Kingston financial planning firm Holland Hahn & Wills has long been involved in outreach activities, running masterclasses for local people on everything from pensions to planning.

Supporting young people is a key part of their involvement in the community and members of the 9-strong team have previously mentored students at Kingston University and judged Young Enterprise competitions in the borough.

So it was with this experience that Managing Partner Christopher Hirsch and Head of Marketing & Operations Katie Lovatt went to a local school last month, to help Year 10 students start thinking about their financial futures.

Katie and Chris were volunteering with Young Enterprise, a national charity which helps secondary school children learn vital employment and financial literacy skills before they enter the world of work.

The pair were invited to help run a Learn to Earn session as part of the programme at St Catherine's School in Twickenham.

In a blog post the duo reflected on the morning's activities, providing a run-down of what they talked about with the students and why each topic was important.

We've published their blog below and we think it's well worth a read whatever stage of life you're in.

It will especially appeal to parents of teenagers who are preparing to make important decisions on education and employment in the near future.

Learn to Earn recap, by Holland Hahn & Wills

At the end of June, Katie & Chris volunteered with Young Enterprise, a national charity who specialise in enterprise education and financial education, mainly at secondary schools.

We were invited to help facilitate the Learn to Earn session at St Catherine's School, Twickenham, working with Year 10 students before they embark on their GCSEs.

The aim of the morning was to explore future goals, discuss what success might look like to them, explore different job opportunities and discuss the idea of keeping to a budget.

In fact, it was a very good exercise in financial planning, thinking about your goals, and how you might need to fund your lifestyle.

I Have A Dream

The first exercise involved designing their dream lifestyle. What's important? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? Who does it involve? Where would you live?

Once this had been outlined, the students used the budget planner to ascertain how much their chosen lifestyle might cost each year! This came as a bit of a shock!

The choices ranged from economy to luxury, and unsurprisingly most chose to aspire to the luxury lifestyle without really having an inkling of the cost to maintain such a choice!

Again, this reminded me about conversations we have with our clients who are approaching retirement – does anything need to change? What kind of lifestyle do they want once they no longer need to work?

Living In A Dream World: The Cost of Living

Several students had firm ideas about their future professions, from studying for degrees in law, medicine, veterinary science to artistic paths such as drama or art foundations, apprenticeships and sporting aspirations…but the majority were still curious as to their options.

Equally surprising were the range of jobs available (and many more roles will likely develop over the next 5-10 years as the digital world continues to advance) – the big question was whether their possible jobs would pay for their lifestyle.

Success – What Will Make You Happy?

Success isn't always about money. It can be about happiness, fun, love, achievements – for some that might mean being rich and famous, for others it might be a scientific breakthrough or making others proud.

Exotic holidays, changing the world, winning awards, having a loving family were only some of the criteria discussed – there was some animated chat!

Goal-Setting

The session concluded with an exercise on goal-setting and employability skills.

Young Enterprise presented the STAR analogy: Situation, Task, Action and Result to demonstrate moments using valuable skills which would equip you for a role.

The key to this, as with many real-life experiences, is story-telling. What did they learn? What did they overcome? What could they have done differently?

Students looked at the 8 skills, and considered how to demonstrate each one: Communication, organisation, confidence, financial capability, problem solving, resilience, initiative and teamwork.

It was an honour to take part in the day, to provide some insights into the working world, whether perspectives from a big corporate or a small independent firm.

It was valuable to see the students consider their paths – no doubt there will be many changes, considerations and challenges ahead yet, but it was rewarding to start them on that path to contemplate their future after school.

Conclusion

Financial planning will always be important to help people realise their life goals, to know that they can afford to travel or invest in education – for themselves or future generations.

At Holland Hahn & Wills we enjoy the conversations we have with people approaching retirement. To ensure you are financial prepared for your retirement, give us a call for a chat.

We're a friendly firm keen to help take the worry out of finances.

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