As a financial adviser, I get asked the same questions almost every week.
What’s your best investment tip? Where should I be putting my money right now?
They’re fair questions. And they matter, to a point.
But after years of working closely with families – through business exits, retirements, health events, divorces and everything in between – I’ve come to see that they’re not the questions that actually determine the outcome.
Because when you step back and look across enough real lives, a different pattern starts to emerge.
The people who end up in a strong financial position don’t just make better investment decisions.
They tend to make better life decisions.
You see it in how they think under pressure, communicate as a family, and respond when things don’t go to plan.
Over time, it becomes very clear that financial outcomes are shaped by something much broader than a single decision about markets or products.
A life with money and meaning
This perspective has only deepened through the conversations I’ve had on my podcast, It’s Never About Money.
Over time, the podcast has become a kind of personal curriculum built around one idea – curiosity.
I’ve always had a genuine desire to understand how people live, what drives them, and how they define a successful life.
Across discussions with researchers, academics, business owners, clinicians and advisers around the world, a consistent theme has emerged – money should be the vehicle, not the outcome.
It’s an important shift, because for decades, financial advice has largely been framed around accumulation: growing assets, improving returns, reaching a number.
But when you look at how people actually experience life, that definition of success starts to feel incomplete.
I’ve seen clients reach retirement financially secure, but physically depleted. Or with the time they once wanted, but without the energy or sense of purpose to enjoy it.
This shapes the way I work with clients, shifting the conversation from “what should I do with my money?” to better questions about values, trade-offs, relationships and the kind of life they’re trying to build.
The foundations that drive outcomes
When you zoom out, the drivers of both life and financial outcomes start to look remarkably similar.
Nutrition, for example, isn’t just a food conversation.
In a recent podcast episode – Why Nutrition Matters More Than You Think with Jackie Bowker – we explored how unstable energy, driven by poor diet, disrupted sleep or constant stress, doesn’t just affect how people feel. It changes how they think.
People become more reactive, less patient and more prone to short-term thinking.
Decision-making narrows. Sleep follows the same pattern.
In my conversation with Simon Joosten – Talking with a Sleep Expert About the Rhythms That Run Your Life – we unpacked how most people assume they’re functioning well enough, even when they’re not. But when sleep is compromised, so is judgement, emotional regulation and the ability to think clearly over the long term.
In Don’t Believe Everything You Think with Hannah Conkey, the focus shifts to something less visible but just as important – the patterns running in the background. Many of the decisions people make – financial or otherwise – aren’t fully conscious. They’re conditioned responses shaped by environment, stress and past experience.
Which means improving outcomes isn’t just about more information – it’s about creating the conditions for better decisions.
The mindset that matters
When someone is healthy, well-rested, emotionally steady and clear on what matters, they tend to approach money differently.
They stay invested when markets are uncomfortable, rather than reacting. They plan ahead instead of operating in cycles of urgency. They make decisions with a long-term lens.
And importantly, they’re able to navigate the moments that matter – the transitions, the setbacks, the unexpected events – without derailing everything else.
A different perspective
My answer to the “what’s the best investment?” question has changed over time.
These days, it sounds less like a product recommendation, and more like this:
Your health.
Your relationships.
Your sense of purpose.
Your ability to manage emotion and make clear decisions under pressure.
Your environment – and whether it supports or undermines you.
Your willingness to keep learning and growing over time.
Because these things aren’t nice-to-have. They’re the underlying drivers behind almost every financial outcome I’ve seen.
How this shapes our approach
It’s also why, at Stephan Independent Advisory, the way we approach advice has evolved.
Yes, we still focus on strategy, structure and investment design.
But just as much time is spent helping families think clearly, make decisions together, and zoom out beyond the numbers – into how they want to live, what matters most, and what a well-lived life actually looks like.
Because when markets fall – and they always do at some point – it’s not the strategy on paper that determines the outcome.
It’s how people respond.
The best investment you’ll ever make
So if I had to give a single answer to the original question, it would be this.
Invest in yourself – and the money tends to follow. Not in a vague or motivational sense, but in very practical ways.
Protect your health so you have the energy and clarity to make good decisions.
Prioritise sleep, even when life gets busy, because it underpins everything else.
Pay attention to your environment – the inputs shaping how you think and feel each day.
Have the conversations early that most people avoid.
Understand your own patterns, particularly how you behave under stress.
Because over time, wealth is built through consistency rather than moments of brilliance.
And consistency is much easier to sustain when the rest of your life is working.
In the end, money tends to amplify the life that’s already there.
Which means the most important investment isn’t just where your money goes – it’s what you’re using it for – and who you’re becoming along the way.
If these ideas resonate, you can explore more of this thinking on the It’s Never About Money podcast here, find out more about the work we do at Stephan Independent Advisory here, and read more about my personal story here.
And if you’d like to discover more about living a life with money and meaning, let’s chat.
