Evelyn Herzfeld Financial Planning

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Evelyn Herzfeld Financial Planning Help, guidance, advice and mentoring for all your financial issues, savings, income tax, insurance and investments. Hi.

Many of you know that I'm a financial planner. I've been in the industry over 20 years, and look forward to assisting you with life cover, disability cover and income protection, bond cover, dread disease and many other types of personal insurance. I specialise in assisting individuals and small businesses, and hope to hear from you in the very near future.

21/10/2026

What’s running the show?

We create tools to make life easier, but sometimes the tool quietly becomes the master. Money is perhaps the greatest example.

Wealth is meant to be a tool that helps us build a meaningful, flourishing life. Yet without clear boundaries, the pursuit of wealth can begin to run our lives. It dictates how much we work, how often we check emails, and how much energy we have left for the people we love.

We tell ourselves we are simply being responsible. But there is a tipping point where the pursuit of wealth begins to undermine the very life it was meant to protect.

Think of a vineyard. A vine is designed to produce fruit, but without pruning it becomes tangled and overgrown. Its energy goes into branches rather than fruit.

Our lives can become the same. When financial ambition grows without boundaries, we become tangled in stress. We sacrifice health, relationships and meaningful experiences in the pursuit of more. The thing meant to buy our freedom can become a comfortable prison.

So how do we take back control?

We define our “enough.” This is at the heart of lifestyle financial planning: stepping away from the cultural pressure for “more” and asking what we actually need our money to do. Like pruning a vine, we direct our energy towards what truly matters.

When we define our personal finish line, the endless treadmill can stop. We can look at our finances and know that money is doing its job: funding our health, relationships, experiences and sense of purpose.

Financial peace is not simply about accumulating more. It is about knowing that money is there to fund your life, not run it.

If you’d like to discuss this and/or other issues, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

18/10/2026

50 to 80 might be our Most Productive Years

We have been culturally conditioned to view retirement as a hard finish line, once we reach our late fifties or sixties, when we quietly wind down towards a long, uninterrupted retreat from the world.

But what if we have it completely backward? Modern medicine and a focus on our healthspan gives many of us entering our later years incredible physical and cognitive vitality. This means we might have two or three decades of active, vibrant life ahead of us after our primary careers come to an end.

If this massive block of time is purely a permanent holiday, we risk losing our sense of meaning. Human beings are fundamentally wired for purpose. A life of endless leisure can quickly lead to a loss of identity.

Instead, the years between fifty and eighty hold a unique kind of influence. This is the season where our wisdom, our resources, and our time finally compound.

In our thirties and forties, our productivity is often driven by necessity. We are frantically trying to build our careers, pay off the mortgage, and raise our families. The pressure is immense, and our time is rarely our own.

But as we transition into our later decades, that heavy pressure naturally begins to lift. We are no longer trying to prove ourselves. We are no longer forced to aggressively climb a corporate ladder or sacrifice our weekends for a promotion. Having built a foundation of financial security, we now have the autonomy to choose our struggles. This freedom means that the decades between fifty and eighty could actually be the most profoundly productive season of our entire lives.

Productivity in this season doesn't mean grinding through a sixty-hour work week, but rather launching a passion project you finally have the time for, consulting on your own terms, mentoring the next generation in your industry, or dedicating your energy to a philanthropic cause.

It is about engaging in work because it brings you joy, not because you need a pay check. This completely shifts how we approach our lifestyle financial planning. We are not just saving to fund a thirty-year vacation.

We are building the capital to fund our freedom. We are ensuring we have the resources to choose our next meaningful challenge. When we reframe our later years as an exciting second act rather than a quiet retreat, our money gets a deeply inspiring job to do. It becomes the financial engine that allows us to step confidently into our most purposeful, productive years yet.

If you’d like to chat further about this or any other financial subject, I’d love to hear from you.

13/10/2026

FINANCIALLY STRONGER

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A.A. Milne’s words hold an important lesson for our financial lives.

It is easy to feel financially fragile when markets fall or unexpected expenses arise. Our natural tendency towards loss aversion makes financial losses feel more painful than equivalent gains feel rewarding. This can lead us to imagine the worst and lose confidence in the future.

But pause and remember the financial challenges you have already overcome. Household emergencies, career changes, market crashes and economic downturns may have felt overwhelming at the time. Yet you adapted, made new plans and moved forward.

This ability to adapt is a powerful, often overlooked, part of lifestyle financial planning.

Emergency funds, insurance and diversified investments provide essential protection. But your resilience, resourcefulness and ability to adjust are equally important assets.

A financial plan cannot prevent every setback. Its purpose is to provide the support you need to navigate difficult times safely.

Remembering the challenges you have already overcome can replace financial anxiety with greater confidence and peace of mind.

The next time markets fall or life throws you a financial curveball, take a deep breath. You have faced difficult days before, and you are stronger than you think.

I am always here to listen, guide, assist, in whatever way you need - only a phone call away.

09/10/2026

WHEN THE TOOL QUIETLY BECOMES THE MASTER

We build our wealth to create freedom. We want to provide for our families, protect our futures, and create space to breathe.

But if we aren’t careful, a strange shift takes place. The tool we built to buy our freedom very quietly becomes the master and dictator of our time.

It is incredibly easy to let the pursuit of money dictate our schedules, our underlying stress levels, and our presence at the dinner table i.e. in the lives of our families.

When we allow this pursuit to run unchecked, we risk sacrificing the very things we are trying to protect – our physical health, our closest relationships, and our peace of mind.

We need to ask ourselves whether money is running or ruining our lives.

Taking back control requires a profoundly simple, yet very difficult exercise. We have to do the deep work of defining our personal “enough”.

Once we define our own individual finish lines, the treadmill finally stops. Because true financial peace is found in the quiet realisation that our money is simply there to fund our lives, rather than running them.

06/10/2026

Your Balance Sheet isn't a Life Purpose

It’s not uncommon to speak with someone who believes that we spend decades of our lives looking forward to the day we can finally stop working. We build our financial plans, calculate our retirement numbers, and dream of a life with no alarm clocks or urgent meetings. This is a common cultural assumption. But what happens when the permanent holiday actually begins?

In “Good Money”, John Coleman explores another pillar of human flourishing: meaning and purpose. His insights remind us that while financial independence is a wonderful goal, a balance sheet to achieve that goal cannot give us a reason to get up in the morning. Many of us naturally tie a major part of our identities to a career or the ability to provide for our families.

When that season eventually draws to a close, it is incredibly common to hit an unexpected emotional wall. We often view our later years as running away from the demands of work. But a life of pure, uninterrupted leisure can quickly lose its shine if we dont have something meaningful to run toward. This is because we are naturally wired to contribute and grow.

We need quiet challenges to stay sharp, and we need a deep sense of purpose to feel truly alive. This is where we might need to gently shift how we talk about retirement and financial freedom.

True wealth isnt just about the ability to do absolutely nothing. It is about buying the autonomy to choose our next meaningful endeavour. Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves what our "second act" might look like when the pressure to earn is finally lifted. This might involve dedicating our time to a philanthropic cause, mentoring the next generation in our community, or mastering a completely new craft.

When we align our financial plans with a deeper sense of purpose, our money stops being just a safety net. It becomes the fuel for our most meaningful chapter yet.

Fifty-to-eighty could be our most meaningful years in life!

28/09/2026

THE ENGINE AND THE COMPASS

Having explored how we view wealth in terms of flourishing rather than the stock market, moving away from spreadsheets and graphs, we asked what makes a good life in terms of relationships, health, character and measure of contentment.

However, one profound limitation of wealth, captured by Mitch Anthony, is that money can fund a purpose, but it cannot help us find a purpose.

Not all our problems are money problems. We think a level of retirement savings will give us peace of mind, but money is merely the tool, not a compass, and ignores what we deeply value or who we are. It doesn’t give us a reason to keep living, or provide connection with our families or build character.

Building a career and accumulating wealth may seem to be direction, but not if there is no underlying purpose. Quiet reflection, on what we really care about, the impact we want to leave,
and how we are to spend our time, is essential.

As financial planners we can help craft a plan to support your dreams, optimise your yield and your tax, and protect your capital, but we cannot define your dream for you. The greatest financial plan is useless if it isn’t attached to a meaningful life.

So our greatest responsibility is first to do the inner work and find our purpose, knowing that our wealth will be ready and waiting to fund it when we do.

If you would like to chat further about wealth accumulation or any other aspect of your financial planning, please make contact at your convenience.

25/09/2026

Funding your Healthspan

It’s natural to focus on investment statements, asset allocation and how long our capital will last. But financial stability is only the foundation. The real goal is human flourishing—and health is a vital part of that.

Thanks to modern medicine, we are living longer. Yet while we carefully plan for our lifespan, we often overlook our healthspan: the years we remain active, independent and free from chronic disease.

We can spend our peak earning years sacrificing our health to build wealth, telling ourselves we’ll focus on exercise, nutrition and stress when we retire. But our bodies don’t wait for our bank accounts.

Unlike financial capital, physical capital naturally depreciates. Small daily choices—moving more, eating well, managing stress and prioritising mental health—are investments in our future vitality. Like financial contributions, they can compound over time by helping preserve mobility, independence and quality of life.

There is also a financial benefit. Good health can reduce the risk of chronic illness and the significant healthcare costs that can consume retirement capital.

Ultimately, wealth is not simply having enough money. It is having the health and freedom to enjoy it. By investing in our healthspan today, we increase the chances of having the vitality to live the life we are saving for.

22/09/2026

Investing in Social Wealth

We often dedicate our most energetic years to building financial security, working hard to provide for those we love. But what if, in protecting our future, we sacrifice the relationships that give that future meaning?

In Good Money, John Coleman highlights close social relationships as a key pillar of human flourishing. We can build a strong portfolio, but research consistently shows that meaningful relationships are among the strongest predictors of long-term happiness.

Yet we often postpone shared experiences until “someday” — when the mortgage is paid, the business is sold, or we finally have more time. But connection cannot be deferred. Relationships require consistent, present-tense investment.

As Ron Blue often says, life’s demands are simultaneous, not sequential. We cannot build a career first, then a family, then a legacy. We are building all three at the same time. Our children grow up, friends move away, and our energy changes, so finding balance today matters.

Instead of asking only what financial return an investment will produce, we can also ask what emotional dividend it might pay. That could mean a family getaway, travelling to celebrate a friend’s milestone, or simply sharing a coffee with someone.

This isn’t about abandoning financial discipline. It’s about intentionally using money to strengthen the relationships that matter.

If you'd like to discuss this or any other issue around financial planning, please call or email me at your convenience.

16/09/2026

HOLDING UP THE MIRROR

We often log into our banking app – almost automatically - to check a balance or confirm a transaction, for quick reassurance, looking only at the bottom line. If we changed how we interact with that information and really looked at those statements, we might see a true reflection of how we are living

In Good Money, John Coleman highlights another pillar of the
Harvard Human Flourishing Program: character and virtue. It might seem strange to link our inner character directly to our financial planning. We rarely talk about money and virtue in the same breath. Yet, a bank statement is essentially a mirror. It shows us, with absolute clarity, exactly what we are prioritising in our daily lives. There’s a great saying that says where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.

We might say that we deeply value family time, generosity, or our physical health, but do our monthly transactions actually reflect those values? When there is a disconnect we can often feel a quiet, underlying tension that comes from our habits falling out of alignment with our integrity. It can then be so helpful to view our wealth through the lens of responsibility, accountability and stewardship.

This really means looking at our financial plan as the practice of managing our resources with deep intention; pause and ask whether our spending, our saving, and our investing are actively supporting the kind of person we want to be.

It might mean shifting our budget to prioritise a shared family experience over a material purchase or reviewing our investment portfolios to ensure we are comfortable with the industries we are funding. It might mean having open conversations with our children about why we give to certain causes, passing down our values rather than just our assets.

Financial peace is not just about having enough money in the bank. It is also about the profound quiet that comes from knowing we are living with integrity.

When we intentionally align our wealth with our values, our money stops being just a tool for survival, and becomes a true reflection of our character.

If you’d like to re-evaluate your current investments, please give me a call at your convenience!!

14/09/2026

Funding Your Life Satisfaction

It’s easy to focus on budgets, investments and risk cover and ask what we have or don’t have. But an important question is often missed: What is it all for?

In Good Money, John Coleman argues that we have confused the means with the ends. Money is a tool; the real goal is human flourishing.

Research from the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, involving more than 200,000 people across 22 countries, explores the social, economic, health and life factors that help people thrive. Financial stability is simply the foundation.

One of the key pillars is happiness and life satisfaction. Yet traditional financial planning often reinforces the pursuit of “more”: higher returns, bigger portfolios and endless growth.

Without defining what “enough” means, wealth can become an exhausting treadmill. The finish line keeps moving, and accumulating money replaces living well.

Instead of asking, “How much can I accumulate?”, we should ask, “What do I need my money to do?”

For some, “enough” means a quiet life. For others, it means travel, family, freedom or giving back. Defining that personal benchmark creates space for intentional contentment.

This is where lifestyle financial planning adds real value. We don’t begin with a spreadsheet. We begin by understanding what a satisfying, flourishing life looks like for you and your family.
Then we build the financial strategy to support it.

When you define your finish line, money stops being the destination and becomes the means to a life of greater purpose and satisfaction.

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me to start the conversation at [email protected]

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