Comprehensive Financial Planning

You strive to address all of your financial goals, but sometimes you don't know where to turn or what to address first. It is often easier just to focus on issues of immediate concern and postpone thinking about how to achieve long-term goals. But to help reach those goals-whether it is to send your children to college, to save enough to truly enjoy retirement, or to provide for your spouse in case something were to happen to you-you need to take action now.

So how do you begin to address all the different financial issues in your life?
Financial planning can provide you with a picture of where you stand today and how to get to where you want to be in the future. You can only get a clear vision of this by looking at all of your goals as a whole, forming a clear strategy to help you get there, and implementing the tools that will help you stay the course.

What is financial planning? Financial planning is a process that allows you to focus on all of your goals and provides you with direction on how to help achieve them. The process involves sitting down with a qualified professional who will:

• Look at your income and expenses and your current assets and liabilities
• Help you define your goals
• Prepare a report showing you whether you are on track to help meet your goals
• Provide you with recommendations to help you achieve your goals
• Monitor your progress and suggest changes in your strategy as time goes by and your circumstances change

Unless you have done this type of planning, you may have a false sense of security. Without taking a realistic look at your whole financial picture, you can't really know if the steps you have taken thus far are enough to help you reach your goals. A financial plan that is unique to you gives you an objective view of what you're doing right and recommends changes that need to be made.