What to expect from a Financial Plan?
As Financial Planners we talk about “having a financial plan”, but what does that actually mean?
Essentially it is a road map for ensuring you are able to achieve your desired financial future. It doesn’t have to be a 40-page written document, but it should be clear so that you understand exactly what you need to do to achieve your set goals.
The Financial Planning Process
The starting point will be to help you decide what is important to you. Often, we find that you may not have had a chance to sit down, catch your breath and give this serious thought. This is an ideal opportunity to spend some time really considering what you would like the future to look like. This may be finishing work, helping future generations on the property ladder or travelling the world. We’re all different in our goals but they are equally important to us.
Understanding where you’re trying to get to is the probably the hardest part of the process. Once you know what you’re aiming for, we can then help you see whether it’s achievable. By carrying out extensive analysis of your assets, liabilities, income and expenditure, we can then assess the viability of your plans. Essentially, we’ll tell you if you’ve got enough money to live the life you dream of based on agreed assumptions.
This stage of the process is so important for many reasons. Often, it may be the first time that you have a clear understanding of your financial picture and how this will impact you in the future. It’s an opportunity to really analyse your spending and where your priorities lie with this. If you are part of a couple, it’s not uncommon for you to have differing ideas on what is important to you and this is a great time to discuss this and agree a basis for moving forwards. It is also often a huge relief that your finances look more positive than you expected. Equally, it could be a wake-up call that you need to address certain issues and not carry on “hoping for the best”!
Once the goals have been set and you have a clear understanding of your starting point, your
Financial Plan will then help to guide you in actions needed to achieve your goals. It may be investing your surplus income to build up future investments ready for early retirement or it could be setting up a trust fund for your grandchildren to help them with a property purchase and mitigate the amount of Inheritance Tax due on your estate.
This is the more traditional “advice” side of Financial Planning where we will help you to implement products such as ISAs, pensions and bonds and recommend investments in order to achieve tax efficiency, cost savings and investment growth.
Finally, once implemented, the key with any Financial Plan is to check it remains on track. Like any journey, you know where you’re aiming for and you ensure you plan your route to get there. You might make diversions along the way but a good Financial Plan will be flexible and adapt for these changes in life. Reviewing your plan every year will highlight any issues, where appropriate, or often just give you the reassurance that your finances are well-organised and helping you achieve the things that you care about most!
We believe a Financial Planner is your financial partner for life and can help to provide the peace of mind that not only do you have a plan but you have someone to help guide you and your family both now and in the future.
If you would like to find out more about how we can help, please do not hesitate to contact us to arrange an initial complimentary meeting.