JMMB Encourages Clients to Plant & Nurture their ‘Financial Seeds’ for a Fruitful Reward
The JMMB Ocho Rios branch, during its recent virtual “Gardening and Finance” event, assisted clients to plant seeds in their gardens and towards financial success, while observing COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and mask-wearing. The online event was designed to provide an engaging way to discuss financial planning and investment opportunities with clients, by tapping into their lifestyle, thereby supporting them to reap financial success.
Shane Warren, financial solutions manager at JMMB, shared these financial gardening pointers to guide clients:
Find the Right Financial Seeds
The financial advisor noted that, like gardening, you will need to determine what ‘seeds’ to plant-based on your unique landscape, that is, your goals, vision for your life and your resources, including your cash flow. Noting, as a gardener for your financial success, you may need to prioritize based on the ‘fruits’ you hope to reap, as typically you will have limited resources. She further underscored the need to have ‘cash crops’, likening this to one’s emergency fund, so that you can have cash on hand, in the event of unexpected circumstances, without going to debt or sacrificing your ‘harvest’.
Prepare the Land
Having determined what ‘seeds’ you hope to plant, Warren outlined, individuals will need to prepare the ‘land’, which is usually the hardest part. This process requires you to cultivate discipline, hard work and dedication to your goal, as well as a mindset of the possibilities of an abundant harvest. A key component of preparing your “financial soil” is examining your financial position, through budgeting. You will better understand and rid yourself of any ‘weeds’ that may choke your financial success and nurture your financial nutrients.
The financial expert recommends that, in order to preserve ones ‘financial nutrients” in the soil, a diversified approach is best, with a mix of seeds consisting of assets, namely: bonds, unit trusts, cash, and money market instruments, such as repos, stocks and real estate. In explaining further, Shane noted, “As you plant your financial seeds, it is important to cultivate it in the right environment, therefore as you prepare the land, you will need to continually examine the financial landscape, paying attention to the macroeconomic environment for opportunities, being clear to choose investments that align with your risk appetite and goals.
Nurture Your Seed
Like the plant cycle, your financial journey may require assistance and nurturing, to reap financial success. Warren outlined that individuals may need the help of experts, like JMMB advisors, “financial fertilizers” and the necessary tools to nurture your “financial fruit” from a seed to a blossom.
Warren shared, “You have to be patient and committed to your goals, watering and nurturing your investment, to harvesting.”
Similarly, as a gardener, nurturing your financial ‘seed’, you will need to understand the stages of growth. In using the gardening analogy, Warren noted at the early stage or the wealth accumulation phase, individuals will need to be careful to do the necessary risk assessment and pay keen attention to their investments to ensure that their “financial seeds” have a solid foundation. With continued nurturing, investors will begin to see the “fruits of their labour” in the form of returns from their financial seeds, so that they can accumulate assets. At the consolidation phase, your financial seeds should continue to show promise of a fruitful harvest. At this phase, however it is important that you begin to prune your finances of outstanding debt and “preserve your financial blossoms” until harvest, at which stage you can begin ‘gifting’ the rewards of your harvest to friends and family.
Adrian Masters, acting extension officer, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Parish Office, St. Ann’s Bay, during his demonstration of the planting process, reiterated the need to pay keen attention to the plant and its needs at each phase of its life cycle, and varying the conditions at each stage.
Invest Towards a Harvest
In the process of growing plants, maintenance is key. Shane outlined that individuals will need to also maintain their financial gardens, so that it does not become overgrown with “weeds of inflation, depreciation, devaluation and taxes.” To see healthy growth and a bountiful harvest of success, individuals should therefore revise their investment strategy periodically and protect their investment.
In giving a tip for maintaining healthy plants, Masters shared that “adding mulch helps to retain moisture and water in soil and suppresses weeds”. This could be likened to good financial habits that helps investors to keep on their financial journey, with systems such as monthly budgeting and automatic savings, shared Warren.
The financial advisor also highlighted the importance of protecting your “financial seeds” from unexpected emergencies, through consistent monitoring, insurance, and estate planning, so that, in the event of death, your dependents can benefit from the financial seeds that you would have planted.
Reap the Rewards
Reaping the harvest is cause for celebration and the best part of the process. As you achieve your goals, congratulate yourself for your discipline and begin planning for your other goals, but most importantly, enjoy the “fruits of your labour.”
JMMB client, Andrea Davidson, who is an avid plant lover, welcomed the event noting, “I enjoyed the creativity of the event as it combined my two passions – gardening and finance. The analogy was useful and made the event more practical and served as a great reminder of some key financial principles which will help me to concretise my financial approach. I look forward to the successes I will reap.”
During the event, investment opportunities were also shared with clients to help them to get started, planting the right financial seeds and diversifying their ‘financial garden”, in the expectation of ‘wealthy harvest.’