How Financial Planners Can Help

Financial Planning is about ensuring a financially secure future in a highly insecure world. It is not just about planning for retirement or saving enough for college. It is about taking control of your finances so that you can derive the maximum benefit from every dollar that you earn. And irrespective of how young or old you are, financial planning should be a very integral part of your life.
The very first step in financial planning is to be clear about what you want to achieve in life and how much it is going to cost you. Think about the kind of life you would like to live in say, five years time. Would you like to own a house, own a car, go to Europe for a vacation? Don’t be afraid to dream big and don’t think right now of whether your goal is achievable or not.

Here are some goals that you should think about and probably include in your financial plan.

• Regardless of what job you are in presently and what your age is, it is always possible to get extra education. You keep hearing wonderful, inspirational stories of people in their 70’s completing a college degree. Give some thought to what you might want to know more that will help your career. If you are not happy with your present job and would like to change it, what degree would help you get a better one? Or you may need to plan for your children’s education – how much will a college education cost by the time they are in college? Write down all your education goals.
• You should also consider if you are happy professionally. Are you happy working the typical 5-day, 9-5 day job? Or do you passionately desire to own your own business? What about advancing in the career you have chosen? What do you need to do to advance to higher positions in your company?
• Have you thought of how you want to spend your life? Would you like to continue living in the city or do you want to move to the quieter suburbs or perhaps you want to live somewhere on a beach? What kind of a house will you buy there? What about the kind of vehicle you would like to own?

Along with these goals, you also need to factor in some boring goals like planning for your retirement and on having insurance. Both are very essential parts of your financial security.

Once you have made a list of all your goals, you need to carefully evaluate how much each one of them is going to cost.  Next, based on your income and the amount you are saving, you should be able to calculate how long you are going to need to achieve each one of them. If you would like to achieve some of your goals earlier, you should then plan on earning some extra money either through a second job or by saving more. To your surprise, you will find that with regular financial planning, you can achieve your goals more quickly than you thought possible.