It’s my birthday this month, I’m 57. And I’ll be turning 57 with excitement. I am enjoying life, a lot.  

A big gripe of mine is that when I go out with a group of people my age, they are all looking a lot older.  We seem to be diminishing in size, taking up less space than we used to! 30x 57-year-olds take up the same space as 15 x 25-year-olds.

But the worst thing about hitting this age bracket is that friends my age are starting to get sick. Despite feeling the same, our bodies are starting to sabotage us.

We are at that age where it is not uncommon for people to get a diagnosis of something. Under 40 years, this kind of diagnosis is called tragic, or too young. But that is not the case for me now.  In our late fifties, my friends and I are age-appropriate for cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and various body part upgrades.  

This is my second career. The first was as a youth worker, which I loved and was heaps of fun. My second is as a financial adviser and is something I really love as well. I have the opportunity to work with people I like. Some are friends and there are many clients who I also like. Lots those clients have become friends, and lots of friends have become clients.  

Advising friends in the Personal Insurance space is an interesting experience. My connections with family members, friends, my partner and so on, is deep. It is delicate to professionally advise those who you really care about. It’s a privilege that I don’t take lightly (it’s also a little terrifying) as at claim time, it becomes real at a whole different level.  

Friends will tell me straight around how they feel about the advice I have given, the cost, why they really want to cancel the policy and how they have found the experience of working with Velocity Financial.  The flip side is that I also get to speak a little more directly too, in a professional and objective manner, about their own circumstances and how I feel the best course of action is for them.

Despite my professional advice around often very personal situations, friends can and do choose to make their own call. I have, at the request of some friends, cancelled insurance cover, reduced it or not put it in place, because they just don’t want it.  That is of course, their right.  

For those who have opted to put health cover in place through me, I have been privileged to help them in their times of need. Friends have received the dreaded diagnosis; I have been able to assist in a way that sometimes feels like a hopeless situation.

While insurance cover is not the cure in those dreaded circumstances, it is life changing.  Getting them the pay-out from the insurer makes a huge difference to an otherwise unbearable situation, and I am grateful to be a part of a solution that makes such a big difference.

For some I know who chose no cover and received the dreaded diagnosis, regretfully all I could do then was donate to the givealittle page or go to the fundraiser that was put on for them. Those experiences I find awful.  Truly, truly awful.

So, what is the point of this note to self, or note to you?  

At age 57, I have people I want to be with for a lot longer yet. I have altered my lifestyle to help with that (whole different conversation...), but I also have a just-in-case plan, and that’s what insurance is for …. Just in case…

Some is better than none, and if you can afford it, more is better than some.  

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Graham.

Graham Goodisson (FSP95428) is a Financial Adviser with Velocity Financial (FSP95466). Noninvestment decision should be taken based on the information in this blog alone. Please see Graham’s disclosure statement on our website. 

About Graham

Hi there, I’m Graham and I started Velocity Financial nearly 20 years ago. I had for many years been running youth development programmes for The Salvation Army and I liked the idea of continuing to help people thrive in other areas of their lives. It started with helping first homebuyers, and I now work mostly with business owners. This is around planning, lending, and managing risk for them and their staff. I’m passionate about community and connecting those in need with opportunity. I’ve been very privileged to do this in my previous career, now in my business and also for 20 years as a Trustee of the Te Aro Health Clinic. Our clinic delivers high quality healthcare for Wellington's most vulnerable and I'm very proud of the fact that Te Aro is now an integral part of Wellington City Health system. I work in New Zealand's two best cities, Tauranga and Wellington. In Tauranga I swim, bike and run (maybe YOGA if I'm feeling particularly aware!) and in Wellington I mostly seem to buy my adult children dinner and drinks.

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