Five years ago, a little-known new show popped up on BBC2 fronted by furniture restorer, Jay Blades. Having since made the transition to prime-time BBC1, The Repair Shop now attracts millions of viewers, keen to see a team of skilled artisans restore precious heirlooms to their former glory.
Whether it’s a beloved childhood toy, or the personal artefact of a late relative, the team take enormous pride in carefully making much-loved items, from teddy bears to radios, as good as new.
Of course, the increased focus on climate change has brought the issue of recycling to the fore in recent years. So, ahead of this year’s Recycle Week, which runs from 19 to 25 September, here are three lessons that The Repair Shop can teach you about financial planning.
1. The story is often more important than the item
When we meet a new client for the first time, the initial questions we normally ask are not about their money or their wealth, but about their life and plans for the future. Without an idea of what a client wants to achieve, how can we build a financial plan to help them to reach their goals?
A financial plan is designed to be a means to an end. When we ask clients about the benefits of working with Sovereign, they tell us that it’s about the peace of mind of knowing an expert is in their corner, or that they like the reassurance that they can achieve all their life goals.
They hardly ever mention the return on their investment or cite it as a reason to work with us.
When visitors to The Repair Shop take along their items, they are rarely priceless Picassos or Ming vases. What all of them share is a story.
These stories are about a beloved parent or grandparent and the way in which a particular memento or item brings back fond memories. They take the owner back to a special place and time in their life, when a tin toy or leather wallet were the symbols of a deep and important relationship.
Without these stories, The Repair Shop would just be a load of folk fixing toasters and vacuum cleaners.
When you’re spending your final hours, it will be the things you achieved in your life that will be important. You won’t care if your ISA returned 5% a year, but you will care that retiring early meant you could spend quality time with your family.
2. Holding on to assets for the long term can be beneficial
According to the BBC website, the oldest item to appear on The Repair Show was an extremely rare lantern clock from the 1600s, believed to have been made by renowned clockmaker Thomas Loomes.
While the point of the show is not that items are valuable – if you’re interested in the value, the Antiques Roadshow is a better bet! – it does show that keeping hold of assets for the long term can be beneficial.
The same is true of your own assets. Data from Nutmeg on global developed market stocks over the past 50 years shows that the probability of losing money on your investment goes down the longer you stay invested.
The chart below shows the historical probability of loss depending on how long you hold an investment.
As you can see, investing for any one year would have generated a positive return 72.7% of the time, while investing for 10 years increased your chances to just over 94%. If you had invested for any 14-year period over these 50 years, the probability of losing money falls to zero.
3. Working with a skilled specialist adds genuine value
When asked to pinpoint the reason the show has been so successful, craftsman Will Kirk suggested it is because bringing items back to life is something anyone can have a go at.
Speaking to Lorraine Kelly, Kirk said: “It’s a hit with so many different people, for people who have an office job, who might think at the weekend I’ll go to my shed and tinker away at things.
“There really is something for everyone and that’s why I think it’s worked so well.”
If you have an old bicycle, juke box, or stuffed panda, you might fancy having a crack at restoring it yourself. Or you could apply to The Repair Shop and get one of the UK’s leading specialists to work on it for you.
You can see the parallel with your finances.
Sure, you could arrange your own life insurance, pension, and investments. The results might be great!
Alternatively, you could work with a Chartered firm like Sovereign, where you’d receive bespoke advice from highly qualified, experienced professionals.
Research from the International Longevity Centre revealed that people who worked with a financial planner had, on average, more pension wealth.
In addition, a Royal London study revealed individuals who took advice were more confident about their future, more in control of their finances, and more financially secure than those who didn’t.
Often, finding a specialist can help you to achieve a better outcome.
Get in touch
While we might not be able to bring your grandfather’s piano stool back to life, we can help you achieve your goals and create great stories in the process.
To find out more, please get in touch. Email hello@sovereign-ifa.co.uk or call us on 01454 416653.
