Tina Weeks discusses the taboo subject of death, life planning & more…

Abraham Okusanya speaks to Tina Weeks, Founder of Serenity Planning, in episode 26 of Retirementals. Tina unpacks the details on helping to maximise outcomes and performance when it comes to advising clients and shares how she managed her business while going through chemotherapy. Here’s an overview of some of the questions and answers featured in the episode:

What makes life planning stand out from traditional financial planning?

We talk about people's relationship with money, what money means to them, how it affects their decision-making. And actually, people's relationship with money affects their relationship with so many aspects of their lives. What we don't do is look at it from a traditional way where we either look to ensure that clients have any missing products put in place for them, or even spend a lot of time analysing and dissecting portfolios. We bring them in as required. But they're certainly not the focus. The focus is always the relationship, the relationship we have with our clients and how we can help them move forward positively.

How did your battle with cancer affect you?

I am conscious that you just said, you know, you use the words cancer survivor, and I don't feel like that in any way at all. Firstly, because, my situation is that cancer wasn't the main illness that I was fighting. I have myeloma early stages, but that was never the issue for me. The problem was that my myeloma triggered a very, very, very rare illness called acquired Cutis Laxa and this illness is a connective tissue disorder. For me, it affected two main areas. That's my skin. But more worryingly, it affected my internal organs with my lungs being the most affected.

I've been on chemo for a year now. I certainly wouldn't say that I'm out of the woods. I think this is going to be lifelong and I hesitate to use the word battle because I don't want people that are ill to feel like they have a battle. This is something that your body's going through, and I'm trying to do it in alignment with my body rather than fighting against my body.

How has this changed your perspective in terms of financial planning?

Massively. Mainly, I think, because, you know, financial planning when you look at it isn't just a small piece of the puzzle that focuses on money. I think we're privileged to do this work with clients and actually, it encompasses so many areas of people's lives. So, when I look at it from my perspective, it helped me look at things differently, not just around financial planning and money, but how financial planning fits into the bigger scheme of things. How actually life is the big conversation here that we have around financial planning and financial planning is really the tool that we use to help people live the best life that they can.

How might the ownership structure of your business change in the future?

I think lots of people in my situation think about it all the time. Without a doubt, this is a business that I want to continue. And whilst I'm not precious about the branding or anything like that, it would be a shame if this amazing work that we're doing with clients doesn't continue in some form or another. I would really like to change the ownership. I'm 100% owner right now. I would like as soon as it's possible to introduce something that really brings everyone in and makes sure that people can see how valued and how important they are and how they can contribute to the longevity of the business.

Alongside running a financial planning business, what sparked your interest in coaching and training?

This is something that really means a lot to me. It's something that fires me up, gets me excited. People have heard me for years talking about working with clients in the life planning and coaching way. Is it absolutely the most fulfilling and fun way to work without even taking into account what a difference it makes to your clients. Being able to help my peers and other financial planners learn this way of working, just gives me so much joy and so much satisfaction. It's definitely something I want to carry on doing alongside Serenity. 

To hear more about the journey Tina's been on and how life planning has transformed her view of financial planning, listen to the full episode. We've also had many other inspiring guests, browse the full list of episodes here.