Financial Planning Week and financial planning - a life changing experience

Today is the start of the second annual Financial Planning Week organised by the IFP.

We mark this occasion with the following brief item to remind readers of what financial planning is all about:

Money is central to our lives; from birth to death it shapes the way we live. Ever present, it will have a bearing on most decisions we make in life. Money and life are so deeply entwined that the promise of well-planned finances is therefore nothing less than freedom itself.

Financial planning is about managing money to achieve life’s most important and profound goals, putting life before money and not having money lead the way we live.

Financial planners who have joined the nascent life planning movement believe that it is necessary to address the “human side of money” as well as the figures and financial products of conventional financial planning. To be at ease with money we must come to terms with the often emotive aspects of money, the pain around money and our past money experiences that influence the way we handle money today.

Unsurprisingly, financial planning is a process. It starts with an exploration of your current financial life, concerns and issues. The development of the vision of where you want to be, how you want to lead your life, is at the centre of the process. The plan itself begins to emerge as the “ifs” and “buts” are addressed and strategies for both life and money are formulated. Cash flow and current and desired budgets are central to planning process, as is the development of a clear and realistic investment policy.

For those who embrace the process wholeheartedly (and it can be challenging), the results are often, literally life changing.