2021 April Update

Hi there!

We hope you enjoyed a well-deserved break at some point in the last little while, whether for Spring Break with the kids, or for the Easter long weekend – perhaps not with the kids this time?

Some of us have been spending an enormous amount of time with our families recently. So much so, in fact, that maybe we’re kind of done spending time with family. Others haven’t been able to see their families and really, really, really miss them. It’s kind of a spectrum, and somewhere between the two we’ll likely all find ourselves.

Family is an important value for many of our clients, and what that looks like is unique to each and every one of us – even if we’re in the same family. As you may know, we’ve been exploring the concept of values in general throughout this year, and this month, we’re contemplating how the value of family shows up for you.

Remember that your values are not “right” or “wrong”, no matter what anyone tells you. Your values are the product of the lessons you’ve learned in living the very unique life journey that you are on.

Your family handed you a bunch when you were born and while you were raised. Your subconscious picked through them, choosing the ones that made the most sense given your experience. That’s why siblings can have starkly different values. It’s not what we were handed, it’s what we did with what we were handed.

Your school experience, the friendships you gained and lost, your first job, your first love… all of these things came into your life to craft the particular version of you that you’re working with today. You’ll gain more experience as your life goes on (no matter how old you are), and those experiences will permanently etch themselves into your value system throughout the rest of your life.

Just like everything else in life and financial planning, your values are going to change over time. They may not change drastically, but they will adjust, ever so slightly, with each passing moment. That’s why when you’re done this year of digging into your own values with us (you’re coming for the whole ride, aren’t you?), you won’t actually be done.

You will, however, have a foundation of understanding. You’ll be able to use that foundation to realign your financial plan so that it is built around serving the values that you want to live every single day – at least right now. When you change, your experiences give you more to chew on. As your family changes, your community changes, and the entire world changes around you, you’ll know how to think through this. You’ll be able to ensure that no matter how hard the wind blows, no matter how high the waves, you’ll be able to navigate your personal ship knowing that you’re always heading in the right direction, for you.

We hope you find some useful gems in this month’s value of family, and end up with a better idea of what that means to you.

Spring in the News:

We’re happy to share that Spring’s CEO, Julia Chung, is a finalist for the 2021 Wealth Professional Awards for Female Trailblazer of the Year!

Julia also wrote an article for Best Health Magazine on one of our favourite topics – Design Thinking. Check it out here.

Practice Notes:

We’ll be powering down our computers, video cameras, and fancy ring lights on Friday, May 21, keeping them off until Tuesday, May 25th, to celebrate Victoria Day. Other than, we’ll be around!

“Free” Fridays remain booked permanently in our calendars. These days are free to us at Spring in the sense that they are our opportunity to work on becoming better planners, whether through collaboration and discussion, education, research, or even a little down time. It’s been a regular practice since the summer of 2017, and we will continue to set aside the time to become better versions of ourselves every week. Even 1% better is solidly worth it, because we know that will be reflected in the work we do for you.

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