When it comes to financial planning there is something very important to remember.
You are unique.
You are different from everyone else out there. Your situation is different from that of your boss, your work colleagues, your next door neighbour, your close friends.
So when it comes to looking at establishing your own financial plan, it will help to ponder 10 questions that will have answers that are unique and personal to you.
- What are your big financial life goals, for yourself and your loved ones? Thinking about life goals can be challenging, but most of us have one financial goal in common. And that’s to have enough money to slow down or stop work at some point. So be sure to note down that goal at least.
- What’s your current income, from your work and any other sources, and how do you expect that to change in the future?
- What are your regular living expenses, and how might they change in the future? Be sure to include your holidays and days out in here. A good financial plan might help with tomorrow, but it’s also about enjoying yourself today!
- Note down your financial and material assets.
- Have an idea of your wider family wealth too. This might sound like an odd thing to consider but could be highly relevant to your plan.
- Think about your general attitude to investment risk, accepting that your capacity for risk might vary with each of your financial life goals.
- Question seven is about your other personal assets, like your knowledge, skills and strengths, which you could use to earn income in future years.
- Question 8 is about whether you have children, or plan to have them.
- Your physical health and how you feel about that, looking ahead.
- And finally, just a nudge to consider your unique life experiences, because these will have informed your attitude to money, and your habits around it.
No-one can help you plan unless they know all about you.
So it’s essential to work with someone you can trust.
At Lifetime we produce a unique financial plan, based on information given online and to a Lifetime customer coach, that is shown and explained in video format.
Our secure online portal provides us with the platform to deliver this bespoke video, with the key human touch from our committed coaches. They collect and analyse all the pieces of a person’s financial jigsaw, to build a comprehensive picture of their financial circumstances. The personalised video helps employees, individuals, couples etc to understand where they are now, how they can move forward and how they can achieve what they want from later in life.
