explained to the staff I had booked this over 9 mths ago and we specifically booked this hotel with the kid’s needs in mind.

The thought of having to stay at another hotel and return was just not on our radar, besides it was going to be a big inconvenience.

All my wife was thinking about was I’m going to have to pack bags twice.

As I tried to make sense of all this and try everything I could to stay at this hotel, they said there was nothing more they could do as they were fully booked.

So, they made arrangements for us to move to another hotel 10 mins away.  They said that we could still use the facilities at the hotel at any time.

Like that was going to happen with us being moved 10 mins away and having to bring everything with us rather than just coming straight from our room.

Not only did this take time to arrange and move, but given we were returning to the hotel it also sent our other plans into turmoil as well.

Lucky we hadn’t packed too much in for the week and we were able to rearrange a few things through the week so it all worked out in the end.

Yes, our experience in palm cove was not what we had expected, it was different but we made the most of it and had a fantastic time.

All the while poolside thinking we could have enjoyed an extra couple of days at the hotel we originally booked.

Lucky we had planned on 7 nights, any less and it would have been worse.

So what’s going to happen if your investment or retirement plans come UNSTUCK?

The future is uncertain. HHere’she thing is being prepared for this uncertainty is paramount.  As with all clients we always want to make sure there is a margin of safety.

Here are our guidelines to prepare for the uncertainties of investing and retirement:

1)     Hold funds in reserve.  Just like in our recent family holiday, I left enough flexibility in our holiday to make changes.  Did I expect any? No. But I’m now glad I did.

We always encourage clients to hold funds back for a rainy day, to cover a set number of years in income payments and any future short term capital expenses.  If the markets take a turn for the worst, our clients have the power to continue with their lifestyle or make changes.

2)     Keep some perspective.  Here’s the thing, your investments are going to move all the time.  In the short term, they could move significantly, however, in the longer term it will not seem so extreme.  The sun will rise tomorrow.  Ensure you have a plan on how you are going to deal with it so you are prepared and don’t react irrationally.

3)     Plan well.  As we say to our clients prepare for the certainty of uncertainty.  A well laid out plan will be worth its weight in gold. Work with a professional that has experience in this space to help guide you along the journey and keep you out of harm’s way.

4)     Enjoy the journey.  There are many things we can’t control, markets…economies…politics.  Focus on the things you can control and enjoy life.  Its experiences we value.

A well thought out gameplan will get you through.

We’ve just put together a not so normal investment update for our clients.  We talk about the changes that are being made with our client’s investment portfolios along with some insights into how we manage money for clients. 

Click here for our recent portfolio update>>

Ps. Do you want your own personalised Gameplan so you can Retire Confidently and worry less about money?

Book your Confident Retirement Gameplan Call now where we will help you develop your own personalised Gameplan to Retire with more confidence.  This call is at our cost, nothing for you to pay.

Don’t feel Overwhelmed anymore…

Glenn

Make it a Great Retirement!

Challenging the Status Quo!

Glenn Doherty – CFP – Founder & Financial Organiser at Jigsaw Private Wealth

Request a Retirement Clarity Call

An opportunity to talk through some of your challenges and questions you have around your retirement.

Achieve some clarity and maybe a roadmap on how you can achieve a comfortable retirement.

Schedule here

Advice Disclaimer: Any reference in this publication to the provision of advice refers to advice of a generic nature, and should not be taken as product or investment recommendations. Before any action is taken based on the information provided, independent financial advice from a licensed financial adviser should be sought. Financial Freedom Project Pty Ltd ATF GA & DC Doherty Family Trust Trading as Jigsaw Private Wealth is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Exelsuper Advice Pty Ltd. The information contained in this publication is of a factual nature only and is not intended to constitute financial product advice. Information is current as at date of publication. This is an online information blog. It does not imply an offering of securities.