| What do you need to have in order to put together | | | | and to minimize taxes, pay down debt, and |
| a financial plan? Money, of course, or access to it. | | | | accumulate an amount of money so that 'one day' |
| And money, it seems, never stays still. It either | | | | they could 'retire' and live off this accumulated |
| grows over time, or shrinks away, but like water, it | | | | savings. The problem is, this model means that you |
| has to flow to stay healthy. So why doesn't your | | | | are looking primarily at allocating the existing |
| financial advisor discuss the income and cash flow | | | | resources. You focus on reducing expenses, such as |
| side of planning with you? Might it be that they | | | | spending, taxes, and interest rates on debt, while |
| haven't been trained to? This might be one of the | | | | trying at the same time to put as much as possible |
| biggest AHAs I've ever had (at least as far as | | | | aside and get a high return on that money so it can |
| personal finance goes). I can hardly believe it even | | | | grow to large amount. This conventional teaching is |
| after having a couple weeks to let it sink in. Here are | | | | actually contributing to the number-one stress people |
| some questions to ask yourself and your advisor: 1. | | | | have: running out of money. Why? Because for our |
| What does it take to create personal savings? 2. | | | | whole lives we've have been looking forward to |
| What does it take to have money to spend? 3. | | | | financial success by accumulating a nest egg of |
| What does it take to qualify for and pay for credit? | | | | money, rather than looking at the real need which is |
| 4. When you are not working because you have | | | | to create income to live the way we want. The |
| retired, or are unable or don't want to anymore, | | | | missing component in financial planning is the creation |
| what do you need to live? The answer to all of | | | | of income, or cash flow, both today and in the |
| these, of course is INCOME. You need income to live | | | | future. How will you create the income you need |
| today and throughout your life. When you're not | | | | now to live the way you want to, and how will you |
| working you still need a source of income to pay | | | | sustain an income when you are not 'working' at your |
| your living expenses. Now let's look at the | | | | job? The answer is to consider a wide variety of |
| components of personal financial planning: Cash | | | | cash-flow generating ideas. Consider it a brainstorming |
| Management Tax Planning Risk Management and | | | | session, where the sky is the limit. It can be a |
| Insurance Credit Management Investment Planning | | | | business vehicle, an investment vehicle, or even a |
| Estate Planning Retirement Planning For most of my | | | | personal passion that can make money at Christmas |
| career as a financial advisor, I was asking clients | | | | craft fairs. The goal can be small or large - just get |
| about their source of income. We would discuss how | | | | the juices flowing! |
| they could allocate that income to save more money, | | | | |