Do you have clear life goals and a plan on how to reach them?
The start of a new year is a great time to take stock of your life and consider what you’ve done so far and what you’d like to do next. We all deserve to be living the life we’ve always dreamed of, and with life planning those dreams become more achievable.
George Kinder, president and founder of the world famous Kinder Institute, first came up with the idea of financial life planning. This is the guided process by which a person looks at their life in detail and considers what their next steps would be to achieve their life goals. We live in a culture where money is heavily linked to what we can achieve in our lives, so it makes sense to consider your finances alongside your aspirations. By making this link, you can change your relationship with money and change your focus to the things you want for you and your family. Here is an overview of how financial life planning works.
Establishing life goals
A life-planning practitioner will first want to uncover your goals. What are the things you’ve always wanted to do but never thought were possible? It might be a round-the-world trip or building your own house from scratch. Everyone has individual thoughts on this and sometimes it isn’t clear until you dig deeper.
In order to find out what you want out of life, the life planner will ask you three questions. If you had everything you needed for the rest of your life, what would you do? If your doctor said you have 10 years to live but you’ll be healthy until you die, how would you live your life? Then they’ll ask you to imagine you only have 24 hours to live. What did you accomplish? What did you miss out on? Who did you not get to be? From these questions you will begin to get a picture of how you will want to spend your life. Your life-planning practitioner will then be able to support you in setting goals so you are on the way to making it happen.
Creating a plan
Once some clear goals are established, the life planner will create a plan to help you achieve those goals. They will then support you in taking suggested actions. This may involve taking out financial products such as ISAs, pensions or insurance, though not necessarily. If one of your life goals is to spend more time with your children, it might mean reducing work hours and budgeting accordingly.
The general ethos of the life planner is to discourage unnecessary spending so financial reserves can be put towards the things you really want out of life. The changes they will suggest making will usually be a mix of financial and lifestyle changes because the two are interdependent. The plan will be totally individual and tailored to your goals and aspirations.
Why life planning?
Traditional financial planning is dry and off-putting. A financial advisor can give you facts and figures about your money but that’s not very motivational. By bringing your goals and aspirations more into focus, a financial life planner can give you something to work towards and support you every step along the way. You will then feel empowered to create the life you have always wanted for yourself and your family.
Life planning is not just for those with lots of money, it’s a worthy investment for anyone because the advice and support you will receive will change your life. We live in a time where many people live to work, so it’s unsurprising that financial life planning is becoming more popular because people want to redress the balance.
Financial life planning is a worthwhile process to go through at the start of a new year to get your life on track. By considering where you have been, where you are now and where you would like to go, you could change your circumstances for you and your family to maximise your future happiness.
For a deeper overview of life planning, or more information about the financial services we offer at Expert Wealth Management, get in touch today. Call 01993 772467 or contact us online.
