Financial Planning Getting Organized! Know Sooner, Rather Than Later [Video]

by Financial Design Studio, Inc. / May 27, 2020

 

I’d like to give you a sneak peek into one of the steps when we start working with a client – it is that you give us some information for financial planning.  I’m just going to show you some of the items that you give us. We need to get some information from you so we can start to analyze everything. That helps us give you answers that fit your situation. 

1. Taxes

2. Investments

3. Insurance

4. Estate Planning

So these are just some big broad areas we ask for information. Some of these sections for example, about your taxes. We need to know some information about your past filings. And then your investments. Where do you have accounts? What are you invested in?

These are just things we like to go over. And a lot of times it is just giving you a second set of eyes. We are just someone else that is just looking at everything you have in place, to help you see if there are things you could be doing better. Or maybe changes you could be making, so you can be making progress quicker.

Pulling Information Together

It is always interesting when we pull this information together! Just pulling this stuff together for you actually shows you a lot and teaches you a lot of what you have happening. 

For example: If you change jobs a lot or just recently changed jobs, you may notice in some of these areas such as investments or employee benefits. You may see some things you thought you had, but you don’t actually have in place. 

So one thing I can think of is one client who moved to a new job thought they were automatically enrolled in their 401k.  Come to find out a year later, they actually weren’t. So this is something that during this process of pulling this information together, they realized and now they are getting back on track!

Assuming Things Are In Place

Just like that 401k story, this could also be the beneficiaries on your accounts or some of the things you are invested in.

Another example is we often have clients come in and they’ll talk about investments. They may for example be upset that their investments aren’t really growing, even though the market is doing really well. 

We can actually look at the investments that you are in and see it is really just that you are in a money market or a bond fund. That is actually the purpose of that type of investment. So there is no reason that it would be growing at the same rate. 

Sometimes what we think we have in place and what we actually have in place is different. Just by going through this exercise of pulling information together for us to look at for you in this getting organized, you learn a lot. Then we are able to reset things to how they should be and get to where you thought they were. 

So please, reach out sooner rather than later if you need help with your financial planning.   Then you can know today if there are things you don’t have in place, but you think you do. 

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Financial Design Studio, Inc.

We are financial advisors in Deer Park and Barrington, IL. A team with a passion for helping others design a path to financial success — whatever success means for you. Each of our unique insights fit together to create broad expertise, complete roadmaps, and creative solutions. We have seen the power of having a financial plan, and adjusting that plan to life. The result? Freedom from worrying about the future so you can enjoy today.