Investments & Retirement Planning
FINANCIAL PLANNING
When is it time?
When is it time to consult a financial planner?
- Getting married or divorced
- Having a baby or adopting a child
- Paying for your child's college education
- Buying or selling a business
- Planning for your retirement
- Changing jobs or careers
- Developing an estate plan
- Coping with the death of your spouse
- Receiving an inheritance or financial windfall
What can a financial planner do?
In these situations, a financial planner can help you make objective, rather than emotional, decisions. However, you don't have to wait until an event occurs before you consult a financial planner. A financial planner can help you develop an overall strategy for approaching your financial goals that not only anticipates what you'll need to do to reach them, but that remains flexible enough to accommodate your evolving financial needs. Even if you feel confident about your financial situation, a financial planner can act as a sounding board for your ideas and help you focus on your goals, using his or her broad knowledge of areas such as estate planning, investments, college savings, and insurance. Specifically, a financial planner may help you:
- Set financial goals
- Determine the state of your current financial affairs by reviewing your income, assets and liabilities, evaluating your insurance coverage and your investment portfolio, assessing your tax obligations, and examining your estate plan
- Develop a plan to help meet your financial goals which addresses your current financial weaknesses and builds on your financial strengths
- Make recommendations about specific products and services (many advisors are qualified to sell a range of financial products)
- Monitor your plan and periodically evaluate its progress
- Adjust your plan to help meet your changing financial goals and to accommodate changing investment markets or tax laws