Magnificent Life Team

Insights

August 23, 2021

A round tuit – and a bit about dread disease cover

There’s a rare object known as a tuit. It’s a special gift to keep for yourself, but also has great value for your friends and family. Tuits, especially round ones,…

August 16, 2021

Have you been offered early retirement? (Part 1)

For many years we’ve been having better conversations about retirement. It’s no longer a matter of finding a job, staying in it for 40 years, and then retiring for fifteen…

August 9, 2021

Designing Your “No Rules Retirement”

Our concept of retirement is undergoing a metamorphosis. Demographic, societal, and workplace trends have all converged to offer a stage of life—at mid-life and beyond—that is much more fluid and…

August 2, 2021

Fortify financial peace of mind

There are few things worse than lying in bed at night, tossing and turning over financial stress. Lack of sleep only adds to our stress and hinders our overall mental,…

July 26, 2021

A powerful mental trick to master the markets

If someone is selling something, their primary goal is most often to convince you to buy what they’re selling. If you follow financial accounts on social media, your timeline is…

July 19, 2021

How to nurture financially savvy kids

In 1988, financial planner and best-selling author Venita Van Caspel wrote in her bestselling book Financial Dynamics for the 1990s: “Our educational system continues to send forth our young with…

July 19, 2021

How does the stock market work?

The fastest way to lose half of your money is not a stock market crash but a divorce, separation or a poor business decision (so it’s a good idea to…

July 12, 2021

When the opposite is true

There is a thin veneer over everything. When we are distracted by news streams, overwhelmed by direct messaging and tired from keeping up with the Joneses, it’s easy to create…

July 12, 2021

Is anchoring holding you back?

One of the challenges of financial planning is its complexity. Not only is it mathematically layered, but it’s also fraught with bias and emotional influence. For most of us, we…

July 5, 2021

The miracle of Meraki

In every culture and creed, there are traditions and philosophies about how to experience the best that life has in store for us, whilst overcoming trials and tragedies. From mindfulness…

June 28, 2021

The sandwich generation refers to working-age individuals who are in the precarious position of looking after their growing children and caring for elderly parents. They are effectively “sandwiched” between the…

June 21, 2021

The nourishment of nature

A breath of fresh air, the sun on our faces, bare feet in the sand. Spending time outside can provide many small pleasures, which all leave us feeling revitalised. Whether…

June 21, 2021

Crypto can be taxing

One of the early appeals for cryptocurrencies was that they would not be taxed as they are not fiat currencies (yet), in that they are not owned by a country…

June 14, 2021

Dualistic Thinking

Dualistic thinking assumes a universe where there are only two opposing, mutually incompatible options or realities. This type of thinking is either/or, good/bad, negative/positive, and has a significant impact on…

June 7, 2021

Things don’t get easier – we become more resilient

Life is uncharted. Maps can only be made from where we’ve been – not where we have yet to go. The only certainty is uncertainty, and we can experience potentially…

June 7, 2021

Don’t be a lemming

One long-held belief is that lemmings purposefully run off cliffs in their millions. This myth has become a metaphor for the behaviour of crowds of individuals who follow each other…

May 31, 2021

I’m not sure I want to know

There’s a story that was told many years ago (it may or may not be true…) about a Microsoft call-centre agent and their call with a deeply irate customer. Having…

May 24, 2021

How to do it in the 4IR

“But we didn’t need it, and we turned out fine.” We hear this line more than we should. From tap water to technology, from diets to devices, from gender identification…

May 24, 2021

Are you money-mental?

The simple answer is: Yes, we all are! In a recent blog, we looked at five financial trip-wires and glanced over the term ‘mental accounting.’ Introduced in 1999, it’s a…

May 17, 2021

If our feelings could talk

Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher, was the first to say it. “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” But…

May 10, 2021

Hold the line

“It’s not in the way that you hold me It’s not in the way you say you care It’s not in the way you’ve been treating my friends It’s not…

May 3, 2021

Me, myself and Ikigai

From the stoics to the sentimentalists, most have one question in common: What is the meaning of it all? Searching for purpose and meaning helps us come up with a…

April 26, 2021

Discovery and discomfort

It’s nearly impossible to make it through an entire week without glancing at a blog, social media post or newsletter that reminds us about the pervasive and perpetual change in…