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The Importance of Discussing Your Financial Plan with an Advisor

The Importance of Discussing Your Financial Plan with an Advisor

by | Feb 22, 2014 | Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Wealth Managment |

With the gamut of financial services and products available, choosing how you will reach your financial goals can be daunting. This is precisely why speaking about your financial plans with an advisor is so important. Having someone who can pair the appropriate financial services and products with your risk tolerance and time-horizon makes all the difference with your investment expectations and sense of security.

Even with the appropriate products and services, your financial plans need to be managed and updated at least every 12-18 months. Not only does our tolerance for risk change over time, but so does market performance. Given the “new normal” of the marketplace, our financial plans and goals must adjust to a changing economy. This is why discussing your financial plan and expectations with an advisor must be part of your ongoing investment strategy.

But planning and discussing is merely one aspect of a healthy advisor-investor relationship. The other part is having clear expectations for each other and trusting one another. Inasmuch, this means understanding your own finances, and clearly communicating your financial issues and goals. You should expect your advisor to explain and also point-out the risks and weaknesses of their recommendations. On the other hand, you can’t expect your advisor to accurately predict market performance and pick only profitable investments. Investors can easily check if their advisors are registered and qualified for the services they are rendering by speaking to a local securities regulator.

Building a secure financial plan takes work from both parties and isn’t something that develops overnight. Putting the work into this relationship once you find the right advisor will hopefully quell any uncertainties and ensure expectations are defined at the onset. Having clear expectations from the beginning will allow you to monitor and manage each other’s commitment and progress from the get-go, and help maximize the most of your investment strategy. The first step in finding that advisor is using Optimize’s Advisor Search tool to find the advisors in your area.

Start Early with Your Retirement Investments and Save!

Start Early with Your Retirement Investments and Save!

by | Feb 5, 2014 | Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Wealth Managment |

The earlier you start investing for retirement the better. There are a few reasons for this. Your investment grows through compounding. The longer your time-horizon and the more frequently you can contribute to your investments, the more your savings grows. Though this doesn’t negate that overtime you will also have to reallocate your assets to account for a changing risk tolerance. But in general, your income and consistent financial contributions are key to growing your investments.

The other reason to start early is that it takes some time to understand the financial world and investing. For this reason, financial literacy and self-education is vital to growing and managing your wealth. And with that, carving out and committing to a financial plan with set goals and targets is essential. This means finding a financial advisor, who fits with your investment goals and style, is all the more important. Advisors can provide significant expertise and layout more complex financial situations and options for you.

The best way to approach saving for retirement is to create a financial plan and determine your investment goals. With this you are outlining your time-horizon, risk tolerance and committing to a plan that provides a consistent long-term income stream required to achieve your investment goals. After determining your goals, you will choose investment vehicles and decide upon your asset allocation. But with all this determined, you still need to regularly check up and rebalance your investments to your pre-determined asset allocation levels. This is to keep your risk-tolerance in check, despite even the best market conditions.

These types of actions will keep you abreast of your financial situations and how to make the most out of your money. They will also ensure the time you commit to reading up and discussing your financial issues with your advisor is all the more worthwhile, clear, and effective.