It’s no secret that Personal Finance is a hobby of mine (498 blog posts help reinforce that) and within that hobby I’ve done a reasonable job of DIY investing myself to FIRE using the knowledge I’ve gained to focus on a few mechanical principles. I would suggest that this has also been helped by having a “head vs heart” approach to life, a reasonable grasp of maths, gaining a sense of achievement by reading personal finance books/blogs and an enjoyment of spreadsheets.Mrs RIT on the other hand is the very opposite of me which makes our non-financial relationship great as we balance each other well. She would never take on personal finance as a hobby, is more “heart vs head”, is more arts than maths and most definitely doesn’t enjoy spreadsheets. She does however very much see the benefits of wealth creation and FIRE having been a willing participant in the journey to FIRE.
With this in mind, over a reasonable period now, I’ve been teaching Mrs RIT DIY investing. The reason I’m not just doing this 100% for her is that someday there is of course a risk that I won’t be able to for a number of reasons. We therefore want her to be able to stand on her own investment feet. We are making progress but I’m still answering plenty of questions. Then a couple of weeks ago it went a little pear shaped. Mrs RIT was about to buy an investment with some new money. The night before we agreed what the ETF purchase should be to move her current asset allocation closer to plan and she was to then buy the ETF the next morning. That afternoon I asked how the purchase went and would she like me to answer any questions. The response was “Oh I didn’t buy the one we agreed because when I logged on to buy I saw that it had been going down so I bought this other one which has been going up”. This started me thinking about whether DIY investing is for her and what other options we might have as a risk mitigation to me being unable to help with her (and maybe inherited from me) investments in the future.