Sovereign Wealth Partners

What do wealth advisers do during festive season downtime?  We asked the Sovereign Advisers what they’re getting up to. 

Nina Kazmierczak

Christmas and the festive break will look very different for us this year. It’s our first Christmas with Max.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be spent with families, and if Sunday’s weather is a reflection of what’s to come this holiday season, we’ll be spending a lot of time outdoors and on the beach.

We are hoping to get away to Hamilton Island and have a holiday booked in the Hunter Valley for a few nights.

No doubt there will be a lot of ‘firsts’ introducing Max to his first Aussie summer- the smell of sunscreen, sand in his toes and splashing about in water.

I’m hoping to finally crack open and get into a book, it’s been some time since I’ve had the time to read. Something light and easy – “The last thing he told me” which is being produced into a movie. Fingers crossed I can get the book finished before the film is released.

As many parents and grandparents will know – all our time will be with Max … and that time just flies…

Jeffrey Wrightson

This Christmas will be very strange. Our eldest daughter, Brittany, leaves home shortly and heads to the UK to work in London indefinitely. It looks as though she will see snow, while I will reclaim the home study which she monopolised since the onset of Covid in the shift to WFH.

Fortunately, as the lives of our other three children evolve, with their partners and our extended family, there should be one or two takers for the Christmas pudding which I will attempt to make using my mother’s recipe. As my first foray into cooking last year was a success (well, I thought so), I felt I should try and continue a family tradition.

With no holiday planned over the festive season, it is likely to be the beach, the pool and the lengthy list of house maintenance tasks which inevitably grow over the year. To wind down I will also read a book, the 11th Durham Light Infantry – In their Own Words, to better understand what my grandfather went through in WWI.

Chris Forrest

It will be the usual affair. This year, Christmas Day is with Zoe’s family which is a circus of young children being boisterous and entertaining. A Christmas celebration with my family is organised just before the big day.

This year we’re experimenting by taking the dog up the coast with us rather than putting her up in her usual free range dog hotel. It should make for an interesting drive. Sun, beach, (bad) golf and catching up with Port Macquarie relatives will see us refreshed.

Apart from that there will be too many children’s Christmas shows on repeat from which I’ll try to eventually escape and indulge in parent quiet time and holiday reading.

Steve Thaxter

Everyone’s coming over to our place this year and we’re renting the house opposite for the overflow crowd driving up from Melbourne.  I’ll be annoying every one of them with unsolicited poems and advice generated by my new AI assistant – ChatGPT.  Its English composition is better than mine so I’ll be rumbled pretty quickly.  If you do sign up to this new free service out of Silicon Valley (there was a waiting list when I last checked), be aware the kids will use it to do their holiday homework in around a quarter of a second.

Apart from that, I’ll be swimming every day and trying to avoid Meghan and Harry on Netflix, because I absolutely respect their privacy.

Kate Arnibal

Our relatives from Australia will be home for Christmas! This will be our first Christmas celebration with them for the three years since Covid. We will have our usual Christmas party – exchanging gifts, fun games, sharing delicious foods, and karaoke.  Karaoke is a must-have for every Filipino occasion.

My partner and I are also planning to visit Siquijor Island, just south of Cebu. It’s one of the Philippines’ wonders and is known for its stunning beaches and waterfalls. It’s an amazing place to spend our vacation!