Financial Planning

Financial Planning concerns all of us. You can embrace the topic and deal with it. You can ignore the topic and live your life in a monetary mess. If you are ready to start, then we shall begin with some interesting information for all of us to be cognisant of when doing our own planning. For instance, did you know that back in the 1930's when the Social Security Administration was first created to take care of all of us when we retired, there were 40 people working for every person that was receiving benefits. Today (2009), there are approximately 3 people paying in for every 1 taking benefits out and it will drop to 2 people paying in for every one taking benefits out very soon! Because of this fact, you would be well advised to make believe that social security is not going to be your retirement dream bailout. Take the position that you will have to be financially prepared for retirement and if you get to enjoy full social security benefits, well than that will just be the icing on the retirement cake that you have baked for yourself!

Ben Franklin said "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail". So many of us just slip through life without ever giving a thought to any plan...financial or otherwise! Of couse if you choose not to plan, well then THAT IS A PLAN! Not a good one, but a plan nonetheless.

So what exactly is Financial Planning? I am glad you asked because the answer is multifaceted and includes all the various life processes that you will go through. It includes significant events such as budgeting and cash flow, education funding for you and your family, investment planning, tax planning, insurance planning, estate planning, and retirement planning, all of which we will call sub-plans. Very often, people will seek out the help of a professional because of the complexity of some of these concepts. Equally importatnt, a person needs to understand how a financial decision in one area of the master plan impacts the other areas of the plan and what the consequences will be.

An effective financial plan looks at all the aforementioned sub-plans while considering one's lifestyle and resources. Sometimes patience and sacrifice are an integral part of the overall plan in order for an individual sub-plan to be carried out. Additionally, each sub-plan should have attainable goals involved with a timetable attached for achieving these goals where appropriate. Of course a good plan will be flexible enough to take into account life altering events such as getting married, buying a house and raising a family. The final point I want to make is just because you took the time and energy to put your plan in writing does not mean that it will be carried out. You must work very diligently to see your plans to fruition. Here is where the weak among us seem to "drop the ball". Do not let that happen to you and your financial planning.

This site will address all of the individual sub-plans in detail. I will allocate a tab in the left margin for each type of planning to help you navigate your journey to financial freedom. You can also click just below this paragraph. If you are ready to start, just click away!

Budget Planning
Investment Planning
Tax Planning
Insurance Planning
Estate Planning
Retirement Planning

Some of you may want to do further reading on Financial Planning. May I refer you to the following publications:

Genius Planning-Financial Planning
Finance Stress

If you did not find what you are looking for, be sure to try Google Search!

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