‘Growing up, finance and business was always left to the men in my family,’ says Milly Green, 58 and an art dealer based in South London.
‘We girls were expected to get married and have children.’
She did. And then she got divorced.
‘I found myself with such a strong wish to be independent,’ she says. ‘I felt I needed to be able to manage my finances without having to ask my father.
‘I’ve run my own business my entire career and I can do that brilliantly. I wanted to be able to do that in my financial personal life too.’
Yet for Milly, a creative person, getting to grips with what she should do with the money she had was confusing and, as a result, frightening.
She had an independent financial adviser at the time but found he explained things in language she didn’t understand and overwhelmed her with details.
‘I find money stressful and, to be honest, I don’t really want to have to understand it,’ she says.
‘But I do want to know that I don’t have to panic about my future or fear how I might look after myself.’
Then Milly heard about a cheese and wine night specifically for women who were divorced and felt financially unstable to find out about how they could rebuild their financial stability for the long term.
This was where she met Petra Spirkova, an IFA with First Wealth, a B Corp-certified firm aiming to offer a different, more modern approach to financial planning.
‘She was just a breath of fresh air,’ says Milly. ‘The whole evening was really relaxed and I felt such warmth and humour when I spoke to Petra. She’s a mother too and really understands from a woman’s perspective.’
Petra says: ‘Milly came to me after her divorce, wanting to understand where she was financially.
‘Being a professionally creative person with a passion for art, she attends art fairs and sells art, sometimes making a profit, sometimes a loss but there was no clarity.
‘She has a good accountant but the missing link for Milly was being able to see a bigger picture. The future she wishes for versus a future she could create, plan for and be excited for.’
Petra and Milly went through her dreams, goals and objectives for the future.
‘I needed to understand her short term needs and also to explore her fears about money, the worries and concern she has for her future security and the legacy she wishes to leave for her children,’ says Petra.
Using sophisticated forecasting software to provide clarity and model future potential outcomes, the penny dropped for Milly.
‘I could finally see what my finances would look like in different scenarios visually,’ Milly says. ‘It was such a relief to have that presented to me in a way that my creative brain could understand.’
Petra mapped out Milly’s finances. ‘She receives income in dividends from her family business, pays her bills, runs art fairs and earns income from that,’ says Petra.
‘She collaborates with amazing artists, spends money but then worries about the monthly budget and holiday costs.
‘She saved too much in cash and ignored it – there was no structure or set objectives or timelines and so dreams were put on hold. Her pension fund was also neglected and misunderstood.’
With Petra’s advice, Milly moved her cash deposits to the right accounts to match her needs for short-term cashflow, medium security, guilt-free spending and long-term emergency funds.
‘Money pots with purpose,’ says Petra. ‘We allocated a pot of money to her future, planning it around achieving her dream to own a place in Italy to retire to.’
Milly also opened a stocks and shares Isa, and invested her full annual allowance of £20,000 to create a separate personal source of retirement income, providing tax free growth and later tax-free withdrawals.
They reviewed her pension, found it a new more suitable home and set up monthly contributions to build up the pension fund in order that Milly would benefit from the tax relief available to her.
In September this year, Milly opened her art gallery, Art Movement in Clapham in London.
‘Without having Petra’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,’ Milly says.
‘I now finally feel like I have financial success and the freedom to make decisions like starting Art Movement. It’s given me such confidence.’
