Planning for tomorrow, paying for today

He explains: "Retirement planning and passing on an inheritance are key areas of future planning; however there is always a balance to be struck when saving and planning for the future.

"The challenges are often between living for now, enjoying holidays, saving for the next holiday, being able to afford some of the nicer things in life, actually being able to live well when you either reduce or finish work or, indeed, planning to pass wealth onto the next generation."

Putting spending plans in place

In a recent client newsletter from The Orchard Practice, the advice business cited research conducted by Bronnie Ware, an Australian palliative care nurse and author.

In her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, she shared the deathbed advice and regrets that she heard most often. Money did not feature at all in the top five. 

Instead, the top five were: 

1. I wish I would have had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I had not worked so hard.
3. I wish I would have had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

According to The Orchard Practice, this should inform the advice process more intuitively. The newsletter stated: "Some financial professionals have convinced clients that tomorrow is always more important than today, leading to a prioritisation of the future at the expense of living a meaningful life in the present."

While accepting that financial planning for future needs in retirement is important, the advice practice said such a position "greatly oversimplified the concept of saving, reducing this simply to the money one has to invest, rather than looking at the person's overall life goals and ambitions".

The newsletter said: "Good financial planning is about balancing the competing forces of planning for tomorrow while still enjoying life today. The past 18 months have changed how many people view this tradeoff.

"While it was always true, it's now more apparent than ever that we don't know how many tomorrows we'll have.

"A more comprehensive and balanced approach is what we need during this time of great upheaval. Does your plan include the ability to do the things that will bring meaning to your life now, or are you only focused on the future?"

The key to the balance is an honest and frank discussion.McLoughlin

Robert Cochran, fellow retirement expert at Scottish Widows, says: "It’s a challenge affording everything you want in life; the key is understanding what you are striving for and the time horizon of when you would like it.