A director at Robson Laidler Wealth, a firm of Independent Chartered Financial Planners, who help professionals achieve the lifestyle they want without fear of running out of money
Do you ever have to work at the weekend? Thankfully our team are really competent and well organised, so I manage to keep up to date with most work-related issues through the working week. This means that I don’t generally have to work at the weekend, which I am very grateful for. I am a firm believer in work/life balance. The weekend is an ideal time to unwind from a week at work and refresh yourself before Monday comes around again. Are most weekends the same? My weekends tend to follow a similar pattern although we have all had to adjust in view of the Covid restrictions. I do enjoy Friday evenings. Amanda (my wife) and I will often enjoy a cocktail when we get in from work, my favourite at the moment is a Negroni. Saturday morning usually involves a round of golf. I’m pretty obsessed with golf and play at The Northumberland Golf Club whenever I can. Saturday afternoon is often spent in the garden. I cut my grass every week during the summer, so this is normally the time for this chore. I may then move onto some weeding – how rock and roll! I enjoy cooking so Saturday evenings I make dinner for the family or we might have some friends round for a meal. Sundays are a little more chilled. As a committed Christian, I go to church on a Sunday morning. I am a member of Heaton Baptist Church. During lockdown we have been attending our weekly church service via Zoom, but I have to admit I much prefer meeting together in person rather than virtually. The rest of Sunday is often spent with family. Both my mum and my in-laws moved down from Scotland to live in the North East near us a few years ago so we can keep up to date with them quite easily. Do you find it hard to switch off? If everything is going well at work, I can usually switch off very easily. The Friday cocktail helps! Sometimes, however, if a difficult issue has cropped up at work, I will tend to go over this in my mind. I feel “sleeping” on a problem helps and I can see the issue with a fresh perspective the next day. This often leads to a clear solution and course of action. What do you do at the weekend which you can’t fit in through the week? We operate a flexible working policy in our firm, which means I can occasionally do some personal stuff throughout the week. Generally though, it’s sport and socialising that I do at weekends that are sometimes hard to fit in through the week. Morning exercise or recovery lie? I’ve never really been a serious exerciser so I’ll tend towards the lie in! I do enjoy the occasional cycle with friends and my regular walk round the golf course helps fight the flab. Big night out or a night in the house? Most of my socialising is home based either at our house or friends. Having said that the odd big night out is something I do look forward to. Do you watch or play sport at a weekend? I am a very keen golfer so will usually be found on the golf course at the weekend. I also enjoy cycling and walking in the hills. I like to watch sport on television, much to Amanda’s annoyance! And will tune in to a special event or match. I am hugely enjoying watching the Euro Championships and looking forward to the Olympics (if they are on) and have pencilled out the end of September in the diary to watch the Ryder Cup. What’s the best thing about weekends? To me weekends are like a mini version of life without work. What you do at the weekend is therefore a picture of what retirement might look like. In my day-to-day work as a financial planner I help my clients to consider the lifestyle they want and advise them how they can best structure their finances to achieve this desired lifestyle. I will often ask the question “what do you do at the weekend?” to gain an insight into what’s important to each client. This can then inform me when I’m developing a client’s financial plan. We then plan how they can achieve this lifestyle when it comes to retirement without fear of running out of money. Roll on the weekend – mine’s a Negroni!
