In our posts on financial planning, we discuss the different parts of the planning process. (Most often, we discuss financial planning for retirement.) If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ve by now enjoyed learning about:
- What sort of investment returns you can expect
- How to protect money you’ve haven’t even earned yet
- What to do about the high cost of health care in old age
- And more
Before we move forward on to explaining other financial planning subject matter, let’s take a step back and discuss financial planning itself. What is it? And why does it matter?
[big_title2]What is Financial Planning?[/big_title2]
Financial planning is the task of getting your financial ducks in a row. It means looking at everything. This may involve digging up account statements, and drafting a budget. For most people, these aren’t activities they’d jump at the chance of doing. Luckily, most of these boring activities – which are the hardest to get through – are only a small part of the financial planning process.
In a nutshell, financial planning is getting familiar with:
- what you have, and
- where you are,
Having done the above, you can move onto the next exciting step: planning where you are going.
[big_title2]Envisioning Your Life[/big_title2]
So, where are you going? With financial planning, you are given the opportunity to envision your future life.
- What’s not yet crossed off your bucket list?
- What places in the world have you always dreamed of seeing?
- Who are those people that you want to spend your time with?
With financial planning, you do not simply map out your dreams. Even better, you create a plan for making those dreams a reality.
- Have you always wanted to visit South America? Let’s set a time to make that happen!
- Is your fantasy a patio balcony, where you can read, enjoy a glass of wine, and watch the sunset every evening? We’ll figure out how to realize this together.
- Being successful in your own life, how do you want to give back to the world that has made you so successful? There are many ways that you can do this. Let’s create your plan.
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If you’re interested in planning out your life (or planning for your retirement), work with a fee-only financial planner. Working with a fee-only financial planner means your financial advisor has the single objective of mapping out your life for your benefit, without the conflict of interest that comes the desire to sell financial products for a commission. As a fiduciary, a fee-only Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) works for you!