Securing Tomorrow... Today
Personal Financial Planning is the process of meeting your life goals through the proper management of your finances. Life goals can include buying a home, saving for your child?s education or planning for retirement.
The personal financial planning process consists of six steps that help you take a holistic approach to assessing where you are financially. Using these steps, you can work out where you are now, what you may need in the future and what you must do to reach your goals.
The process involves gathering relevant financial information, setting life goals, examining your current financial status and coming up with a strategy or plan for how you can meet your goals given your current situation and future plans.
Personal financial planning provides direction and meaning to your financial decisions. It allows you to understand how each financial decision you make affects other areas of your finances. For example, buying a particular investment product might help you pay off your mortgage faster or it might delay your retirement significantly. By viewing each financial decision as part of a whole, you can consider its short and long-term effects on your life goals. You can also adapt more easily to life changes and feel more secure that your goals are on track.
1. Establish And Define The Client-Planner Relationship.
2. Gather Client Data, Including Goals.
3. Analyze And Evaluate Your Financial Status.
4. Develop And Present Financial Planning Recommendations And/Or Alternatives.
5. Implement The Financial Planning Recommendations.
6. Monitor The Financial Planning Recommendations.
As the client, you are the focus of the financial planning engagement. As such, the results you get from working with a personal financial planner are as much your responsibility as they are those of the planner. To achieve the best results from your financial planning engagement:
1. Set Measurable Financial Goals.
2. Understand the Effect of Each Financial Decision.
3. Re-evaluate Your Financial Situation Periodically.
4. Start Planning As Soon As You Can.
5. Be Realistic in Your Expectations.
6. Realize That You Are In Charge.
If you are working with a personal financial planner, understand the financial planning process and what the planner should be doing. Provide the planner with all relevant information on your financial situation. Ask questions about the recommendations offered to you and play an active role in decision-making.
Financial Planning helps you compile a complete financial picture and determine your objectives. When a doctor is consulted, he usually begins by referring to a complete medical history. A Financial Planner, also a general practitioner, similarly completes a comprehensive and confidential financial analysis. It helps you understand how each financial decision affects your life's goals.
Your financial situation has many aspects (assets, income, loans, insurance, taxes, business interests, wills, to name a few) which will benefit from the careful scrutiny of a trained professional who will analyze them in light of your objectives as well as the current legal, tax and economic environments.
The objective of Financial Planning is to help you make best use of every rupee by designing a strategy which will overcome any weaknesses in the management of your affairs and provide specific recommendations to help you achieve your financial objectives.
The unknowns and fears cause stress. By prudent financial planning you know exactly what your money is doing. This knowledge and understanding helps you feel more secure and less stressed.
