[Continued from previous post]
(6) Keep you on track
Think of your financial advisor as your Gym Instructor or Personal Trainer. He does not only create a diet chart and exercise plan for you, he also makes sure that you stick to it – day after day. So in other words your financial advisor is also your financial coach. Making a wonderful financial plan is futile, if it is not followed. Your financial advisor is supposed to guide you at every step here. Overspending, leveraging, easy credit, get-rich-quick schemes – traps are many. Contact you advisor at any such moment when your decision is going to impact your financial life directly or indirectly.
(7) Take care of your retirement
Retirement is often considered as the single most important financial goal in your life. This goal is unique because accumulating required retirement corpus is just not enough. Equally important is to generate inflation adjusted income from that corpus – year after year. This requires prudent financial planning decisions coupled with efficient portfolio management skill. When you know that you are in safe hands, it always means a lot, even more after retirement.
(8) Protect your lot
Building your assets is vitally important for your future, but protecting your assets is equally important. How much protection is enough? Ask your adviser. If something happens to you – or your partner – how will you continue the life you are used to – how much will it cost to maintain your lifestyle for the present and the future? If you don’t have enough insurance, your life may face drastic and unpleasant changes just at a time when this would compound other difficulties facing you. It is good to know that whatever happens, your life – or the life of your family – can continue as well as possible in changed circumstances.
(9) Look after your Estate
Families are at the heart of financial planning. Making sure that everyone is looked after when one member dies is something that can make a huge difference to the financial position of the rest of the family. A financial adviser can ensure that your estate is structured effectively so that when something does happen to you or a loved one – it will upset you but not your financial plans. This is even more important when a small business is involved.
(10) Explain how things work
If finance isn’t your specialty you can rely on your financial adviser to assist you through the jargon and explain simply financial terms and concepts and make sure you understand how it all works – Family Budgeting, Retirement Corpus, Laddered Annuities, Income Laddering, Asset Restructuring, Mortgaging, Expense Replacement, Debt Restructuring … the list goes on.
To be continued…
[Inspired and in part taken from JAS Wealth’s eBook of the same name]
