Are you dealing with redundancy right now?
In the movie Apollo 13, Flight Director Gene Kranz overhears two NASA directors discussing the low survival chances for the crippled spacecraft. “I know what the problems are Henry,” one of them says. “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever experienced.”
“With all due respect Sir,” Kranz intervenes, “I believe this is going to be our finest hour.”
When adversity strikes, we all take the opportunity to create our own ‘counterfact’ – an alternative scenario our brains create to help us make sense of it to ourselves. Your counterfact will determine whether you view events as fortunate, or unfortunate.
The scenario is the same for everyone, our perception of it changes our experience. Choosing a positive counter fact helps us to deal with ‘learned helplessness’. When life deals us a blow, or we fail, we can feel so hopeless that we respond simply by giving up.
In Apollo 13, NASA’s spacecraft is crippled to an extraordinary degree. It’s a situation never considered, never simulated, and many of the NASA team are in shock.
But Kranz never lets them become helpless. While the NASA Directors are focusing on a potential disaster, Kranz is focusing on something positive: the chance to demonstrate NASA’s collective genius by pulling off an unprecedented rescue.
Dealing with redundancy
One dictionary definition of redundancy reads “the state of being not or no longer needed or useful”. Ouch!
It is a word we are going to be hearing a lot over the next few months and it can be very difficult to adjust to a new reality whilst at the same time digesting the message, implied or otherwise, that you are no longer useful.
Reassess what you want from life
If used well however, redundancy can be a great opportunity to reassess what you really want from life and how you might be able to achieve it.
Do you really need to try and dive back into the same industry with the same salary?
Has the experience of how life changed for all of us in 2020 and beyond changed your thinking about what is really important to you?
Looking at your options
What are your options for doing something completely different, either right now or at some point in the future?
As financial planners, we create plans that help people make the important decisions that significantly affect their money and their lives.
Considering the options created by redundancy is a great example of when you really need a financial life plan to support your decision-making, by summarising what you have, where you would really like to go and how you might be able to get there.
Have you got enough?
It’s the question we are asked the most. How much is enough? By using powerful planning software we can model your financial future so you can see if you’ll have enough. But enough for what? What really makes you happy? It might not be as expensive as you think.
Creating a plan that takes you in an exciting new direction
Working with one of our financial planners, this could be your finest hour as you face up to financial realities whilst at the same time imagining new dreams and challenges.
It might require us to work through a number of scenarios and a lot of discussion before we find the solution that is right for you, but having a financial plan that takes you in an exciting new direction is a great way to fight back against the shock and upheaval of redundancy.
Get in touch
We offer all prospective clients a no-obligation initial meeting at our cost with one of our financial planners, to see if our service is right for you.
Book your meeting today, if you are dealing with redundancy and would like to look at your options.
