Through the Looking Glass was a novel published in the late 1800’s by Lewis Carroll. It’s the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In the story, Alice again enters a fantastical world, by climbing through a mirror into a world that she can see beyond. There she finds that just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic.

Alice’s adventures might be fictional, and children’s fiction at that. But it can also show us that life doesn’t need to be a dream if we plan for it.

I’ve conducted some recent annual client reviews where a number of these have resonated with me, in terms of the work we do. Re-emphasising as to what lifestyle financial planning is about.  

One client in particular realised that after some thirty years of working in high profile roles, what she wanted and more importantly, didn’t want in life. Naturally, I won’t go into detail. But let’s just say that she realised that there was more to life than doing what she’d always done.

Explained further by a quote from Henry T Ford ‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you'll always get what you've always got’.

Lightbulb moments come to us all. Sometimes related to circumstance. And sometimes in respect of moving through the lifecycle. Regardless, different things carry different importance in our lives at particular times compared to others. Things happen and our priorities change for lots of different reasons.

We all have a lifestyle. And one that we want at the very least to maintain. Or more commonly improve upon.

Mine will differ to yours. And yours will differ to the next persons. It really doesn’t matter what each looks like, as it’s ours. What’s clear is that it’s unique and most importantly, it’s personal.

The point is to identify what this is. Or what we want it to be. Then looking at steps of how to achieve, maintain and sustain it.

As I’ve said before many times, life is not a rehearsal, and we only get one chance at it.