Financial Planning

In today's uncertain economy, financial planning has become increasingly important. With an overwhelming number of options for saving and investing, managing your finances can be difficult.

Creating a financial plan helps you see the big picture and set long and short-term life goals, a crucial step in mapping out your financial future. When you have a financial plan, it's easier to make financial decisions and stay on track to meet your goals. Working with a CFP® professional can help secure your financial wellbeing, give you peace of mind, and help you reach financial planning success.

Our CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals work with you to examine your current situation, set financial goals, and measure your progress. Throughout our six step process, we are there to provide information and answer questions.

Our Six Step Planning Process

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Discovery
  • 3. Analysis and Strategy
  • 4. Review
  • 5. Implementation
  • 6. Monitor Progress

You will have an introductory meeting where our CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professionals sit down with you and explain our financial planning process. This step serves to provide information to you as well as build a relationship with our advisors.

Your personal CFP® will listen and discuss your current financial situation as well as gather necessary documents that will give him a clearer picture of your needs. Together, you’ll define your personal and financial goals with timeframes as well as create your own personal risk profile based on your comfort level for financial risk.

Your CFP® will analyze your current situation and compare it to your expressed objectives and identify any disconnects. Your CFP® will then create a strategy unique to you that connects you to your specific goals. Analysis can comprise of recommendations in the areas of:

  • Asset Allocation
  • Education Funding
  • Cash Flow Analysis
  • Retirement Planning
  • Retirement Distribution
  • Long-Term Care
  • Disability Income Analysis
  • Survivorship Planning
  • Estate Planning
  • Business Strategies

Your CFP® will present the strategy to you and explain the reasoning behind his recommendations so that you can make informed decisions. During this stage he will also listen to any concerns you have and revise your strategy if necessary.

Your CFP® will take your plan and put it in action, coordinating with your other financial professionals.

Your CFP® will watch and maintain your plan and take proactive action when personal changes occur so your plan stays on track.

 

The Two Financial Planning Pyramids

Strategy:
Building a comprehensive or focused strategy with quantifiable goals and deadlines.

Portfolio:
Using modern portfolio theory and Nobel Prize-winning economic principles* to create a properly allocated portfolio. This is in contrast to what people commonly do: build a portfolio by purchasing products that "seemed right at the time."

Product:
Shopping and analyzing a crowded marketplace for the products that best fit the modeled portfolio. The more complex and sophisticated the challenges and strategies, the more critical professional analytical assistance becomes.

While most agree that the professional method makes sense (build strategy then model portfolio, then purchase product), the reality is different. Many people buy a product because it made sense at the time; whatever they have purchased makes up their portfolio and if it is leading them to any strategy, it is by the purest of accidents. This is why some retirees may not have an income large enough to support their pre-retirement lifestyles, when probably all meant to. They didn’t plan to fail; they failed to plan.

*http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/