I set up my own business because I felt trapped in the corporate world and my personal integrity was under strain. I also wanted the freedom and time that being my own boss would bring me. I have family, some of whom are involved in the business to some extent. Ironically, I now find my life being consumed by my business and I am loosing sight of my important personal goals. My family and my business are the most important things in my life, but I am having difficulty squaring the circle between them. I feel that if I can get to grips with my personal finances as well as my business finances I might be able to take a step back from my business and concentrate more on living life. I plan my business but not my life or money.
So what specific concerns do I have?
Read more: Working with us - the time strapped entrepreneurial family
I am senior partner in a professional practice where I have worked for a number of years. I enjoy my work, which is divided between bringing in fees by helping my clients resolve their problems on the one hand, and growing and managing the practice on the other. I am uneasily aware that I have been sucked into the "hours for pounds" trap but it is necessary for me to use my professional skills and knowledge to bring in client fees to support the practice and earn profits for myself. I am foremost a professional practitioner, and a business manager second and I often wonder if there is not a "better way." I am happy that I earn sufficient profits to support my family. We live well, but I often wonder if I am not giving too much of myself to my practice and not enough to my family. 
My husband passed away some time ago, shortly after he retired from his position as senior partner in a professional practice. I now live on my own so one of my great joys is watching my grandchildren grow up. I want to support them if possible using some of my capital. I have a small circle of close friends and I would like to do more with them and see more of the world. I am fit and healthy so there is no reason why I shouldn’t, but I think worries about money and the future prevent me spreading my wings.
If you are considering becoming a client of Planning for Life you are probably what James Alexander and the late Richard Duvall, both instrumental in the development of Egg Bank and Zopa, would have called a “freeformer”. Your core value is to lead an authentic life defined by no one but yourself. Your spending habits are “defined by your values and beliefs, the choices you make, where you spend your money”. You will have left, or are about to leave, the corporate world and this trend, the Freedom Trend, is taking you towards a more independent, entrepreneurial lifestyle.