Simon Ainley CFP^CM of Holland Hahn & Wills discusses reaching a birthday milestone and how he strives to keep himself fit and his young family happy while also helping to run a busy Financial Planning practice.

By the time you read this I will have just reached the milestone of my 50^th birthday. While this will come as news to you, I have been aware of the impending event for quite some time. I knew that I didn’t want a big birthday party, that’s not my scene at all. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good party but just not the type where I’m the centre of attention. No, I had other plans.

I’ve always enjoyed adventure, nothing too crazy. My view has always been to do things while you still can. It’s funny how life changes and then you realise that you’ve missed the opportunity. While at school I hitchhiked around Europe. While at university I spent three summers working and travelling in the US and Canada. After graduating, I spent two summers climbing in the Alps (including Mont Blanc and The Matterhorn). I ran the London Marathon in 1983 and 1984 and came back for more in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

After leaving university with a degree in Politics, I had no real idea of what I wanted to do so I joined Thames Valley Police. I realised almost immediately that it wasn’t for me so I left and spent the proceeds travelling around the world. In my thirties I took up scuba diving and travelled extensively. I owned BMW and Moto Guzzi motorbikes and rode them across Europe.

After a three year spell working for a direct salesforce I was one of the founding partners of Holland Hahn & Wills in 1990. We were a generalist firm working predominantly with solicitors and other professionals in London WC1. We moved the firm to Hampton Wick, Surrey in 1997. About five years ago we had a complete reappraisal and switched to 100 per cent fee-based.

We now deal with a limited number of clients and offer only asset management and wealth management services. We use (almost exclusively) index tracking and passively managed portfolios. That was the best thing we ever did. Most clients are approaching or have reached retirement. Their prinicipal requirement is wealth preservation. Holland Hahn & Wills was one of the first firms to become Chartered Financial Planners in June 2007. We consider ourselves RDR ready and ideally placed for the future.

I met my wife Caroline in 1999. She is an Australian paediatrician who was only working in the UK for 12 months. Well I messed up her plans, we married two years later and now live in Esher, Surrey with our children Kathryn and George. As we both work it’s a busy mix of work and family. Caroline commutes into London and is a consultant at St Thomas’s Hospital. Marriage and children often herald a new chapter and at this point in my life I replaced the powerful motorbikes with an estate car and little spare time. It does feel as though we’re constantly rushing but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Being an older dad I appreciate it all the more.

I enjoy keeping fit but with a busy work life balance you have to make the time. I’ve discovered triathlons over the last four years and have been slowly increasing the distances. I commute to work sometimes by cycle and sometimes by car. I have a fantastic route home on the bike that takes me along the Thames tow path and then through Esher Common. You can buy some fantastic cycle lights these days and at this time of year I get to cycle home through the pitch dark forest just me and the (startled!) wildlife. It’s fantastic.

So back to my birthday. I didn’t want a party. No, much to my wife’s dismay my plan was to start with the Paris Marathon in April, cycle with two friends from John O’Groats to Lands End in July and then do an Ironman in September. With the plan set, all I needed to do was the training. My commute home became more elongated and I would go out very early at the weekend. It was difficult finding the time for a six hour bike ride on the Saturday and three hour run on Sunday without it eating in to the family weekend. Still, we managed and all went according to plan.

On my actual birthday I’m taking the day off work. We’ll take the kids to school, go out for a run in the morning and then have a quiet lunch, just the two of us. I should also mention the curry the following day with university friends...and then a few more drinks the following weekend.

A really good friend of mine died a few years ago of cancer. She was only 36 and had everything to live for. It does make you think. As we’re only here once we may as well make the very best of it. There’s a great quote from the children’s film Kung Fu Panda (of all places!), “The past is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift, which is why they call it the present”