What are 3 Key Issues I have Identified in my 7 years in Financial Planning? Here’s my 7-Year Itch
Seven years is an interesting amount of time. Long enough for enthusiasm to mature into perspective. Long enough for patterns to repeat often enough that they can no longer be ignored. Long enough to realise that most people do not struggle because of complexity — they struggle because of distraction, delay, and discomfort.
When I first started in financial advisory, I believed progress came from better explanations. If people understood markets, products, and strategies clearly enough, they would act. Seven years later, I see that information is rarely the constraint.
Behaviour is.
Again and again, across different life stages and financial circumstances, I have observed the same underlying tension: people know broadly what they should do, but find it difficult to begin — especially when the benefits are long-term and the discomfort is immediate. Over time, three recurring patterns have stood out.
Short-term clarity versus long-term intent
Most people have a general intention to prepare for retirement, but few have translated that intention into a concrete structure. Retirement is distant, abstract, and emotionally quiet. Short-term options, by contrast, feel tangible and reassuring. This is where distraction often begins.
I have met many individuals who fully intended to start an insurance-based retirement plan — something designed to provide structure, discipline, and longevity. Yet when short-term instruments began offering unusually high interest rates, attention shifted. Treasury bills, fixed deposits, and similar instruments suddenly felt “too good to ignore”. Conversations about retirement were postponed. Plans were delayed. Action was deferred. The irony is that these instruments were never designed to carry someone through a 20- or 30-year retirement. They serve a purpose — but not that purpose. Short-term certainty quietly replaced long-term suitability.
Procrastination disguised as flexibility
Another familiar phrase I hear is: “Let’s keep things flexible for now.” Flexibility sounds prudent. It feels safe. But often, it is simply another form of waiting.
This became particularly clear to me in October 2022. At that time, I had separate conversations with two people whom I knew well — let’s call them Ms E and Ms V. Uncertainty was high and clarity was scarce. Ms E understood, in principle, the importance of acting with a long-term view. Yet she found herself distracted — by competing priorities and the desire for clearer signals before committing. The discussion drifted. Decisions were postponed. Nothing “wrong” happened — but nothing meaningful moved forward either.
Around the same period, I spoke with Ms V. Ms V did not wait for certainty. Instead, she focused on structure. We discussed pacing, safeguards, and risk management — not to eliminate uncertainty, but to live with it responsibly. She chose progress over perfection. Over time, the outcomes naturally diverged — not because one was smarter than the other, but because one began while the other waited.
The cost of distraction
Distraction is rarely dramatic. It is quiet, reasonable, and well-intentioned.
In recent years, I have seen many people delay the start of their insurance-based retirement plans because short-term interest rates became unusually attractive. Treasury bills, fixed deposits, and similar instruments began offering yields that felt too good to ignore. Headlines reinforced the idea that “cash is finally paying something again.”
So attention shifted.
Instead of committing to long-term retirement structures designed to provide income stability decades later, people parked funds into short-duration instruments. The intention was rarely to abandon retirement planning altogether. Most told themselves this was temporary — that they would start properly once rates peaked, or once things felt clearer.
But time does not pause.
Insurance-based retirement plans are fundamentally accumulation-driven. They rely on years of disciplined contributions and compounding to build meaningful future income. When the start date is delayed by two, three, or five years, the impact is not linear — it is structural. A shorter accumulation period means lower projected payouts. Lower payouts translate directly into reduced retirement income. And reduced retirement income affects not just comfort, but choices: where one lives, how healthcare is funded, how dependent one becomes later in life.
Treasury bills have a role. They are useful tools for liquidity management and short-term objectives. But they were never designed to carry someone through a 20- or 30-year retirement. Confusing short-term yield with long-term adequacy is one of the quietest — and most costly — forms of distraction I see. What makes this especially insidious is that nothing feels “wrong” in the moment. Accounts grow modestly. Statements look reassuring. Yet the real cost only reveals itself much later, when time can no longer be recovered. Distraction does not announce itself as a mistake. It simply delays beginnings — and beginnings matter more than people realise.
What seven years have clarified for me
Over the past 20 years, I have been quietly applying the same principles to my own life. I focused less on reacting to short-term noise and more on consistency. I built around long-term goals rather than immediate gratification. Progress was rarely dramatic, and at times it felt almost boring. But consistency compounds. Today, I am reaping the rewards of those choices — not just financially, but in the form of stability, optionality, and peace of mind.
The outcomes did not come from perfect timing or bold moves, but from staying aligned with a long-term direction even when it felt uneventful. That personal experience has reinforced a simple truth for me: starting early, staying disciplined, and respecting time matters far more than waiting for ideal conditions. The seven-year itch is not about restlessness. It is about discernment. Discernment between tools meant for the short term and structures meant for life. Discernment between activity and progress. Discernment between waiting because it is wise, and waiting because it is comfortable. Opportunities will continue to change their form. But time moves in only one direction.
Article by Leon Loh
Email: leon.loh@gen.com.sg
Article written in January 2026
