Over the Christmas break, I cleaned my BBQs. It was a job I knew I had to do but I left it for a few months after I had done my last cook to get around to it. As you can see from the photo, my smoker was pretty manky and mould had begun to grow on it. That meant it had gone from a messy job of cleaning the grease off to an even messier one of cleaning the grease and the mould. The smoker alone took two hours to clean.
This is why we encourage all our clients to update their financial plan on an annual basis and not just when there is a big event, to avoid mess. There will be years when not much is happening. Your savings and pension strategies are in place and your goals haven’t changed, they are just a year closer to being fulfilled. But you want to ensure that you are still on track. Even being told to keep doing what you’re doing is a comfort.
If you decide that the financial plan you put in place today will do you for the next 10 – 20 years, the next time you review it, you will probably find that you are way off course. Life has a habit of getting in the way. They may not even be big events but a series of small ones that each pull you a little bit off course. The accumulative effect of all these small changes results in you being way off where you want to be.
To get back on track may involve making major adjustments. This will either be major redirection of capital to ensure that you can still do all of your future plans or you having to downsize your future plans as you can no longer afford to do them.
It’s easier and less painful to make the smaller adjustments each year.
Steven Barrett
12 January 2026
PS If you use a wire brush on your BBQ throw it out at the end of your BBQ season each year and get a new one each year. They are filthy.