Financial Life Planning - What It Is and How It's Different
Taking the first steps in financial planning is a big leap in your life as a person or as a couple. However, financial planning is not just about having the right amount of money in savings, insurance coverage, retirement savings, or other forms of savings. Although these are important, financial planning should first emphasize on helping you live a full, fun and “rich life.” Your money should not just act as a safety net but also as a means for you to reach your goals and enjoy life in the best way you know how.
What Is Financial Life Planning?
Financial life planning can be well described as a holistic financial planning process that puts the interests of a client first when drawing up a plan to help them manage their finances. Financial life planning focuses on increasing your well-being and ability to reach your personal goals, instead of just focusing on the numbers. From the beginning, this approach helps you identify your current circumstances, priorities, aspirations and dreams; enabling me, your financial planner to create a holistic financial plan that allows you to live your definition of a meaningful and fun life.
How Is Financial Life Planning Different From Traditional Financial Planning?
Financial life planning focuses on bringing together quantitative data and qualitative information during the financial planning process. The quantitative side is the numbers side, while the qualitative side is the side that seeks to have a deeper understanding of your values, money mindset, aspirations, money fears and money habits among more. Financial life planning seeks to help you strike a balance between the two sides and hence enable you to live life to your full potential.
Traditional financial planning focuses solely on the quantitative side-that is budgeting, estate planning, insurance coverage, retirement savings, taxes, and so on. While this is not bad at all, just focusing on this alone and ignoring the qualitative aspects of your life can reduce your life to numbers on a page-and no one really wants such a life.
Why Work With a Financial Life Planner?
Life is highly unpredictable and so are financial markets and investments. To create a solid financial plan that allows you to achieve your financial and life goals simultaneously, it is important to work with a financial life planner. It is also imperative that you hire a financial planner who will take their time to learn about you and comprehend your financial concerns and desires fully.
Through my training with Money Quotient, a leading thinker in the field of Financial Life Planning, I have joined the ranks of an increasingly growing number of financial professionals that understand the importance of integrating life planning into financial planning.
However, one great misconception about financial life planning is that it involves therapy. Part of the process may center on finding out why you currently manage your money the way you do (most probably if it’s not the best way). It’s all about uncovering your money history and prospects, and hence helping me, your financial planner to understand you wholly. The effects of the process may be therapeutic but it is not psychotherapy.
The process will also entail some elements of life coaching as I help you examine your life and understand the most important goals to you. The life planning process is designed to help you pinpoint challenges, life transitions, and other money-related aspects of your life that you probably never considered important. From there, we develop a financial plan that best aligns your life goals to your current financial situation, as well as your expected financial situation in the future.
All in all, financial life planning is about some integral questions; what do you think will bring meaning and purpose to your financial life? What would you like to accomplish or experience so that in the end you will feel you have lived your life fully? What would you do if you had more time and money?
This content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. Please consult legal or tax professionals for specific information regarding your individual situation. The opinions expressed and material provided are for general information only.