Financial planning and having a well-thought-out financial roadmap is an important part of a proper money management strategy. A good financial plan should help you reach your personal financial goals, help give you a bird’s eye view of your financial standing, and ensure that you are on-track every step of the way with your plan.
A good financial plan can be boiled down to a few key elements that should be managed leading to better overall financial health at each stage of your life.
Investing
A robust financial plan should feature a diversified investment portfolio arrived at through comprehensive research. A properly diversified investment portfolio can help you grow your wealth at a faster rate, setting you up for future success and possibly even earlier retirement. Your portfolio will change depending on your risk tolerance and timeline, which varies from person to person.
Investing has become increasingly popular with the rise of items such as cryptocurrencies. However, successful investing is not about popularity: a successful financial plan will be based on a diversified portfolio across many asset classes.
Education Planning
If you plan on starting a family, or are still planning on getting a degree, certificate, or diploma, planning for the cost of education is core to a strong financial plan. There are a variety of different grants, bursaries, and scholarships out there, and a good financial plan should help you get acquainted with all of them, ensuring that you are not taking the full brunt of the educational costs.
Retirement Planning
How much do you really need for a comfortable retirement? A proper retirement plan should take into consideration succession and estate planning, identifying expected sources of income (pensions, investments etc), and setting investments up so that they can be drawn upon in a tax efficient manner.
It is never too early to start on a retirement plan with an advisor, which will take into account assets and income while factoring in your future liabilities and expenses to help you better understand the feasibility of retiring at a certain age.
Risk Management
Your overarching financial strategy can change depending on how much risk you want to take with your investments. A high-risk strategy can help you grow your wealth at a more rapid rate, but at the same time can also slam the breaks on any progress you have made if your investments aren’t performing. A low-risk strategy insulates you from increased risk in your investments and grows your wealth slowly.
An advisor can help you properly assess your risk tolerance, and draft a strategy or guidelines that can help you figure out where on the spectrum your risk tolerance lies, helping create a financial plan that works best for you.
Taxes
Understanding your taxes can be a huge task. Effective tax planning helps ensure that you are paying the lowest taxes legally possible by looking at your current financials and documentation to see where exemptions and write-offs may be present.
A trusted advisor can help you map out your taxes, helping you see where you may be missing out on tax breaks.
A Financial Plan For You
Financial plans are customized to best suit your needs and goals and ideally align with the ideal vision of your future. A strong financial plan allows you to know where you stand, and what mechanisms are put in place to help you reach your financial aspirations.