Okay, so in the first message I said I’d begin to cover just what financial planning is…
I’m thinking, though, that any reader might be more interested in knowing what the benefits of financial planning are, rather than what ingredients go into the cake.
One of the most important benefits of financial planning is ORGANIZATION. Statistics tell us that fewer than 25% of Americans know their financial net worth. In addition, (prepare to be astounded) the average individual’s credit card debt is over $8,000. Think about that for a moment…
This figure includes all of those people who pay off their cards each month. How does this happen?? Folks don’t have a handle on the big picture of their personal financial world. If they did, they wouldn’t likely allow themselves to get this far into debt, as they would understand the impact that credit card debt has on everything else in their financial lives.
ORGANIZATION – is the foundation of financial planning. By organizing your finances and gaining an understanding of money flows (inflow is your paycheck, outflow is your electric bill), you have made the first step toward reaching your financial goals in life.
That’s all for now… more to come.
Click the link to pick up a copy of A Social Security Owner's Manual or if you'd prefer the Kindle version (and let's face it, ALL the cool kids do!), you can find that at this Kindle version link.
I can learn from you, you can learn from me - please leave your comments and links!Jim Blankenship, CFP®, EA, is an expert in personal retirement, IRAs, and tax issues, with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. Read more from this author
And if you've come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed "advisor's advisor".
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