Fantastic Financial Planning (Part 1)

What are the top financial concerns of American’s today? Ask them and you will hear retirement, taxes and health care as some of their top answers. Getting the best mutual fund selection, optimal portfolios that outperform their benchmarks and the best yield for risk and duration from a fixed income portfolio will not be the first things they say. Are you focused on helping people with the things THEY want help with? The financial industry has consumed itself with products and not helping clients with the things THEY want help with. Helping people with the things they want is what the elite of the financial industry call Financial Planning.
The term financial planning has been slung around so much that consumers do not know what it really means. Be careful how you use this term with people as it might not mean the same thing to them. The Certified Financial Planner Board describes financial planning as “the process of determining whether and how an individual can meet life goals through the proper management of financial resources. Financial planning integrates the financial planning six-step process and with the seven financial planning subject areas.”
MANY FINANCIAL ADVISORS THINK THEY DO FINANCIAL PLANNING
Many financial advisors say they do financial planning, but compared to the CFP boards’ six-step process and seven subject areas they are not even close. There are many online calculators for consumers that are informative, but not sufficient. Some financial advisors use tools that are of the same caliber. Leveraging the proper tools, process and all subject areas are imperative for a true financial planner to give clients what they need.
Many Americans have different needs. It can be difficult for a financial advisor to help different people with different things. Another complexity is that some people do not have as many things to work on as others. One way to conquer this is to take a lesson from successful hotel chains. The Marriott and Hilton corporations have different brands of hotels to serve different people. They have low-cost brands (like Fairfield Inn and Hampton Inn), their staple namesake brands and high-end brands (like Ritz Carlton and Waldorf Astoria). Top producing and highly rated financial advisors have built out different levels of service to accommodate their clients.
This is the first post of a three-part series on fantastic financial planning. Stay tuned for the next installment later this month.