What will your retirement look like? What will you do? How will you continue to provide meaning to your life, purpose? And what for you will be the physical, intellectual, and spiritual goals that those who continue to thrive as they age challenge themselves with?
Money plays a big role in our ambitions. But this isn’t a money discussion. Its what we can do with our money that is valuable. Our conversations should be about purpose.
And that's where a financial planner can come in. They can help you figure out why you want money in the first place. They can help you define a future life that determines how much money you'll need for retirement and when you'll need it. It's a much more efficient approach than just going with the flow and hoping for the best.
What if the life you envision means you could retire early? Or maybe you deliberately choose to work longer. Or perhaps a blended approach, where you work but also take extended breaks and seek new experiences. Life is all about choices, but informed choices are the ones that can make a real difference.
The outcome of the financial planning process is a plan. It has specific goals and objectives and articulates the steps to get from here to there. But the value of financial planning goes beyond that.
Firstly, it brings order and organisation to your financial life. Whether it's about investments, insurance, estate planning, taxes, or optimizing your household cash flow, the process of planning itself is valuable.
But a plan on its own has little value. The second benefit of financial planning is accountability and support for you in following through on your financial commitments, working with you to prioritise your goals, guiding you on the necessary steps, and regularly reviewing your progress.
Education is another important aspect of financial planning. A financial planner will work with you to understand your situation thoroughly and provide the necessary resources to assist your decision-making process. They'll explain the options available to you and help you understand the risks associated with each choice.
Because humans are very often driven by emotion, and emotions can cloud our judgement a financial planner brings insight to help you avoid emotionally driven decisions, is available to assist you at key moments of decision-making, and provides the research necessary to ensure you have the information you need.
And lastly, it is a partnership. One with the goal of achieving the best life possible.
