I know some readers will be keen to get to the financial planning strategies that appear later in this book and start stacking the odds in their favour. If that's you, cool your jets! I genuinely ask you to pause for a moment — it's not the right place to start. Just like building a house, and especially a stable structure that will do what it is meant to do over the medium and long term, you've got to spend some time looking at the foundations that you plan to build upon.

I think the wise place to start is to look at some truths about money. I want to encourage you to think about your attitudes to money over the years as well as your relationship with it. For many people, money is transactional — it comes and goes and comes again until the next lot of expenses come along. Reflection here may help us see what we might need to change or challenge if we really want to move forward — not just with money, but in many aspects of our lives. It might also influence what you see as important within your own financial life.

I also encourage you to create what I call your ‘why’, which are your short-, medium- and long-term goals. Without goals, we often flounder about, not sure where we're going. Sometimes we don't make the decisions that have our best medium- and long-term interests in mind. This is often the case when goals aren't set or we haven't given ourselves the opportunity to set them.

Taking the time to set strong foundations is essential, especially if you genuinely want to give yourself the best chance of success, and I conclude this part by establishing what I think are the five foundations you need to build your strategy stack.