Financial Planning is key….
It‘s often been said if you fail to prepare you prepare to fail‖ and in my opinion the same thinking can be applied to your finances. People who do not adequately plan their finances may run the chance of not being in the financial position they thought they may have been in,and running into the ever looming Money woes. An example of this can clearly be seen with the pen-sion gap in Britain, with the government finding that approximately 13 million people will experience a drop in living standards once they reach retirement age (this is one of the key
reasons for the new pension auto enrolment policy).
This study alone should let you know Financial Planning is key.
Where should I begin?
There are many reasons why a person may not have explored the world of financial planning, from distrust of the financial services industry, to feelings that they do not have enough money to worry about financial planning. But one of the most overriding reasons that people have not used professional financial planning is that they simply have no idea of what services are out there. Many people will be asking themselves where should I begin‖, but unbeknownst to most is that to a small degree they have already started. You see when you get a mortgage and the bank advises a life assurance policy (or an endowment for those of you who started on the property ladder a while ago) this is a form of financial planning.
With this said, there are numerous different avenues of financial planning, dealing with sections of your finances ranging from Pensions, Investments, Mortgages , Insurance and Estate planning (Inheritance Tax). Each section has incredible depth and intricacies that need to be considered with every decision, and the potential benefits of such, could and often do, have a huge direct effect on your wealth. Again you may be thinking where should I begin‖, and though the prospect of you delving into these may be overwhelming, it won‘t be for a Financial dvisor, whose specific job role is to give you the best financial advice possible. There are two different types of Financial Advisors, those who are independent known as Independent Financial Advisers or IFA‘s, and those who are not independent known as Restricted Financial Advisors.
The difference being that IFA‘s offer products from the Whole of Market‘, while Restricted Financial Advisers offer limited products from a limited segment of the market. So it is important to know which of the two advisers you are seeing as there could be a dramatic difference in the products you are advised to use. Armed with all of this new information about the world of financial planning, do you think it would be beneficial to you to seek financial advice?
Mr Roger Ahanonu, B.Sc. (Hons) Economics, is a Para Planner at a West Central London Independent Financial Advisory Firm which currently manages well over £50 million in funds.
