After 17 years working as an independent financial adviser, financial planner and mortgage protection expert Kate Shaw set up Financial Life Planning because she wanted to do things differently. That was in 2015. Since then she has shifted her focus from selling products to prioritising what clients actually need. It’s an ethos that chimes with financial wellbeing tenets, and begins with the story of the individual, couple or business. Today, we begin with the story of Kate.
Kate will chair Patrick Luong’s Philanthropy breakout session on 23rd May at the IFW Conference in Bristol. She is also a co-lead for the IFW Wales and West of England regional meetings, alongside Alex Johnston.
Book for the IFW Conference here.
How would you summarise your passions, both in and out of work?
Running – in mountains and on trails. Skiing. Music – I used to play three instruments and music has been the backdrop to my entire life.
What’s your happiest memory?
I can’t just pick one. For me it’s more a feeling than anything else – so the wild freedom of skiing fast down a groomed piste that nobody else has been on, running a technical bit of mountain trail where I have to watch every footstep and I’m surrounded by breathtaking mountains, sitting in the middle of an orchestra where you feel like you’re part of the heartbeat of it… and music, always music. I can hear a piece of music or a song that I’ve not heard in 30 years and it’ll take me straight back to whatever was making me happy at the time.
What one thing do you wish you’d been told about finance when you were 15?
Finance doesn’t have to be scary – it can actually be fun and give you Nice Things – see my lifestyle below. I grew up in a family where the attitude around money was pretty unhealthy. It was feared and weaponised – and I was a lot older by the time I realised it didn’t have to be that way.
What made you want to work in finance?
I didn’t – it was the last thing I’d planned to do. When I’d grown out of the idea that I was going to be the next Margot Fonteyn, I then thought I’d be a famous writer. And yet, here we are. Like most of us, I fell into financial services and if that makes me yet another cliché I can only apologise.
How did this lead to you establishing Financial Life Planning in 2015?
I’m very much the cat who walks by herself and I found myself in too many organisations where there was a mismatch between how I wanted to work with clients and how they wanted me to work. So in the end it was easier to go it alone – and I’ve never looked back.
What prompted you to join the Institute for Financial Wellbeing?
I know a number of the folk organised in the setup. it aligned with my thinking, so here I am.
What drew you to financial wellbeing in the first place?
It was very much a natural progression for me. I did a psychology degree 30 years ago – I can’t remember a time when human behaviour wasn’t a primary interest for me. Since then I’ve done 10 years at the Childline coalface and qualified as a coach, so bringing such a big part of myself into the day job was the obvious thing to do.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learnt about financial wellbeing since joining?
Financial wellbeing is not a thing we achieve and then it’s done, it’s an ongoing part of life because what constitutes wellbeing for us changes as time goes on.
How has the way you work with clients changed since you joined?
It hasn’t changed significantly, really, because joining IFW was a natural part of what I was already doing with clients. What it gives me is an opportunity to connect with advisers who are working in the same way and share ideas which improve the way we work with clients.
Who or what is your favourite wellbeing guru, podcast or book?
I’m a bit allergic to the Guru thing. But I’m reading an excellent book just now by Dr Nicole LePera called “How To Do The Work.” She’s very much into the holistic approach to health, particularly mental health and it’s a very straightforward, no-nonsense read.
What are you doing to advance your own financial wellbeing?
We spend three months of the year in the French Alps – I’m there right now and it’s a tremendous way to live. I can ski in the winter, run in the summer and it’s easy to work from here, so I get the best of all worlds and to indulge in most of the things I love. Notably, cheese.
