The Big Picture for Financial Planning
June 27th, 2008 | by Editor |The value a Certified Financial Planner brings is their ability to help you achieve your long term goals. If your financial advisor isn’t thinking along the lines of the perspective outlined below, you might ask yourself where their real interest lies.
In 1912, Max Wertheimer revolutionized the field of psychology. He encouraged psychologists to focus on organized wholes rather than elementary parts – essentially, to focus on the big picture rather than just individual details. Wertheimer never tried professional financial planning (he probably would have been great at it), but his approach is very useful for setting financial goals.
Goal setting is the cornerstone of success, yet it’s too often ignored or done improperly. Some people budget, but don’t have financial goals. Others measure their success against an imaginary dollar amount (e.g. “If I can just make $100,000…). Others are guided by a general idea of when they want to retire. While these are useful beginning points, they neglect all the other aspects of our lives such as health, family, work, and our contribution to society — things we value as dearly or more than our wealth. If the realization of a financial goal comes at the expense of your health or your family, you’re inadvertently pitting one goal against another. The achievement of an incomplete plan can only lead to incomplete success.
A complete plan requires goal setting in all relevant areas. You can create a step-by-step plan for success that gracefully integrates ALL of your most meaningful goals.
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