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So how do you go about choosing a Financial Planning agent, or Financial Planner?
What do you ask & how do you know if they are the best match for you? How about their certification?
A Financial Planner or Retirement Planning Professional could end up being one of the most important people in your life. They are helping you put your financial future in place and a lot rests on the decisions and guidance they provide. You don't choose this person lightly. Check everything from certifications to recommendations and the better business bureau website. You have to work hard to maintain a high rating with the BBB. We know. See the No More Mortgage Better Business Bureau Rating here.
Do your homework before you give someone partial or full control of your financial future.
Your friends at No More Mortgage.
Financial Planning, How to Choose the Right Financial Planner For You
Never thought about hiring a financial planner? Think you can manage quite nicely by yourself, don’t worry you are not alone, but that doesn’t make you right. Virtually anyone with a moderate to high income could benefit greatly from the expertise they bring to the table.
This is not to say that a financial planner is an expert in all these fields. It might be useful to view them as a General Practitioner, a doctor trained to treat a wide variety of illnesses and health issues. He can give you a health check up and provide the cure to your disease or illness. however if he finds a problem he can’t solve or he doesn’t know enough about, he will send you to a specialist which has more experience in that specific area of expertise.
Never thought about hiring a financial planner? Think you can manage quite nicely by yourself, don’t worry you are not alone, but that doesn’t make you right. Virtually anyone with a moderate to high income could benefit greatly from the expertise they bring to the table.
This is not to say that a financial planner is an expert in all these fields. It might be useful to view them as a General Practitioner, a doctor trained to treat a wide variety of illnesses and health issues. He can give you a health check up and provide the cure to your disease or illness. however if he finds a problem he can’t solve or he doesn’t know enough about, he will send you to a specialist which has more experience in that specific area of expertise.
A good planner will do precisely that, give you the advice you need or at the very least help coordinate your financial planning with your accountant, insurance agent, investment professional and estate lawyer.
You might have avoided hiring one because you felt it would be too expensive but if you have a large income you could save a fortune by hiring a planner that will help you avoid expensive financial mistakes that could seriously damage your financial health.
The next question is how to choose the right planner?
The first step when looking for a financial planner is to only hire someone that can prove they are certified in financial planning. There are a variety of associations that provide certification in Financial planning; two that are highly recommendable are the Certified Financial Planner and the Personal Finance Specialist, given only to qualifying Certified Public Accountants.
The second step is to ask for recommendations from people you respect that can provide positive feedback on the financial planner in question. this is probably the safest method as the best trained financial planner is no good to you if he doesn’t have the interest of his clients in first place.
The third question is how much it will cost you and how they will receive compensation. if the hiring fee is too large any saving the financial planner makes might not be worth the effort. They fall into two broad types, fee-only financial planners, and commission and/or fee-based.
Fee-only planners charge you for their advice by the hour. They analyze your situation and suggest the steps you should make. Pretty straightforward, this is why many are attracted to this type.
On the other hand commission based planners charge an asset based fee, typically 0.5% to 1.5% of your assets. Remember that this fee is charged annually and that financial planners will generally invest your money in a mutual fund that also charges a management fee annually.
Both types can work well for you, just make sure you understand the costs and that the service they provide is what you need.
Author: Andrew Latham
Source: ezinearticles.com
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Filed under News, No More Mortgage Financial Planning by on Apr 12th, 2010. Comment. 
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No More Mortgage Financial Planning Tip -
Tomorrow comes quickly.
Financial planning has become big business in today’s world as people are now thinking more and more about how they will live after retirement. Many of them have lost a portion of their retirement funds over the last few years and feel like they're behind without enough time to make up for it.
The last time I looked into it less than one in 20 families had a financial planner. It's a pretty dangerous economic environment to navigate without the help of a financial professional.
Think about it. Our economy, taxation, global stock market, and the sheer volume of investment options are far more complicated today than it was for our parents. Our debt loads are much hire than theirs were. Many of them didn't much credit card debt compared to today and might not have had credit cards until much later in life ever. Do you really understand enough about how to plan and implement a financial plan you can't afford to make mistakes on?
Before you answer that, add these to the equation. Do you keep up on the changes to the laws concerning investment accounts and contributions? What about the tax implications of the changes? Do you watch for news that affects your investments and could signal the time to make a change? Do you keep up with new investment products or study the history of the performance of your existing ones? Do you know what caused the last up or down move in your retirement fund?
Financial planner, Retirement Planner, Investment Professional, there are many names for the professionals that can help you. You owe it to yourself to talk to a professional to see if you need help, see if you need to make any changes, and discuss things you may not have addressed in your plan like taxation on your estate after you pass on.
You might be doing really well with your retirement growth. Maybe it's a hobby and you're good at it and your making good headway. But you may not know enough about insurance, estate planning, or taxes. There are some holes in everyone's experience and you need to plug those holes with the experience of a professional that can help you in the areas you need it in.
When you retire, you want to be debt free with no more mortgage payments, and have an income that will allow you to live the lifestyle that you want and deserve. What you need to think about today is how quickly tomorrow will be here. Time does fly. And in the case of building your future and your retirement, this is one of those times where it can be too late to get started.
Don't let that happen to you. Find a professional adviser so you can check you plan with them in case your missing a piece or need to make an adjustment. If you don't have a plan, then you need to see someone and get a plan in place. You could get lucky and somehow muddle through to retirement on your own without a real plan in place. But why not have a solid plan in place that could make your life so much easier in retirement and ensure you have an adequate income for it?
A good way to find a Financial or Retirement Planner is to start by asking your friends, family, or co-workers.
Your friends at No More Mortgage
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Filed under News, No More Mortgage Financial Planning by on Mar 27th, 2010. Comment.
At No More Mortgage, we get to speak with a lot of people that are battling debt and ask them about their financial planning.
Guess what? That's right. A very low percentage of people we speak with have a real plan in place. They are calling us because they have debt that they are not getting ahead of and need help.
So very few of the people we speak with have a real financial plan in place, and they have a lot of debt that they are not getting ahead of. Anybody else seeing a correlation here?
Financial planning is not a topic people want to talk about. I think a big part of that is because there is work involved in financial planning, and it takes time out of your life to work your plan.
I'm talking about a financial plan that is something on paper you can pick up and hold in your hand. Most people have a financial plan in their head, not in their hand. They think to themselves things like
- I need to spend less.
- I need to pay more on my bills, not just the minimum payment.
- I really need to pay more into my retirement account.
- I should look at my statements and see how much I owe now.
What you really need to do is get your plan on paper. You don't have to get formal to start with if you're dreading the process. Make it easy. Just list your goals on paper in writing with your own hand. It has been shown many times that writing your goals down will help cause more of them to happen over time. It helps register your goals in your mind and you will subconsciously make more decisions that will move you towards your financial planning goals.
You really need to have a plan in place and some short term goals to go after. Once you do that it gets easier to focus on more goals and you'll want to get into more detail on your plan. If you're carrying a large amount of debt, you can also get a free analysis from us that will show you how much you really owe and how long it will take to pay it off. You'll also get to see how much you could save and when you could be completely debt free in our program where we do the work for you long term.
If you don't have a financial plan in place today, start off with an easy to work with plan and get moving. Then you can work your way up to more detail and more aggressive goals. If you keep running along without a plan in place, you're going to pay for it in the long run when you need a retirement income that will allow you to actually retire and not work.
Your friends at No More Mortgage
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Filed under News, No More Mortgage Financial Planning by on Mar 22nd, 2010. Comment.
