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Why a Financial Plan?

 

A Financial Plan is the roadmap for your financial life.  It covers seven basic areas,* addressing all aspects of your financial life, such as cash flow, savings, debt management, risk management, education planning (for children and adults), taxes, retirement, estate planning, and of course, investments and a strategy for managing them.  It is more than a guide.  It is a written strategy that gives you a clear, pragmatic path to follow towards the accomplishment your most important objectives.  At the same time it is fluid and dynamic, allowing you to deal with the inevitable changes to your finances that we all face in life.  A Financial Plan starts with where you are right now, financially, and then with your goals and objectives serving as “marching orders”, it lays out a comprehensive strategy for their accomplishment. 

One of the most valuable benefits to the financial planning process is it helps people manage their own natural human emotions with regards to their finances.  This is especially true with investments, which are the “engine” for one’s financial life and while a subset of financial planning, are nevertheless the heart of the Financial Plan. Markets go up and markets go down, and a sound financial plan is invaluable in helping people manage their reactions to these shifts.  It allows people to stay on course for the fulfillment of their objectives, no matter what the markets may be doing at any given moment in time.

Some people naturally resist the process of creating a Financial Plan.  Initially, it can seem overwhelming and/or just too much trouble.  However, the potentially devastating consequences of not having one are far greater than the initial discomfort, that some people experience, of the process.  For most people I have worked with, the hardest part is just making the decision to get started.  Once the process has begun, most clients find it engaging and interesting.  As it is being completed, a common experience is relief and peace of mind.