3 important lessons the Pancake Day tradition can teach you about your finances
Posted on1 March marks Shrove Tuesday, known to most of us as Pancake Day. Whether or not you celebrate Shrove Tuesday in a religious way, the Pancake Day feast is now a much-anticipated event in its own right for families all around the UK.
According to Historic UK, Shrove Tuesday was originally celebrated by the Anglo-Saxon Christians, who would attend confession and be “shrived” (meaning “absolved of their sins”) the day before Lent began.
They would then participate in a final feast celebrating all they have been lucky enough to eat, with delicious pancakes that would give families a chance to use up their flour, eggs and dairy before the Lenten fast.
When it comes to your finances, you might be surprised to learn that Shrove Tuesday can teach you valuable lessons that may give you a different outlook on your wealth.
Read on to find out three important lessons the Pancake Day tradition can teach you about your finances.
1. Forgive yourself for your past financial mistakes
The original purpose of Shrove Tuesday was for Christians to attend confession and have their sins forgiven. Even if you aren’t a Christian, this centuries-old tradition could teach you a lot about forgiving your past financial mistakes.
If you have made costly missteps in the past, they might still weigh on your mind, no matter how long ago they occurred.
A survey published by the Belfast Telegraph revealed that one in five people regretted not saving more for a rainy day, while 19% wished they had started saving for retirement earlier.
This Pancake Day, there might be a lesson in forgiving yourself for past mistakes and taking a fresh outlook on how to better manage your finances in the future.
Instead of letting these errors weigh you down or allowing history to repeat itself, you could view these mistakes as learning opportunities as you head into a more financially confident future.
2. Make the most of what you already have
While looking for ways to grow your wealth is important, it could be that what you already have is enough to have the life you want.
Indeed, Pancake Day is about going through your pantry and using up the ingredients you have lying around to make something delicious. So, why not open your “financial pantry” this Shrove Tuesday and assess your circumstances with your financial planner, to see whether you can achieve your goals with what you already have?
You might have spent much of your life diligently saving for retirement, for example, and be under constant stress about whether you will have enough money in your pension to give you a good quality of life. But, in fact, you could already have saved enough for the life you want to have.
Working with a financial planner could give you the peace of mind that you do actually have enough to live on, help your children and grandchildren, and retire without too much financial worry.
If you haven’t quite reached your ideal figure yet, your financial planner can help formulate a strategy with you, so you can maximise your current wealth and reach your goals faster.
This Shrove Tuesday, why not book in a review of your “financial pantry” with your planner, to see how close you are to having enough to live the life you want? It could be that you are in a better position than you think, which may provide you with some peace of mind as you head into later life.
3. It’s never too late to give up your worst financial habits
According to The Times Money Mentor, our spending habits shifted hugely over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. We shopped online more, used cash less, and ate more takeaways, to name but a few key changes.
Over the last two years, could your spending habits have fallen by the wayside? Is it time to get back to more responsible spending as we head back into “normal” life in 2022?
Pancake Day, of course, is the eve of Ash Wednesday, the day on which you may decide to give up something “sinful”. While most people choose to give up chocolate or alcohol, for example, you could decide to give up your worst financial habits instead.
It might be that you wait until the end of the month to contribute to your savings accounts, rather than doing it as soon as you get paid. Or, you could be prone to buying the first product you find when online shopping, rather than taking the time to search for a better deal.
Whatever your worst habits are, Shrove Tuesday is a great reminder that it is never too late to change them. Why not use this Pancake Day to say goodbye to the financial habits that no longer serve you well?
Get in touch
If you would like to open up your “financial pantry” and assess your current circumstances, we are happy to help.
You can email us at enquiries@blackswanfp.co.uk or contact your adviser on 020 3828 8100.
Please note
This article is for information only. Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.
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