Financial Planner reveals his comeback from death
A Financial Planner has told fellow professionals how he came back from the dead to discover his route into Life Planning and establish his business.
Justin King CFPCM revealed to delegates at the IFP annual conference this afternoon how he had technically died but was revived after a motorcycle crash in Belgium.
Mr King said it was "one of those incidents in life that was dealt to you rather than planning".
The crash happened after a BMW did a U-turn. He was flipped over the bonnet and described himself as being "dead at the scene".
He told the audience he stopped breathing after the crash, but by fortune a nurse was walking across the road, saw the accident and was able to rush to his aid.
She revived him though he was left in intensive care, with various broken bones and teeth, and a ruptured spleen among other injuries.
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He woke in the hospital to see his family who he hadn't seen for 14 years.
This event changed his perspective, he said: "I wasn't sure financial advising was for me any longer. I thought I would go sailing.
"I qualified as commercial yacht master and began delivering around the world, I was also racing offshore and having a great life."
But then he discovered the George Kinder programme and went through a Life Planning course. He said he hopes since this, he has helped many clients achieve their dreams.
He also told planners that he started life as an orphan, was adopted and then sent away to school aged ten.
He revealed he had also come back from the set back of rejection by the RAF in the late 1980s after spending three years planning for it.
Despite passing an aptitude test, an unexpected medical detail cropped up– a childhood history of asthma. This halted his dream.
He said: "The tears poured down my face as I shuffled out of that careers office, I had spent the last three years knowing this was what I was going to do.
"I went home and told my parents, to say they were disappointed was a understatement."
He now runs MFP Wealth Management in Dorset.
Tina Weeks also revealed her personal tale, which led her to creating her business Serenity Financial Planning. Her parents were Greek and she said she didn't feel like she fitted in, known as the Greek girl, when in London.
In Greece, she was the English girl with modern life and freedom.
She spoke of her difficult family situation, with bailiffs a constant threat and money problems weighing heavily at one stage.
She said her parents' divorce aged 16 led to her "flunking" her o-levels but she went on to university and then fell into financial services by accident.
She enjoyed working as an IFA but said there was a piece missing and there wasn't much fulfilment in the work. She said she felt like there was a missing jigsaw piece even after the joy of becoming married and becoming a Financial Planner.
Then she discovered Life Planning.
She said: "It wasn't just a light bulb above my head, it was a lightning bolt. I knew this was the missing piece and I threw myself into it.
"Five years on I can say it was the best decision I ever made and it completely transformed my business and my life."
The two Financial Planners also fielded questions about their firms from the audience.