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December 14, 2009 at 04:50 AM
I consider a significant part of my value offering to clients to be the unique financial planning analysis I provide. Moreover, the specific tool I use for this has evolved a great deal over the past several years. Each page of the output contains very useful information without a lot of “fluff” which is so common in many of the “out-of-the-box” tools on the market today.
After all, the better the information, the better the decision , and good-decision making adds real value.
Many of us create a customized plan or analysis for our clients. But what frequently happens is the plan ends up on a shelf or in a filing cabinet rarely to be referenced again. Just as the initial plan was important for gaining a perspective on a client’s financial situation, future plan revisions are equally important. Just as the initial plan provides a point-in-time analysis, future plans allow the client and planner to compare projections to actual results and track progress toward the client’s desired goals. . Therefore, planning is not a static exercise, but a very dynamic one
Last week, I spent some time updating a client’s financial plan and compared it to the initial plan created a little over two years ago. There is a question on the table for this particular client: “Should I pay cash or finance our second home?” Without planning, you might base this decision on whether or not your investment return is expected to exceed the mortgage rate. That’s part of it, but I believe there’s more. Yes, money is cheap right now.
