There are moments in life that we imagine with anticipation: buying a house, starting a family, undertaking a project, travelling more, helping our children and reaching retirement with peace of mind and independence. All these goals have a highly important emotional component , but also a financial reality. It’s at this point that a key question arises: are we preparing today for the future we’d like to enjoy tomorrow?

Income, expenses, current accounts, investments, property assets and insurance policies are things we live with in our daily lives. This is our current reality. However, nowadays it’s no longer enough to manage it solely in the short term. We need to look up and think about the future. What are our goals? What hopes do we want to fulfil? And what path should we take to fulfil them?

The main question is how we can connect the current situation with our future goals. This is where financial planning takes centre stage.

Planning and managing the time that separates the present from our goals is one of the keys to good financial health. In a way, it’s very much like preparing to climb a high mountain. None of us face up to a demanding trip without planning the route, dividing the journey into stages, checking the conditions and managing our strength properly. Financial planning works in exactly the same way, by transforming major goals into specific sustainable decisions over time.

Each person needs a different strategy, because each time of life is unique. Starting to build wealth isn’t the same as managing it when you’ve achieved economic stability or preparing for a long and active retirement. This is why it’s important to identify the point we’ve reached and adapt our financial decisions to each stage.

In particular, I remember the case of an elite athlete who’d reached the end of his career with a considerable fortune and many years of life ahead of him. His main challenge not only involved preserving his capital, but also making his money continue to work for him over decades.

And this is where two basic concepts come into play: education and financial planning.

Some time ago, someone told me: “I prefer to leave my money in my current account and live a quiet life”. This is a positioning we often see, but this feeling of security can also come at a cost. Inflation causes money to lose value and purchasing power over time.

But there’s another even more powerful factor: compound interest. When capital generates returns and these returns generate new ones. The cumulative effect can facilitate the growth of assets in the long term. However, any investment entails risks and past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. Compound interest is an example of how the long term can play a significant role in building wealth.

This is when financial planning makes perfect sense. It’s not just a matter of forming or investing, it’s about building a coherent plan that connects today’s decisions with the life we’d like to lead tomorrow.