Personal Financial Planners Help People Like You
By
Personal financial planners help families and individuals understand financial products, how they work, and the role every family can take in making financial decisions, such as saving for college or retirement. Financial planning is generally defined as the process of determining an individual's financial goals and priorities and using them with consideration to resources, risk profile and current lifestyle to detail a balanced, realistic plan to meet the goals.
A personal financial planner is a professional who assists people with various personal financial issues. Using a personal financial planner is the very popular these days. If you don't know where to find a good personal financial planner, help may be as close as your bank, which may provide the service themselves, or advise you on local practitioners.
Another method for finding one is to ask friends and family who they use as a personal financial planner, or if they have any recommendations for you. The strength of a Personal Financial Planner's advice lies in its flexibility, integration of information, and its well-planned structure. The information you discuss with your financial planner is highly personal and confidential. A planner cannot change your financial habits - that's up to you to take his advice and act. Below are some tips on finding and consulting a financial planner.
Be wary of free financial planning, if it is free there will normally be some way in which the planner will be paid, and you need to ensure that you understand how these incentives work and then you can avoid advice which may be slightly influenced toward a particular provider and/or product.
A personal financial planner will work with what you have, and will help you decide what you need for the future, and how to go about getting it. To find a personal financial planner that meets your needs, you can use CalCPA's - Find a CPA feature. In most cases, you will pay either a flat fee or an hourly fee to work with a financial planner.
Personal financial planning is important to individuals at all income levels. Your financial planner may assist you with implementation, or refer you to other appropriate professionals. You will have to provide you planner with records of personal debts, loans, mortgages, etc. Do not keep secrets from him. If you do his advice may be less than perfect, and could be misdirected.
After reviewing your financial circumstances, the planner generally produces a written financial plan. At this point, with knowledge of both your personal goals and your current financial position, a professional financial planner can determine whether there are any impediments to reaching your goals. Everyone needs a financial plan, and once you have one you will appreciate this, although many are not aware of this.
You will probably want to find a personal finance planner that is located close to you, since you will need to spend some time with him/her going over your financial concerns. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA, USA) can assist consumers in selecting a personal financial planner.
One way to ensure you appoint a well qualified personal financial planner in the US is to ensure that he/she is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants enabling them to identify and incorporate sophisticated tax strategies to each client's situation. Upon request, the institute may be asked to send a list of CPAs who have earned the Personal Financial Specialist designation.
More on Finances for Baby Boomers
When You Should Hire a Financial Advisor
Get Out of Debt Before You Retire
The Final Solution For Credit Card Debt