Creating a financial plan
No two people have identical financial circumstances, which is why it’s essential you have a tailored financial plan in place that meets your individual needs and investment goals.
Making sure you have enough money in retirement to enable you to spend your time the way you want to, doing those things you always intended to do, is likely to be at the heart of planning for your future. Yet many people spend more time planning their holiday than their own retirement – perhaps because planning for retirement seems too complicated to think about?
Don't know where to start?
We are all living longer, the State Pension Age is increasing and pensions legislation is ever-changing. Understandably, we want an active, comfortable retirement but often don’t know where to start the savings process. If confusion and a lack of understanding around your retirement needs have led you to put off planning and saving anything, you’re not alone. So where do you start?
Start with a goal based financial plan
Goal-based financial planning will help you invest in a systematic and disciplined manner to achieve your goals. It also enables you to remain focused and unaffected by short-term volatility in markets and help you fight the urge to respond inappropriately or irrationally when markets aren’t performing.
Different goals depending on your life stage
Whilst we may have very different goals depending on which life stage we’re at, our goals can be broadly categorised into essential needs, lifestyle wants and legacy aspirations.
Planning for financial success in each of these areas can be complicated in today’s world. A broad knowledge of everything from complex retirement and investment products to risk management strategies and tax laws is required.
Take some time and ask yourself
- Can I sleep comfortably knowing I’ll have enough money for my future?
- Do I have the security of knowing where I’m heading financially?
- Am I going to be able to maintain my current lifestyle once I stop working?
- Do I feel empowered financially to live the life I want today and tomorrow?
- Have I made sufficient financial plans to live the life I want and not run out of money?
- Do I have a complete understanding of my financial position?
- What is ‘my number’ to make my current and future lifestyle secure?
Action Plan that is focused on you
Your financial roadmap should provide you with clarity about your future. It should detail every aspect of your vision – your hopes, fears and goals. It should also describe exactly how your future will look and help you to know exactly where you are headed and when you are likely to arrive.
By getting to know you and what you want to achieve, we’ll be able to provide you with a detailed action plan that is focused on you. Using our holistic financial planning process, we can get a clear view of your current lifestyle and the life you want to live. Your financial roadmap will enable you to make the right financial choices and get the balance right between current responsibilities and future aspirations. All of this should be designed in a way so that you can achieve your desired lifestyle goals and objectives reliably over time.