Having a plan in place is the backbone of financial planning. Without it how do you make decisions? How do you know you aren’t paying more taxes than you have to? How do you know if you are financially able to retire now?
A plan is vital for navigating your financial future, but the reality is the plan in place will need to be altered as your life changes. A financial plan gives you a general framework to make informed decisions when unexpected events occur. Life has a way of throwing us all kinds of unpleasant curve balls:
- Layoffs
- Divorce
- Health Changes
- Premature Death in the family
- Terrorist Attacks
- Stock Market Crashes
How you respond to these events and conditions is key. Sometimes it feels hard to put any kind of plan in place when we are surrounded with so much uncertainty. But, without a plan how can you be sure you are responding to these changes appropriately?
As financial advisors, our job is to guide you through these times. These are the times where the stakes are high and having a co-pilot there to help you handle those financial uncertainties can be instrumental to carrying out a successful plan.
We have found that the best course of action when assumptions or speculations are made, is to refer back to your own personal financial plan and specifically the items that you can control to shape your financial future. Maintaining a disciplined approach can prevent decision making based more on emotions than facts.
This is why our disciplined strategy is customized to each individual client’s needs. Our monthly outlook meetings take into account the current investment environment focusing on four major areas to include valuation, sentiment, technical and business cycle. This big picture view is then applied to each client, taking into account their current circumstances and goals.
This process helps us to make objective, but informed decisions when it comes to our clients’ portfolio structure and deters us from making changes to our strategy based on a specific event. This is where having a financial advisor as your co-pilot can really prevent you from making a knee-jerk reaction that can permanently cripple your investment portfolio.
The irreducible uncertainty will always be there as political administrations change, bull and bear markets come & go, interest rates change, inflation adjusts, tax code revisions occur amongst many other factors that surround us.
A financial plan…don’t get caught without one.
Copyright: kbuntu / 123RF Stock Photo
