How much will you price "Peace of Mind"?

A story that i heard from a friend sharing about a painting competition about portraying peace through their art pieces, and it comes down to the final 3 artwork for judging.

The first piece of artwork portrays the sunset and the feeling of letting your hair down and relax.

The second piece of artwork portrays the greenery field and pastures with mountains and flowers all over the mountains, truly a picture of serenity.

But the third and final piece of artwork portrays a stormy scene with waters gushing over the cliffs and even on a closer look, it doesn't seems like peaceful at all.

But on a closer glance, you will spot a mother bird in her nest and covering her little ones with her feathers and the baby birds are in absolute peace, or shalom peace they called it.

Makes me recalled a quote that goes "Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm"

Credit for the painting goes to Jack E. Dawson. Check out his website and other works of art HERE.

So the key question is......

How much will you price “Peace of mind”?

$1?

$10?

$1,000?

$1,000,000?

or Priceless?

We have seen people working so hard in their workplace, achieving awards and recognition on stage, being the top employees that brings in the most value for their organization and getting bigger paychecks year after year; but what’s missing in their life?

Make a guess?

Yes that’s right, Time is often getting lesser and lesser.

Well some people will say “Aiya climb higher corporately sure no time one mah” Because in one of the Marvel’s movie its quoted “With great power, comes great responsibility!!!!” So the more important your role, the lesser time you have personally because your workplace will requires even more time from you!!! Do you agree?

So what do we want actually? More Time? Or more Money? Or both?

Is it more important to look at whether are we climbing the right building than climbing as high as possible? Think about it.

And what comes after we achieve milestones after milestones of corporate success? All that wealth and lifestyle enhancements have to be passed on to our next generation right?

That’s why estate planning is important -> It’s the missing puzzle that most Singaporeans are lacking in their financial portfolio because you can be insured for $1M but if you do not have a proper way of distributing your assets after you passes on, basically you are just leaving a mess after you’re gone, and it can cause quite a headache and also heartache if wishes are not passed on properly.

Especially for families with young kids (below 21 yrs old) because kids requires alot of resources for growing up and also time from parents for really really young (less than 7 yrs old) kids. How often have we heard friends or family members sharing about how time flies during happy moments, and in a flash, kids grow up to become teenagers and adults. Moments are precious with our love ones so don't waste time pursuing things which are not important to our well-being.

I’m happy to share and witness a true case of my clients (both husband and wife) doing up their Wills for their family with 2 young children, because i know even though they are doing well financially, they also have lots of options opened up for them in terms of flexibility to change career and go freelance should needs arises.

So glad to be given a chance to relook at their portfolio and re-assess their insurance needs, and the will that they did is called a ‘Mirror Will’ meaning since their beneficiaries and guardian are all the same, allocation wise they wanted the same as well. So the mirror will mirror whatever your spouse does, exactly the same, only thing that differs is the ‘Schedule of Assets’.

So a lot of people doesn’t know what does a Schedule of Assets does; basically it lists down all that you have, be it bank account, insurance plans, savings plans, investment brokerage account, cash savings, any other items (like jewellery, art pieces, antiques etc). So it makes the job of the Executor (the person executing your will eventually) easier and also to make sure they don’t miss out any items on your estate after you have passed on.

Of course if you would like to find out more about writing a will for yourself or together with your spouse, i'll be glad to share more details in my next few posts on the steps and procedures, and what information are needed so that you will be clear of what to do next after you have your financial portfolio setup properly. Glad to help.

Do join my facebook group ("Edward Shee Financial Advisory Servicing Group") where i also shared about other useful resources so we can build up our financial fortress together and secure our retirement nest during our best years of working and building our family together. I always feel that financial planning is not a end point, but a process in which we become who we want to be during different life events that happen to us or our love ones. So speak to your trusted financial planner and do your financial review regularly to keep track of what you have and what's in the market that suits your needs.

I hope my sharing have benefited you, and if you are keen to look for someone to review your portfolio, feel free to approach me via my social media or my email (edwardshee@synergy.com.sg) and i will be glad to speak and to understand your needs first. Thanks.

Regards

Edward