July 2024: How many good summers do you have left?

Aug 20

Charlie Frederick

We are now halfway through the year and I’ve enjoyed reviewing the first six months. A lot has happened in our team – most importantly Emily has had a baby boy. Emily’s worked with me for more than a decade since she was only 16, and we’re all so pleased for her and delighted she’s agreed we could include a photo of Charlie here. You can see he’s already getting his ducks lined up!!

Many congratulations to two of our clients too, who became grandparents for the first time, several others who have had more grandchildren and my parents who have just had their third great-grandchild and are looking forward to their fourth later this year!

Lucas, our senior paraplanner has passed his final exam to achieve Chartered status with the CII and is growing his technical team, recently recruiting Jack Harris to work with him, alongside Chelsea who’s just passed her first financial services exam.

With the increase in the team numbers, my responsibilities have decreased and the advisers, Martin, Ranjit and Danny, have stepped up, taking on more of the day-to-day work with clients. I am, of course, very much still here and making sure we continue to improve everything about how we deliver comprehensive lifestyle financial planning to all our valued Wealthwide clients.

The shortness of time

The birth of children and change of seasons is a welcome reminder that we're not living in a never-ending ‘now’. Time marches on, and it waits for no one.

Whether you find yourself on your way into, or out of, another summer, it is a good time to reflect on the shortness of time.

At this time of the year, we also start thinking about our aspirations for what lies ahead. Not just for the next six months but the years into the future. While the days can feel long, the years are, indeed, short.

Time, money and wealth

Many dentists fall into the trap of spending their finite time to accumulate as much money as they can. We know that money has value, and wasting it seems silly. But we all throw away something far more valuable every day: time.

One of the few truly finite resources, the amount of time we get is uncertain, but we know it's limited.

Those who attain monetary wealth realise, sometimes too late, that real wealth is the ability to spend money to buy time. We find meaning in being able to spend time on our terms, doing things we love and that bring us joy.

One of the few benefits of the pandemic is that it forced most of us to spend time very differently from how we used to. It gave us a valuable opportunity to recalibrate how we view the trade-off between time and money. Time is an abstract concept, difficult to get our heads around at times. One exercise that brings it to life is to consider how many specific events or seasons you may have left.

How many books will you realistically still be able to read? How many holidays do you have left to enjoy with your parents or children? How many good summers do you have to look forward to, ones you are healthy enough to enjoy? We rarely reflect on how much quality time we have left, mostly caught up in the hustle and bustle of life.

Time Enough

Whilst the time we have is limited, there is enough of it to live a meaningful life if we use it wisely and are conscious of how much we have left.

The Roman philosopher Seneca wisely said:

"It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested."

A more holistic approach to your own financial planning may, therefore, involve resolving not only how you will invest your money, but also your time, energy, and talents.

Given that we find ourselves at the beginning of the second half of 2024, being intentional with our time is a challenge we can all rise to. It is our job to help you to make a connection between your money and the life you wish to live. It is a responsibility we take seriously and cherish.

As always, we are here to help you to make informed decisions about your money and enjoy the summers you have left.

How we’ve helped

We recently reassured some retired clients that they could absolutely afford to spend a significant amount on renovating their house with new kitchens and bathrooms and that it would make no difference to their financial security during their lifetime. We want to make sure they enjoy the summers and the winters over the next 20 – 30 years of their lives.

Unfortunately, spending the money on their house probably won’t help to reduce their inheritance tax liability as their house will inevitably increase in value. So that’s an action plan for another date.

You’ll always own the beasts

If you don't follow investment news, you would have missed a rather staggering story in 2024. In June, a relatively unknown company, NVIDIA, became the biggest listed company in the world. Yes, that’s right, it overtook both Apple and Microsoft to claim the top slot.

Started in 1993, the company’s main product is the graphics processing units (GPUs) traditionally used in gaming computers. In 2001, its steady growth resulted in it entering the S&P 500 by replacing Enron. The real growth, however, only started in the last few years when its products became sought after for mining cryptocurrency and, more recently, for powering the new wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines.

Its growth over the last five years has been staggering. In 2019, it traded at $4 per share. At one point in June 2024, the share price was $126. Naturally, much media coverage has fixated on the remarkable wealth investors could have made by picking this stock before its rise in popularity. However, smart investors know that predicting which companies will become these market leaders is incredibly difficult. With hindsight, it seems obvious – how could Amazon not be huge, how could Tesla not be a beast?

A Better Way

Stock-picking can be risky, often leading to missed opportunities and heightened anxiety. If you didn’t own NVIDIA directly, there’s likely no need to despair. If you are invested in a global equity fund (and are invested in the Wealthwide portfolios), you likely already own NVIDIA shares.

As an investor, nothing could be better news: Owning a global equity fund that tracks an index like the S&P 500 (or other large index) means you’ll always own the shares of the biggest companies. As companies like NVIDIA rise to dominance, they are promptly included in these indices, guaranteeing their presence in your investment portfolio. NVIDIA, for example, would have been held since 2001.

Companies that make the news for exponential growth almost always experience periods where they lose more than half of their value over short periods of time. For example, in 2022, Amazon lost close to 60% of its market value while the market as a whole only declined 25%.

A global fund gives you the growth exposure of the stocks that fly while also giving you the protection of a diversified portfolio.

As a result, you won't need to worry about missing out on the next big thing. Whether it's an emerging tech giant or a company revolutionising an industry, being part of a diversified global equity fund ensures you're always in the mix.

Ignore the noise

While the above good news seems common sense, you’ll seldom read about it in the financial media. Growing wealth slowly over time does not make for exciting headlines. A story about the latest stock to explode makes for a better story, which is why you will always wonder if you’re losing out to others.

There are numerous reasons to own index funds, and the data shows that they tend to outperform actively managed funds over meaningful periods. One key advantage of index funds is that they always include the market's dominant companies. It's impossible to predict which sector will dominate the top 10 spots. But the good news is, you don't need to guess because you'll own a small slice of it regardless.

Some stocks die, some stocks fly, and some stocks really soar. Trying to pick these winners in advance is a fool's errand. By owning a broad global equity fund, you'll be a part-owner in the market's dominant companies, even those no one could predict with foresight. This approach allows us to benefit from the growth of these giants without the stress and uncertainty of trying to pick individual winners.

Thank you for reading – if you know someone who might like to read this, please do forward the email on and help us spread the word!

Thomas Dickson