I’ve written before here about being reasonable rather than rational.

The general message being to make broadly sensible financial decisions now and not get caught up on whether you should be saving say, £210 or £225 into your Stocks & Shares ISA each month. There are so many moving parts to your life and the global economy it’s not worth sweating the small stuff for too long.

The same thing applies for long-term financial planning and that classic interview question “where do you see yourself in five years’ time❓”

For retirement, I often have to figure out with clients the answer to “where do you see yourself in 30 years’ time⁉️” The problem with long-term planning is that we’re all terrible at imagining our future selves.🥺

My eldest son is 15 and that time has flown by. I remember watching In The Night Garden on CBeebies with him when he was little, now he’s nearly as tall as me and we’re watching Breaking Bad 🧪together!

I bet the last 15 years have flown by for you too and the next 15 will go even quicker. Just don’t pretend that 15 years is a long way off…

The future you can feel like an annoying pain you can’t get rid of, taking the fun away from today. Yet the money you earn now needs to feed both you and them. And the future you won’t thank you if you spend everything now and leave nothing for the future.

The future you needs you to save and invest and be financially well organised. Sure, it’s dull and boring 🥱but then having to work in your late 60s because you can’t afford life otherwise isn’t much fun either.🆘

We all did daft things as a teenager but don’t be the 60-year-old who wants a time machine to hit their 30-year-old self over the head for doing daft things as a younger adult, like not setting and then sticking to clear financial goals.