Health & Fitness
Establishing a Financial Plan: The Next Step
Financial advisor Joe Arndt, of Glendale, offers a follow-up to approaching financial planning.
prompted positive thinking about money and your own financial plan. Whether it is written and detailed, or kept in your head, the next step is to implement your plan or improve your current one. The first step is to write or review your will and trusts or other legal documents to make sure your intentions are stated explicitly. If changes are necessary or beneficiaries change, consult a good attorney.
What are your financial priorities and concerns for you and your family, and how do you manage them? You know that you need cash available for emergencies, but beyond that what are you doing with your other assets? Not everyone is struggling to save for retirement, there are many people who have already done that, or will inherit it, and have ongoing investment management issues now. Either way, there are tens of thousands of investments products, insurance policies, and annuities to consider for your financial portfolio.
The place where most people freeze is here - the thought of researching the choices. How do you allocate your investments? How do you find out the risk profile of your investment portfolio? Morningstar and other websites have useful tools and research capabilities for free, more extensive information is available if you pay a subscription. Ultimately, though, you must make informed decisions and go with it. Remember, many investment products are very complicated, and often what is omitted or not known is as important as what is known. Also keep in mind your time horizon – when will you need the money you are saving and how long it must last.
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These are my suggestions: Do a lot of research for yourself and don’t stop, or consult with an experienced and competent Financial Advisor. For example: Two women, ages 35 and 65 each have $500,000 in investable assets, and each own (and need) $500,000 of life insurance. I know that they should probably have different kinds of life insurance and that their investment portfolio should not be the same.The 65 year old may be concerned with preserving assets and have a need for income. The younger woman may be looking for growth in her portfolio and will assume more risk. The 35 year old needs life insurance to replace her income for her young family, while the 65 year old has plans to pay her estate taxes with life insurance.
You can begin your own research on the internet. Sources of current information include yahoo finance, morningstar.com, Bloomberg.com, Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger.com. Find a good glossary of financial terms and try to learn as much as you can. This will help when you research particular investments or insurance products. Make sure any purchase or sale will be helping to achieve your specific goals.
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*Securities and investment advisory offered through Sagepoint Financial, Inc., member FINR/SIPC, and a registered investment advisor. Arndt & Associates is not affiliated with Sagepoint Financial or regtistered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor.
*By: Joseph M. Arndt III, Arndt & Associates 8124 Big Bend Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63119. Registered SBO.