Marion: I’m Marion Ackrell, I’m 68 and I live in Oxford. I trained as a flautist and a flute teacher and then I ran a quite large department in London and then I left London to the country actually. I’ve never had expert help in money and I’ve never had money that’s all mine, that I know is mine and I can do something with.

My life is quite sort of portfolio, like freelance and I’ve never expected to sort of manage money particularly, I’ve just been getting by. I was with a solicitor who was helping me through divorce process and I knew that there would be some money coming through that. Didn’t know how much, didn’t know when and I also knew I had very little savings.

I had this lovely small house I’m in now but I didn’t have a backup plan for pension or care.

Dom (Expert Wealth): She was referred to us by one of our friendly local matrimonial solicitors to help sort out her money with sort of the brief that we got from the solicitor. So as always we do a first meeting, what we call an exploration meeting, try not to talk about money at the first meeting but understand what’s important and where Marion wanted to go and what she wanted to do and so forth.

We know how important money is to people. Most people have spent an entire working life saving up for where they are or they’ve inherited a legacy from mum and dad that might be a lifetime’s worth. So we really do respect that, that it’s their money and it’s our job to make sure that the money is aligned to what people want to do.

Marion: The City Council Parks Department asked me to become the only actually voluntary park ranger, particularly for a certain park which is a sort of hidden gem in Oxford, well known as a very quiet, strolling kind of a park with beautiful trees, lots of different kinds, to do whatever needed doing to renovate, mostly trees, shrubs, dig out brambles, a variety of clearance tasks. And gradually one thing led to another and if I had not had the time by going part-time because I learnt I could afford to go part-time, I wouldn’t have been able to expand that role in the way that I have and it has really transformed the feel of the park. If you have the freedom to not plan because you’re safe in one regard or at least you’ve got enough money to volunteer, you don’t know where it’s going to lead.

Dom: Some will say financial planning is just about arranging your building society savings accounts to setting up an investment portfolio. Anyone can do that really if you’re prepared to devote the time to it. Real financial planning is, let’s say it’s a liberating experience because sitting down and having that conversation with a financial planner about what’s possible, you can’t work that stuff out for yourself, at best you’re guessing.

Marion: I’m doing more that I’m drawn to do, that I enjoy doing, and I’ve started very tentatively giving money to younger friends and family. That has been really refreshing to be encouraged to give and also I’m not counting the cost of small things, which I always did do.

Dom: When people send us their photographs from a Japan trip or Marion sent over her bulletin that was about work that she’d been doing as a park ranger in Oxford, we love seeing stuff like that. It’s where the rubber hits the road, isn’t it?

Marion: Thinking outside the box for holidays because of feeling much more secure about money, knowing how much money I’ve got. Taking high expense, high risk, like going to Japan with an organised group. Not something I would normally do, an organised group, but in Japan, definitely worth it.

Then on the more not luxury, except in the travelling to get there, getting to North Ronaldsay, which is the northernmost island of Orkney, with 65 people living on it. It’s the quietest place and the most beautiful quiet place I’ve ever been yet and when I’m there, I become just extremely quiet and I think for a musician, sound is my world and actually going into silence is, it’s fantastically exciting.