Author: Kim Potgieter

I’ve seen it myself over the years. Whether those specifics are true for every woman and man, I don’t know. But what I do know is that even though people have different needs, we do, in fact, need. Being in relationship – whether with a spouse, children, other family or friends – is what life is all about. Relationships can be safe spaces but they can also be places of pain. Pain is what causes us to pull back to protect ourselves. All of us have opted, at some time or another, for self-protection above vulnerability. And yet the need doesn’t go away, does it? We want to connect, to...

In the spirit of embracing 2017, I came across a blog published by researcher and author, Brené Brown. In it, she asks four thought-provoking questions. When you have a minute, take a look at them and answer them for yourself, in the most real way you know how. I’ve done that below. Here’s what Brené asks: What do I want more of in my life? How do I let go of what’s no longer serving me? What will make me feel more alive? Brave? At the end of every year I need to know that I have contributed more than I have criticized. How have I contributed and what will that look like going...

Reinvention means a planned, positive change to your life, the key to which is awareness of how you are thinking at the time. To successfully reinvent ourselves, we need to move out of the past and create a new perspective that allows us to identify the possibilities that exist now and in the future. Often we feel that nudge … we want to change, but then we focus on the past and seek solutions based on what we know, on bygone experiences.  This backward look can take us as far back as childhood, to an incident or possibly something our parents said, not...

Offspring Obligation?Your financial plan is on track: you have saved and budgeted for a lifetime and are ready to enjoy your retirement, with enough to fund it.  But … there is a snag – your reluctance to relinquish a particular role you have been playing for years: your children’s provider, even if those children are now income-generating adults. As a retiremeant specialist, I have encountered many clients with grown-up children who still rely on their parents financially. Recently, I had to consolidate my thoughts on this issue as I was invited to...

When chatting to clients, I am often surprised at  how few think it is important to spoil themselves.  Many feel doing something they will enjoy just because they want to is somewhat selfish. In the next breath, they describe how they are quite happy to spoil their loved ones with something that is important to them. This they see as loving and kind. My challenge is to love yourself by giving yourself an experience just for the fun of it – not worrying what others will think, but doing it because it adds value to your life. I spoil myself every year by...