This month’s royal coronation has inspired us to think about the financial planning lessons we can learn from King Charles III. Everyone should be thinking about investing for the future; this isn’t always in the financial sense.
King Charles is a well-known philanthropist, supporting numerous causes and initiatives. Recently, he personally donated money to help fund 800 fridges and freezers to be used by food banks nationwide. One of King Charles’ most famous initiatives is The Prince’s Trust.
Investing in the next generation
“If your children want to alter society, listen to their reasons and the idealism behind them. Don’t crush them with some clever remark straight away.”
After completing his Royal Navy duties as the Prince of Wales in 1976, King Charles founded the The Prince’s Trust to improve the lives “of disadvantaged young people in the UK”. Similar to today, the 1970s was a time of spiralling inflation, but there were also high levels of unemployment. The Prince used his own money to fund a series of community initiatives, and The Prince’s Trust began.
Five decades later in 2020, The Prince’s Trust announced they had helped 1 million young people in the UK. The trust has an impressive ongoing legacy and many high-profile achievements. STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) equips young people with better skills for a brighter future. The more recent Achieve education programme works hard to develop more flexible approaches to learning in traditional education settings.
Nowadays, the younger generation has a lot to contend with, from the cost-of-living crisis to dealing with climate change. With the amount of disposable income decreasing significantly over the past two decades, young people are forced into debt, especially after university. Many parents and grandparents are setting up funds to ensure children or grandchildren have a pot of money to support their education and other costs.
Investing in the next generation is a great way to ensure our young people enjoy a better start in life. There are many ways to create a fund for a young person, for example, a Junior ISA allows you to save up to £9,000 each tax year, tax free. Once your child or grandchild reaches 18, they can withdraw from their account.
Ethical strategies for our planet
“We’re busily wrecking the chances for future generations at a rapid rate of knots by not recognising the damage we’re doing to the natural environment, bearing in mind that this is the only planet that we know has any life on it.”
As a keen and active environmentalist, King Charles has devoted decades of his life supporting and championing initiatives to help combat climate change. More recently, he requested that any profits made from a £1-billion-a-year Crown Estate wind farm should be used for the “wider public good”. Within his home environment at Clarence House, His Majesty has installed biomass boilers and solar panels to reduce his carbon footprint.
Although many of us feel powerless when we see dramatic events occurring that have been linked to climate change, there are things we can do. Green energy initiatives in our homes and small eco-swaps can help us to reduce our carbon footprint. Ethical finance and investing allows you to choose where your money is held and how it’s invested. See our blog Sustainable, ethical options for pensions, savings and investments for more information.
What we can learn from the King
Through initiatives like The Prince’s Trust, young people can develop important skills to help them with work and life. As well as investing in future generations, we also need to equip our children and grandchildren with essential money skills. Financial education is the key to making the right decisions and we believe this should start at an early age.
Financial planning allows you to build a legacy and pass your wealth down to future generations. Our financial planners will discuss ways to help you manage and protect your money. We can also help you with estate planning, so your money, property and possessions go to the right people when you pass away. Together, we can make sure your children and grandchildren have a more financially secure future.
Would you benefit from a financial review? Get in touch to speak to our financial planning team.
Sources:
https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/
https://www.thecoolist.com/quotes/king-charles-iii/
https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts
