As a financial planner, many of you will know that your decision to take that career path was based on the fact you are one of those people. Much of the Financial Services Industry is, strangely enough, peopled by individuals who are not that gregarious or blessed with people skills. We are, however, on the front line!

But, boy, what a front line! Ours is a world apart from the rest and I personally love it. Where else can you actually meet with people and have an almost immediate impact on their lives, even if it is just to redraft their will correctly? We have the skills to make a difference and it is a real pleasure to do exactly that, whenever possible.

It is said that no man is an island; we are all connected to different people and facets of life. Personally I quite like the response of Hugh Grant in the movie, “About a Boy”, his sister screams at him, “No man is an island, you know”, he fires back, “Well I am. Iâ’m Ibiza!” OK, we get it. At times I would also like to be Ibiza hot, packed with young restless things and ready to party 24 hours a day (more pills doctor, please)!

Then on the other hand, I look in the mirror, check the birth date on my passport and realise perhaps my destiny is, in fact, to be a slightly less chaotic island than Ibiza, or rather one that does not require me to stay up until 5am every morning, as my sons like saying, “you’re old Dad.” Thanks boys!

“Acronymism” has been a slowly growing disease for many years, but of late the PC (here we go) lunatics have taken over the asylum and now everything is seemingly reduced to a shortened, rather self important, sound byte that requires the recipient to do a mental double-take.

At times these modern barbs are thrown around like intellectual challenges; the more you quote the smarter you may appear  not! As an extreme example: