30 April 2025 is International Jazz Day, a global celebration of the musical genre. This year’s festivities are centred in Dubai, and there will be educational events and concerts around the world with some of the greatest jazz musicians alive today.
As a musical genre, jazz is known for its focus on improvisation and experimentation. However, the foundations of many jazz songs are based on simple structures and chord progressions that are used consistently.
Interestingly, this format could teach you a lot about how to build a successful financial plan.
Read on to learn more.
Like your financial plan, jazz is often built on a reliable structure
While jazz is typically seen as a free-form genre that encourages musicians to bend the rules and push boundaries, most of the songs are built on stable foundations.
There are several common structures used in jazz including the:
- “AABA” structure, where the A section is repeated twice before a contrasting B section, and a return to the A section
- “12-bar blues”, which repeats a simple chord progression for 12 bars.
Musicians follow these patterns to create the backing for a song, which they can then build on.
This is very similar to the way you might approach your financial plan. For instance, core concepts such as budgeting or “paying yourself first” – contributing to savings before spending elsewhere – are crucial.
Equally, protection can provide a safety net for your family so you can continue working towards your goals, no matter what life throws at you.
These key aspects of financial planning apply to almost everybody. Without the basic structure of a monthly budget, a regular savings habit, and protection, it could be difficult to build wealth for the future.
However, it’s important to build on this foundation, just as jazz musicians do.
Your financial plan needs to be as unique as an improvised jazz piece
Jazz isn’t the only genre that reuses the same structures or chord progressions. Indeed, a staggering number of popular songs are built from the “I-V-iv-V” chord structure.
For instance, All Too Well by Taylor Swift, No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley and We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel all use this progression.
These are all excellent songs, owing mainly to their lyrics. But musically, they are not necessarily breaking new ground.
This is much the same as a financial plan built on key concepts or “rules” that you might see online. The “50-30-20 rule” for example, says you should use 50% of your income for needs, 30% for wants, and put 20% into savings.
But, while this might be a useful way to organise your income, it won’t necessarily elevate your finances to a new level or help you reach your own specific aims in life. To achieve this, you might need to approach your finances like a jazz piece, not a pop song.
Where jazz differs from other genres is the focus on experimenting with the familiar structure and building on it. More importantly, jazz melodies are often completely improvised, making them one-of-a-kind and entirely unique to the musician.
Additionally, the free-flowing nature of jazz means that, although the underlying structure of the piece is planned, the musicians can adapt to key changes or shifts in timing.
Once you have the basics of budgeting and saving in place, you may want to build a personal financial plan in much the same way that jazz musicians create a piece on stage. This ensures that you’re building wealth in a way that is right for you. Learning to adapt and improvise also means you can stay on track despite unexpected life events or market volatility.
We can help you create a unique financial plan based on your goals
When we help you build a financial plan, we’ll start by discussing what you want your life to look like now and in the future. This is at the core of everything we do.
Once we have a clear picture of your priorities in life, we’ll start creating a financial plan. Like a jazz standard, we’ll start with the basic underlying structure. This often means helping you put the right protection in place for your family, and working out how much you can afford to save and invest each month.
When building an investment portfolio, we’ll improvise and select specific investments that are likely to provide the growth necessary to achieve your goals. We’ll also consider your attitude to risk too.
Once your financial plan is in place, we offer ongoing support. If you’re concerned about market volatility or outside events affecting your financial plan, we can provide reassurance. If necessary, we’ll help you adapt to make sure you’re still on track to reach your financial goals.
All this combines to create a tailored financial plan that is adaptable and constantly evolving, like jazz.
Get in touch
We can help you create or update your financial plan.
Please get in touch or email us at advice@mlifa.co.uk for more information.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
Note that financial protection plans typically have no cash in value at any time and cover will cease at the end of the term. If premiums stop, then cover will lapse.
Cover is subject to terms and conditions and may have exclusions. Definitions of illnesses vary from product provider and will be explained within the policy documentation.