Financial Planning FAQs

A financial planner will be able to connect all of the financial dots in order to provide you with an overall plan to meet your financial goals. He or she should have training and experience in all kinds of financial products and financial aspects of your life – equities, bonds, insurance, taxes, and estate planning – in order to make the right recommendations for your personal situation. A financial planner can also save you thousands of rupee in tax deductions and find higher-yielding investment products at little or no extra risk

You need financial planning advice at every step of your financial life and in all different circumstances be it changing jobs, comfortable retirement, Cash flow arrangement for a big purchase, life changing event like marriage, suddenly single, divorce, protection to family, leaving or receiving inheritances etc.

Before you set out to choose a financial planner, do make sure the following criteria are met
i. Are they professionally qualified? – CFP or CPFA is the basic qualification for a professional financial planner.
ii. Risk profiling – it is mandatory to carry out a scientific assessment of one’s risk profile. The risk profile enables the adviser to better understand you and make recommendations that are the right fit for you.
iii. Holistic – Does your advisor consider your needs/goals before chalking out a plan for financial planning/ investing?
v. Experience – How long have they been in the industry? Financial Advisors should have a minimum experience of 4-5 years in the relevant industry.
vi. Ethics – Are they ethical, honest and competent in discharge of their services? We need to make sure that the advisor is transparent, unbiased and will not push products. This is imperative so we can trust the advisor. One company that I feel meets all the above-mentioned criteria is AssuredGain Financial Planners.

Yes, you can. There are many software, blogs; self-help books are available in the market and on internet which will help you get your own financial plan done. But as I said financial planning is a process which requires regular reviews of the financial situation, tax laws, cash flow arrangements, investment performance, re-balancing of asset allocation , risk profiling , legal issues in case of estate/tax planning etc. If you feel that you can handle all such instances well and you have enough time available with you for that then yes go ahead.

Choose a financial planner who has experience dealing with clients in similar circumstances to yours. You’ll also want to make sure that the financial planner has your best interests in mind. Interview prospective financial planners and ask them about credentials, management strategies. Call up past clients as references.

Till date I couldn’t be able to understand what is the definition of enough income. No income is enough if you don’t have control on your expenses. Every one has some financial goals to achieve in life , some are certain and some can be avoided or postponed. Its all about priority. You just have to be disciplined and structured in your savings and spending approach. Financial planning will help you in everything.

Financial plan is prepared keeping in mind all the possibilities which can happen in future. So there is no need to review the entire plan in mid of the year. Do it annually. If there’s some major change in your financial profile like loss of job, receiving inheritance or windfall gain, some accident etc. then it is better to review the plan in mid of the year. But you may review the different parts of plan like investments, insurance, taxes etc. on quarterly basis too.

When we are working on your financial life we need to understand every part of it. Unless we have your expense details how can we work on the budget or surplus, unless we have your income details how can we work on taxes, unless we have your assets and liabilities detail how can we figure out if you are in right asset class or are paying high on interest…etc. Every area of your financial life is important to work on if you need a proper financial planning to be done.

Financial planning covers all aspects of a person’s financial well-being. This includes savings, investments, retirement and college savings plans, insurance coverage, and estate planning. Retirement planning covers only investments made for retirement.