By Jamie Bosse
1. To Get Organized
If you are like most people, you are busy and have a ton of moving parts in your life. You might be juggling the demands of your personal and professional life as well as finances. Money encompasses so many areas of our lives –cash flow management, college funding, retirement planning, insurance coverage, taxes, buying and selling large assets like homes or cars, debt management, and career trajectory to name a few. Striking a balance between all of these competing priorities can be challenging and downright overwhelming if you don’t have someone in your corner. You may have several other advisors – accountants, attorneys, bankers, brokers, human resources contacts, insurance agents, etc. guiding you on various pieces of your financial picture. When you work with a financial planner, you build a framework to organize all of the pieces of your financial picture, tying them together and putting some coordination around them, so that you can see how each decision you make affects all the other areas of your financial life. For instance, saving for your children’s college education may impact your ability to retire when you want. How your investments are allocated affects your tax situation, and how your insurance is structured affects your estate planning. A financial planner can help you sort through the “noise” and focus on what is important for your family’s well-being and accomplishing your goals.
- To Make Sure You Stay on Track
Have you ever heard the phrase, “By failing to plan, you are planning to fail?” Many people blindly throw their hard-earned money in different directions, hoping that they are making the right choices. It can feel like your money controls you, when it should be the other way around. You can take control by creating a plan to reach your goals. With a financial plan, you take the guesswork out of your finances. You can go into tax season with a ballpark estimate of how much you will owe or get in a refund. Education savings is no longer a mystery; you can estimate how much you should be saving each month to fund your child’s college expenses in 15 years. Not sure if you have the right type of life insurance coverage or the right amounts? You can rely on a financial planner to help you determine the amount and type of policy that is appropriate for your situation. Your financial planner will help you identify your goals, create a plan, and take action to achieve those goals.
- To Have Someone in Your Corner
A financial planner can act as an accountability partner, coach, and liaison between all the other advisors in your life. They could essentially be your personal CFO, helping you evaluate scenarios and make choices that are in your best interest. A planner can help you decide when to exercise stock options, how much tax to withhold from your paycheck, review your tax return, sort through your employee benefit offerings, and help you choose an investment allocation that fits your risk tolerance. You can use financial planners to counsel you on decisions like starting a business, choosing whether to buy or lease your next car, deciding between a high deductible health plan and other insurance offerings, or how to make your next career move. Life will always throw surprises at you. With a financial plan, you may be better prepared to handle them and minimize their impact. You don’t have to face these challenges alone, hire a planner to help you navigate through life’s financial obstacle course.
For help starting your own financial plan, schedule a meeting by clicking below, contact Jamie Bosse –jbosse@makinglifecount.com, or call (913) 345-1881.