What is Financial Planning?
“What is financial planning?” and “Why should I work with a financial planner?” are some of the most common questions our Inovayt financial planners receive from clients.
It’s a common misconception that financial planning is only for the wealthy or those in the later stages of their financial journey – this isn’t true.
Read on if you want to learn more about financial planning and how it can help you.
Financial planning and financial advisors
Financial planning is the broad term used when talking about money management.
From personal to business, financial advisors work with their clients to assess their financial situation and create a plan for their financial future.
A qualified financial advisor is priceless.
They can be the difference between long-term wealth and a later-than-planned retirement.
What is personal financial planning?
Personal financial planning is where an experienced financial advisor works with you to manage your finances.
Some aspects that they will cover include the following:
Budgeting
One of the things an Inovayt financial planner will assist with is setting up a budget.
A budget is a process we take our clients through to understand their household income and expenditure and determine their cash flow.
A tailored budget will highlight any negative spending patterns and can be adjusted to suit the financial goals that you’re trying to achieve.
Goal setting
Goal setting is another important aspect a financial advisor will discuss with you.
This accounts for short, medium and long-term financial goals that you’d like to achieve.
Once you’ve defined your goals, we’ll devise a plan to achieve them.
This includes smaller targets to ensure you’re staying on track.
Planning for emergencies
Unfortunately, emergencies happen.
The week you’re short of money, your car breaks down, or the money you’ve been putting aside for your holiday ends up being put towards a hefty vet bill.
No matter the size, unexpected expenses can cause financial chaos and disrupt your progress towards your financial goals.
An Inovayt financial planner will assist you in setting up an emergency fund, including detail on how much should be in it, when to use it, etc.
Tackling debt and building savings
Common things our clients come to us for are to reduce their debt and build their savings.
Our financial planners have experience in debt reduction tactics, such as debt consolidation, to help you become debt free.
Financial planners can also help you build your savings through budgeting and saving strategies to help you build upon your wealth sooner.
Investing
Another significant role of an Inovayt financial planner is to assist with setting up or building your investment portfolio.
Whether it’s the property market, stock market, cryptocurrency or micro-investing, our expert team works with you to grow your wealth and achieve your investing goals.
What is financial planning for a business?
Financial planning for businesses is similar to personal financial planning, but it’s about how a company manages its finances.
Business financial planning can include:
Succession planning
An Inovayt financial planner can work with you to create a succession plan for your business.
A business succession plan refers to a business strategy companies use to pass leadership roles down to another employee or group of employees to ensure that a business continues to run smoothly and without interruption as people move on or retire.
Buy/sell insurance
Buy/sell insurance is something that a financial planner can help you with.
This contract allows the transfer of a business to the remaining owners if one of them passes away or suffers a serious injury deeming them unable to stay in business.
The insurance policy provides the money to buy out the departing owner’s share, so the remaining business owner(s) can continue running the business while ensuring the departing owner (or their estate) will be fairly compensated for giving up their rights to the company.
We can find the best buy/sell insurance for your business through various lenders and products.
Tax and income
When you run your own business, you’re responsible for setting money aside for tax purposes at the end of the financial year.
Working with a financial planner means you can receive tailored advice on how to set money aside for tax purposes.
Diversifying assets
As a business owner, you need to invest in your company to see growth.
However, you need to make sure that you’re not putting all your eggs in one (investment!) basket.
Inovayt financial planners offer advice on diversifying your assets, meaning you’ve got money in assets aside from your business.
If something happens to your business, you’ll have money elsewhere.
Growth funding and expansion planning
Business growth is crucial to business success.
Your business needs to grow and evolve to stay relevant and keep turning over a profit.
A financial planner works with you to offer advice on how to fund growth and plan for the future of your business.
Business goals
Like personal financial goals, businesses need goals too!
An Inovayt financial planner works to help business owners identify what their short, medium and long-term goals are while implementing a plan to help you achieve these.
Business goals are crucial for the growth of a business.
Why should I work with an Inovayt financial planner?
There are plenty of reasons why you should work with an Inovayt financial planner.
Some of the major benefits include:
- They help you set and evolve your goals – personally and for your business.
- They offer tailored advice for your unique financial situation.
- They offer regular financial reviews to keep you on track.
- They create set-and-forget investment strategies.
- They provide an in-depth analysis of your financial situation.
- They offer proactive retirement planning.
- They help you grow wealth,
- They help you to grow your business.
- They prepare you for the unexpected.
What is the cost of a financial advisor?
There is no one-size-fits-all cost when it comes to the price of a financial advisor.
Based on what sort of advice you’re after, there are different ways to make payment, too.
For example, if you opt for general financial planning as well as superannuation advice, you can choose to have the fee come out of your super fund.
However, if you’re not looking for super advice, you won’t be able to have the fee come out of your super.
Financial planning is all about managing your money. Whether it’s for you or your business, Inovayt financial advisors can equip you with all the tools you need to successfully manage your finances and achieve your financial goals. If you want to start your journey with a financial planner, get in touch with us today.
