Working well with your financial planner
Agood working relationship with your Financial Planner can be an invaluable attribute within achieving your life’s financial goals.
Put in plain English, financial planning is an ongoing process to help you make decisions about money that can help you achieve your goals in life. In addition, the skills of the planner can often extend beyond the pure numbers.
For example, can you speak openly with your planner about your lifetime wish list? Your aspirations or your fears? Can you truly share key information and discuss the all too important ‘what if’ scenarios that can confront us all?
Good financial planning revolves around the key six-step process:
1. Determine current financial situation
2. Develop your financial goals
3. Analyse and evaluate the goals
4. Prepare recommendations and options
5. Create and implement your action plan
6. Review and revise the financial plan
While financial planners have a wealth of experience in helping clients achieve their many and varied goals, the process works best when it is a two-way team effort, buy in from the client to the process and open, clear communication with the planner on the options & in turn the chosen way to proceed. For the client this will involve things like; taking the time to understand how you spend money; identify where you are now financially; calculate your net worth; analyse your expenditure and as life can be unpredictable – plan to expect the unexpected.
Dialogue and analysis with your planner can then help you see how your planning (‘your picture’) is progressing, if you are on target to meet your individual goals, and where any surpluses or deficits in the plan may arise and over what timescale. This all helps you see clearer how your plan is coming together. Working on aspects of returns such as taxes, costs of investment, use of available allowances, can all help you achieve your goals.
So whether you are younger moving up the wealth ladder, perhaps with children to provide for, or a bit older nearing the important ‘at retirement’ decisions there are important factors to be discussed and provided for with your planner. For example, have you got enough money to last the rest of your life? What happens if you want to increase your expenditure (short- or long-term)? Can you make gifts to your family to reduce your inheritance tax liability? All are common questions that are very important to clients and need careful examination and consideration.
Trust is absolutely key in good financial planning, working well with your financial planner involves many features, including the knowledge that at all times they are working on your behalf to help you implement your personal plan. Faith in the planning process, and to have both communication and listening, really helps the close relationship that develops.
CONTACT
Philip Gauld is financial planning manager with Acumen Financial Planning and is based at their office in Elgin. Tel: 01343 233 105 Email: info@acumenfp.com www.acumenfp.com