Financial wellbeing — what are advisers and planners measuring?

'Money should be our servant, and not our master'

clock • 3 min read

The Institute for Financial Wellbeing (IFW) is a community of financial services professionals interested in our relationship with money. In the first of a series of monthly columns, founder Chris Budd questions what financial services actually measures

There is a famous quote taken from a speech by Bobby Kennedy in 1968. He describes GDP as being something which "measures everything… except that which makes life worthwhile." The point he makes is that you focus on what you measure; and that a government which focuses too much on economic growth is in danger of failing to pay attention to the things that make life enjoyable, such as the arts, knowledge, science, kindness. Wellbeing and wealth I think we can say the same thing about wealth. Am I saying that money does not matter? Of course not. Money is an essential ingredient to li...

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