The Euro trip of a lifetime

May 18th 2018 | Categories: Financial Planning |

Having recently embarked on their first European holiday together, Armidale’s Kasey and Chad Patterson firmly believe the value of experiences, and the opportunity to create life-long memories is priceless. Hence, with family and friends scattered across the globe, and two inquisitive young daughters to raise, the couple has no hesitation investing in travel.

“Our trip to Europe last year was worth every cent, no matter how much shopping you do or things you buy, no spending compares to immersing yourself in different cultures and seeing how others live,” Kasey believes.

With her sister married to a Dutchman and living in Amsterdam with their two children, and a brother in Copenhagen with a Danish girlfriend, Kasey had long dreamed of visiting them. Yet with two young girls of their own, Paige, nine, and Tilly, seven, the logistics and cost of an overseas holiday seemed daunting.

An invite to the 100-year rugby club reunion for the team Chad had once played for in Ireland inspired the couple to ensure their dream became a reality. Nothing was going to stop Chad from going to that reunion, and if he wasn’t going to miss out, neither was Kasey!

 “The trip was almost two years in planning, but once we made the decision it all fell into place beautifully,” Kasey says.

“We decided to leave the girls at home and my parents looked after them – at their ages they are too young to appreciate such a trip – and we have trouble traveling 30 minutes without them asking ‘are we there yet?’, let alone 30 hours!’ she laughs.

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An executive team member of, and shareholder in, Invest Blue, Kasey is well-versed in how to achieve financial goals and dreams. She’s been at Invest Blue for over 14 years, in a range of roles and is currently the People and Culture Manager.

In regards to planning their trip, she knew that financial discipline was essential. So they sat down with their financial planner and long-time friend, Steve Sewell, to strategize a plan that relied upon them putting away a certain amount each month.

“Whether it’s a house, a trip or school fees – if you know what you want to achieve you put the money aside – it’s not easy – but it’s manageable because it’s something you want so much.”

“The beauty of investing in a trip is a lot of it is pre-paid, so by the time the holiday comes around many of the expensive elements have already been paid for.” She laughs that having family living overseas is also very cost effective when it comes to accommodation.

While Chad had lived overseas and visited many of the sites previously, it was Kasey’s first trip to Europe.

“It was absolutely amazing, we got to see the sites of London, spend St Patrick’s Day drinking Guinness and eating potato and leek soup in Dublin and catch up with all Chad’s old Irish friends.”

Visiting family was, of course, one of Kasey’s highlights.

“To see how my sister and her family live – in a tiny unit no bigger than our living area, above a shopfront in the heart of Amsterdam was so foreign. It’s a life they chose and love, and it was amazing to experience.

“Her children head off to school on their bikes in the snow, and my dream now is to take my girls back so they can see how their cousins are growing up.

“We live in such a socially diverse world, so many people have family abroad, and to be able to visit them and see how they live is so important.”

With a strong career history in Invest Blue, Kasey has a genuine passion for the firm, and its people, and considers her role ‘a pleasure’.

“We have a mantra at Invest Blue, ‘Life is short, work somewhere awesome’, and I think it really rings true – we have happy and engaged staff, which makes my job so satisfying,” she says.

Kasey’s role includes recruitment, employee benefits and incentives, plus learning and development, and she believes the strong core values behind Invest Blue encourage a harmonious and inspired workplace.

“We want our clients’ to live their best life possible, individually tailored, and it’s the same for our staff – if people are happy at work, they’re happy at home, and vice versa.

“We have a vision to be one of the top five firms to work in within the region, and we know that a highly-engaged workforce is the result of open communication and meaningful feedback.

“We are driven by our people – we want them to tell us what we do well, what we can do better and where they see their future.”

Equally satisfying is her status as a shareholder in the firm.

For Kasey there is nothing more inspiring than helping someone achieve their financial goal or realise a dream – as a shareholder, she’s able to share in these stories daily, and celebrate thousands of wins with clients, “It’s such a lovely feeling”.

With Invest Blue navigating Kasey and Chad’s own financial journey, which has focused primarily on educating their two daughters and a new home built four years ago, Kasey said it was again time to book in with Steve.

“We spent so long planning our last trip, now that it’s over we need to sit down together and re-set our focus.”

“We meet every two years, ‘checking-in’ as our priorities evolve, and as it seems we’ve caught the travel bug and we would love to plan another trip with our daughters.”

“It’s an exciting prospect, and something we look forward to planning with Invest Blue – ‘what’s next for the Patterson family?!’,” Kasey laughs.

If you would like to discuss your travel plans or would like to learn how to save for something else important to you, get in touch with the team.

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What you need to know

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