Lynne Gadsden

A loooong drive this weekend (not helped by torrential rain & the M1 closing!) of 15 hours 😳 over 2 days to visit Durham, York & Loughborough Universities with my son.

I often get asked why I’ve worked so hard for so many years & these are a few of my whys.

Back in the 80s some secondary schools weren’t great but there was no choice for me without a grammar system in Sussex & my family not being able to afford private school. As a result my education, & more importantly the support & belief from teachers was dreadful.
Told I would only get 2 O levels (I actually got 7) & then told I would fail my A levels (I got 2 high grades) I had the awful experience of being rejected by 5 Unis & 4 Polys as offers were based upon your predicted grades.

With so little support from the education system I decided to go to work (as a PA) & ended up falling into my career age 24 without much confidence in my ability.

But those teachers were wrong as due to my tenacity I’m now the most qualified in my industry having had an amazing & very successful career.

And this is why I have worked so hard - to prove to others I was capable & to give my family the opportunities I didn’t have.

So my message to Henry (& others his age) is that you can go to Uni (he’s had a fantastic education ) but only if you need to (in his case yes as he wants to be a Barrister) but it isn’t always the only way.

And for those who haven’t gone to Uni as things didn’t go to plan or it didn’t feel right, then go find a career you love, work really hard, hold your head up high & you will achieve things you didn’t think possible.

Well my bucket list post sparked a lot of interest & I had many requests for ‘the bucket list’!!

Well here it is…..you can see it covers more than the 20 years to 75 but I might have to squeeze in a couple in some years!! 😉

Built over years of listening to my client’s & their travelling stories - I always tell them it helps to spend their kids inheritance & you can’t take it with you!!

But I’d love to see your travel bucket lists to help me tweak mine as is quite country generic at the moment!!

So go for it - give me your lists & suggestions - I’d like to see a few more sunsets like this around the world (this one on our fav beach in Thailand!).

Our draft bucket list:

Australia
New Zealand
Fiji
Vietnam
Cambodia
Scenic cruise to Arctic
South America
Canada Rocky Mountainer train
Boston
South Africa
Seychelles
Safari
Indonesia
Malaysia
French Polynesia
Madagascar
Japan
China
India
Norway/Finland
Iceland

20 years left of this?

We’ve just returned from a fabulous holiday in Bali made even better as it was our 1st without any kids in 18 years! 😉 Sorry kids we love you really!

And it’s given us the travelling bug again so whilst we were away we wrote a bucket list of places we want to travel to. Always the financial planner!!

Having given advice to hundreds of retired clients over the years I have a big theory that pretty much everyone slows down when they hit age 75 - a real ‘line in the sand’ & many don’t want to travel so much, etc. Although obv there are exceptions to the rule. So that means you need to do all your ‘big travelling’ before then.

Which seemed fine & then I realised that at 55 I only have 20 years 😳 & my list was much longer than 20! 🤣 Will have to do a couple in some years! 😉

So my message to you all - have a plan!

How many ‘big travelling’ years have you got left?
Where do you want to go?
And will you be able to afford it?

So get in touch & I can help you write your bucket list & come up with a plan to make it happen!

We would like to wish a happy fathers day to all the dads. The not yet dads, the stepdads, the grandads, the mums who are dad, the adoptive dads and the dads who are no longer with us.

To everyone who embodies what the word dad represents, a carer, a protector, a friend and a shoulder to lean on 🤍

Having financial freedom doesn’t mean you have to stop working. It means you have the freedom to choose the work you do 🌍

Those of you who know me know I love a beach!!!

But this time the story behind the picture is more important so do read on particularly if you have death-in-service benefits or a workplace pension.....

Don’t leave your family an avoidable IHT bill Inheritances can be life changing. An inherited lump sum can send children or grandchildren to great schools, or on great gap years. They can mean a mortgage paid off early, or a new business launched.

During the Christmas period, you may have seen some changes in the name of our Practice as we merged with another St. James’s Place Practice, Eight Wealth Management. We are now proud to announce that this has been completed.

Our financial advice practice, Grovewood Wealth has been flourishing since its establishment in 2001. We have been privileged to witness our clients' financial successes and have loved working alongside them as we helped them through their financial lives.

We are delighted to announce that we have been invited to join Eight, which is a much larger and very well established St. James’s Place Practice . This partnership offers a wealth of benefits for our clients, including a comprehensive support infrastructure and access to specialist advice. We are thrilled to be part of a bigger team and to operate on an even larger scale.

Eight’s head office is based in Hampshire but our office will become Eight’s new Tunbridge Wells location and therefore we shall continue to work in the local area expanding alongside other advisers as we do so.

Thank you as always for your loyalty. We look forward to continuing to offer our financial planning services with Eight.

Today another thank you but this time to my right hand woman!

5 years ago today the amazing joined us at Grovewood Wealth becoming our Practice Manager & I couldn’t have got through the last 5 years without her.

We met when we were heavily pregnant with our now 17 year olds & she quickly became one of my closest friends. So it was a huge risk when I asked her if she wanted to come & work for us but as my most organised & loyal friend she was a natural choice.

Every day she makes our life a bit easier enabling us to spend time with our clients & we look forward to her continuing to support us into the future.

So thank you Lou - we couldn’t do it without you!!!

Looking at all the great news about some of my colleagues winning awards at the Women in Finance Awards last week it made me think how different (& weird!!) it was when I won Financial Adviser of the Year (South East) in 2020!!

Then sadly no award ceremony instead receiving it dressed up in my kitchen on Zoom!! 😳🤣

A shame as I think I was the first SJP lady to win one of these so would have been nice to have not just been on my own on the day!!

But how different life was back then!

So enjoy the celebrations ladies they are well deserved!!

On I wanted to share a blog I wrote recently about the impact menopause can have on your finances and how getting the right financial advice is really important at this stage in life.

As a menopausal woman myself (sorry TMI !) I know only too well the effects it can have on your life and if I can help you out with your financial matters during this time then I am very happy to do so.

(By the way not me in the photo - although I do have a fan!!!!) 😂

Moneypause! As a menopausal woman myself I feel this is something to be celebrated as finally something that affects half of the world’s population is now not a hidden taboo (like past whispers of ‘the change’). It’s a subject that my friends, female clients, and I often chat about but something I never...

Looking forward to talking at this event later…

This time not about financial planning but as a female entrepreneur telling the story of my 30 year journey & all the highs & lows!

I’ve never really thought of myself as an entrepreneur (I’ve just worked hard & used my instincts!) but I suppose I must be as they’ve asked me to talk!!!

As a business who deals with clients impacted by Alzheimer’s on an almost daily basis I was pleased to see there was a day for us all to be reminded about this…

To watch out for signs of your older loved ones beginning to find things harder to cope with, making sure you have got your Power of Attorney in place in case you should be caught by this, supporting your friends or staff when they are helping their loved ones who are suffering with this dreadful condition.

Or more importantly being mindful that as we get older things get more confusing & just being kinder to the older people you meet.

Loved seeing my new article in the local Tunbridge Wells SO Magazine....

Ladies (& gents as you all have ladies in your lives!) you may find this useful as I explore how the Menopause can have implications for your finances too.

Well it’s been a long summer with the kids at home (just wish the weather had been like this the whole way through!) and many of us we will be packing our kids and teenagers off to school over the next few days, which I hope goes well for you all.

For us, it feels a little different as our youngest Son starts Sixth Form not in school uniform but a very smart suit, looking extremely grown up!

You may be like me as I always feel that September is the start of a year and hence I wrote this Blog (one of my favourites actually!) about how to get your financial ‘school bag and pencil case’ prepared using my checklist to make sure everything is in place for the ‘school’ year ahead.

Do have a read as there are some useful tips and hints in there, which may well help you and your family survive another ‘school’ year well.

And as always do come and talk to me if you want to know more.



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Back to School – getting yourself organised This time of the year always reminds me of returning to school after what seemed like a never-ending summer break. I don’t think many of us wanted to get back into the school routine, but our parents probably breathed a sigh of relief – as we are doing at the moment! This year, more than eight m...

We know that family is the most important thing in your life. So, it’s good to know that, with the right advice, transferring wealth to loved ones can be easy – as well as rewarding.
Whether it’s helping your children onto the housing ladder, contributing to your grandchildren’s savings pots or a parent’s care fees, we can help you share your wealth whilst you’re still able to see the joy that it brings.

Plan for tomorrow, enjoy today. Contact us now for a no obligation chat: https://lnkd.in/g257gfZT



Grovewood Wealth Management Ltd is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James's Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority).

SJP Approved 23/06/2023

Everything you need to know about the social care means test

1) Finding the money to pay for long-term care can be one of the biggest financial worries facing us in later life.
2) Your local authority can carry out a means test to see if you are eligible for financial support.
3) A financial adviser can help you to understand the process and the long-term picture to ensure you won’t run out of money during your lifetime.

Read more here or feel free to get in touch.





Grovewood Wealth Management Ltd is an Appointed Representative of and represents on St. James's Place Wealth Management pls (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority).

Everything you need to know about the social care means test If you need long-term care and have received a care support plan, the next step – if you think you might be eligible for some financial support – is to undergo a financial assessment, also called a ‘means test’.

Mini-me!!
Work together, dress together! 🤣💙💙
&son

What are the chances that you’ll need some form of long-term care before the end of your life?

It’s a question that’s very hard to answer, and all too easy to avoid. But in terms of financial wellbeing, it’s the million dollar question. Paying for social care, for as long as you need it, can make a huge hole in your finances. And it can make a big difference to the amount of money you can pass on to your family.

Read here to find out more.





Grovewood Wealth Management Ltd is an Appointed Representative of and represents on St. James's Place Wealth Management pls (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority).

What are the chances you’ll need long-term care one day? It’s a question that’s very hard to answer, and all too easy to avoid. But in terms of financial wellbeing, it’s the million dollar question. Paying for social care, for as long as you need it, can make a huge hole in your finances. And it can make a big difference to the amount of money you c...