CAREER PURSUIT 2021

4 EXPERT ADVICE - EMPLOYMENT FINANCIAL RESILIENCE s an adviser of many years and a seasoned Army wife, I can empathise with muddling through life, one assignment order at a time, trying your best just to make sure the kids get into a good nearby school and ensuring the housing is of an adequate standard. Anything else can feel like a bonus. So, when it comes to carving out a plan for financial stability, it often feels like a distant pipedream. When you throw in a change of career or employment, be it out of choice or, as it is quite often in military life, ‘imposed’, it raises many questions. Will anyone want me? Will I like it? Do we need to relocate (again!)? How will we cope with childcare? However, rarely do I find people realistically weighing up financial resilience as part of this transition. Whether you are green and keen, a partner of, or simply had enough of service life, there are two things that you can always be certain of: 1. At any point in your life, you will always need somewhere to live. 2. You will always need money to survive. This is why sound financial planning is key, starting as early as possible in your military career and re-revaluating regularly, particularly if you are expecting any change in circumstances. This applies to partners and spouses too. It sounds so obvious but consider this − just by looking at the current pandemic, it is easy to see why being financially resilient is important. Millions of people have lost an income overnight and are relying on the state, charities, and/or loans for financial assistance. Whilst for many this is a necessity; wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry and/or to have the choice? A recent industry report suggests that the average household believes it can last 90 days if it were to lose its income and rely solely on savings. However, in reality, it is just 24 days (source: ‘Deadline to Breadline 2020’ report, Legal &General). Moving forward, how can you make sure you are not one of these statistics? By Nadine Monks Director of Forces Family Finance Nadine Monks has extensive experience with mortgage broking and insurance and has been in financial services for over 15 years. Are you going through a career change and worried about where you stand financially? In this article, Nadine explores financial resilience and the aspects you may want to consider. A