 |
 |
Financial Planning
When you plan, you identify financial goals and develop
strategies to meet them.
|
When you do financial
planning, you're looking toward the future, specifically
at building the kind of security you'd like to have and being able
to afford the lifestyle you want. But to plan successfully, you also
have to evaluate the present, including the financial choices you're
making now. Otherwise it's too easy to find yourself making random
decisions that won't move you toward your goals effectively, or that
may even interfere with achieving them.
|
| |
 |
It's never too soon, or too late, to begin
financial planning. Financial planning is important, whether you've
just started working or are thinking seriously about retirement. And
it should be a continuing process, so that you can evaluate your progress,
revise your goals, and update your strategies on a regular schedule.
Without planning, you run certain financial
risks. You may not have enough in reserve to meet expenses you're
expecting, like the down payment on a home or the price of a college
education. You may have to revise your retirement plans. Or you might
leave your family without enough to live comfortably if something
happens to you.
|
| |
|
| |
PLANNING STRATEGIESIn financial planning terms, creating a strategy
means defining the steps you'll take to accumulate the money you need
to pay for the things you want.
To begin, you need a clear sense of what your goals are, what they
will cost, and how much progress you've already made toward achieving
them. For example, you will have to evaluate the performance of the
assets you already have. And you probably will have to find ways to
increase the amount you're investing and select how you will invest
it.
|
| |
|
|
© 2006 by Lightbulb Press, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
