Hello, my name is Shona, and I am the Communication Manager here at Velocity.

So I've been in this role a year and, now that I've found my feet, I thought it would be a good time to do an introduction. You may have noticed that Velocity has a LOT more going on in our socials, our events and in our newsletter space this year! (Yes, 'tis I, the busy beaver in the background making this magic happen on the daily :)

I really love my job, and I’m not just saying that either - because honestly, like everyone my age, I’ve had some shockers. So, it is a dream come true to say I love my job. I love marrying visuals with written content to convey complex information into simple and straightforward messages, basically for everyday people like me.

This works for me in the finance world especially. I come from a non-financial background, so to me it is important to ensure that our clients understand what we do, and the opportunities that there are for them to realise their dreams, as I sure didn’t know for myself.

I am also enjoying my own journey into financial wellness, which is what Velocity is really all about.

Growing into adulthood (I feel like I must be close now, seeing as I just turned 40...) my financial focus has primarily been on simply saving some money, getting a degree (...and then paying that off), buying and renovating that first house, putting the minimum into KiwiSaver default scheme, and avoiding credit card debt.

Beyond that, it has been survival really – paying that mortgage, marriage, raising kids, and working, trying a few different career paths along the way. Some fails, some wins.

In that time, I have looked after myself well. I’ve looked after my physical health (I live a clean lifestyle, eat well and am very active), I’ve worked on my relationships (admittedly as an introvert this is always more of a “work in progress” type of thing) and being a good mum, I take care of my mental/spiritual health by reading philosophy, practising self-awareness, and finding creative outlet in photography. And so forth. I feel I am in a good space, overall.  

But I haven’t really paid attention to my financial health, until now.  It’s been, you know, “OK”.  

I guess that turning 40, having to support myself and the kids, and the general pressures of this new world (cue pandemic, war, inflation, cost of living, petrol, interest rates, ARGGHHHHH…) have prompted me into awareness that I need to be more than just “OK” to reduce risk and get be where I want to be in the future.  

I need an actual plan. 

Brendon gave me a financial wellness checklist to look through the other day. Out of the 22 items on that list, I had two items "Sorted," three items "Mostly sorted," and seventeen items in the "Not sorted/Needs Work" category. About 20% of my financial life is sorted. Clearly my financial life needs some TLC.

So, here I am, probably in the best place possible to start "getting sorted" and making a plan a reality (thanks Brendon and Graham for employing me, btw), and surrounded by a bunch of very clever advisers passionate about financial health. People who have what I lack, and I am feeling blessed. So, you may well hear some more from me as I embark on this journey to “financial wellness” (let’s talk some more about what that means sometime.)  I’d like to share it with you, as a lay person, getting her life sorted, sometime around mid-life. I know there will be lots of other people in my position who have defaulted their financial health up until this point too.  

Maybe now is the time we make those choices that we look back on in twenty years’ time and thank our past-selves for?  

Wouldn’t that be nice! Thank you, Shona, you did great! I really appreciate those decisions that you made then, that mean we can sit here on OUR veranda now, in our Rimu rocking chair with our three dogs, horse and goat, looking out across OUR paddock down to the stream. Knowing I have enough, did enough.  

I want to be HER.  

So, expect some more comms from me, and, if there’s anything you want to read, know or talk about – contact me.

Let’s get this financial wellness party started.

Shona

Shona@velocityfinancial.co.nz

‍

‍