Correct financial planning can help you pursue a variety of monetary goals, in addition to your desire of living out a comfortable life during retirement. Unfortunately, because the average individual only views financial planning through the lens of retirement, they in turn miss out on other opportunities that could set them up for financial independence. Make no mistake, it is important to save for those years to come, but consider financial planning as having the power to unlock more potential in your life as well.

Plan of Success: Mapping Out Goals

Whether you are single or married with children, you arguably have more financial goals in your life than just retiring comfortably. A financial planner can help you map out and discover how setting goals can aid you working toward those objectives.

Financial planning includes both short-term goals (erasing debt or boosting savings) and long-term objectives (saving for college or retirement).  A financial planner not only can help you understand how every financial decision you make has effect on other areas of your finances, but also guide you through accomplishing some of the many objectives mentioned above. Additionally, they require you to look beyond your day-to-day life, and instead at the bigger picture.

Planning & Implementing 

By adjusting the approach, you use throughout your life, a financial planner can help you address both short and long-term milestones. For example, as your income increases and your time-to-objective shrinks, a financial planner can help you adjust your outlook and keep you on the path to financial independence.

One of the most important aspects of working with a financial planner is to realize goals can adjust with the approach of age. In other words, a financial advisor can keep you on track to pursue your goals and adjust the settings to correspond with your age.

When you first meet with a financial planner, the way your planner helps you work toward those goals depends on your current age, income, expenses, current market conditions/opportunities, and goals. As you age, those factors will change. Your financial planner can help to ensure you are financially positioned toward your objectives as these factors change throughout your life.      

Beyond Retirement Investing

Adequate financial planning can help you both pursue your near-term goals and plan for your future 20, 30, or 40 years down the road.  When you work with a financial planner to help meet life's other financial challenges and goals, you will be better prepared to enter retirement with accumulated wealth that has been preserved from life's unknowns. When you prepare for events such as the birth of a child, purchase of a home, and college savings responsibly, you are also potentially protecting your ability to fund your retirement along the way.  Visit CalBay Investments, for more information!