Financial Planning is the process of laying out what your goals are in life, gathering key facts about yourself (such as your income and assets), then analyzing the data to figure out what is possible. You just need to take ONE step at a time!
Let’s start with an example – planning for retirement. You’ll need to evaluate:
- How much money can you save every year?
- When do you want to retire?
- How should you invest your savings, with a 401(k), IRA or Roth IRA?
- What rate of return do you need in order to grow your accounts, so your money will last the rest of your lifetime after you stop working?
- And how comfortable are you with the volatility associated with investing?
Planning for retirement can start as early as your very first job. Did you spend all of your first paycheck on something fun or did you save a little for later? Saving up enough money to last throughout your retirement starts with the simple concept of saving, then investing those savings to grow them for the future. The best way to assess your retirement readiness is by creating a financial plan that includes retirement projections. The results will tell you if you are saving enough each year and how much money you might end up with at retirement.
You should evaluate your readiness as early as your 40s and 50s, so you have time to make course adjustments along the way as needed.
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”. At Whitford Financial Planning we are here to help! We start you off with a simple checklist, so you know what facts about yourself to gather. Then we discuss what are your priorities to accomplish right away, and also help you build a long-term plan for the future.
Thanks for visiting! Want to talk more about your goals? Schedule an Introductory Call to discuss what you want to accomplish and to see if we are a good fit.