Do You Need A Financial Plan?

Many people find the question of whether they need financial planning difficult to answer. After all, if you don’t already have a financial plan, how would you know if one could help you?
A better approach is to ask a few questions about key areas of your financial life. If you’re facing important financial questions or issues, financial planning may provide the help you need.

Investments

• Are you planning to use investment assets for a large purchase or expense, such as a vehicle or a second home, or college tuition? Do you anticipate receiving assets through an inheritance?
• Is more than one financial advisor involved in your investments?
• Do you have significant holdings of a particular stock or other single investment?
• Retirement planning
• Do you have multiple pensions or sources of retirement income?
• Is your mix of savings and accounts properly positioned for retirement?
• Have you saved enough?
• Do you have large 401(k) or other retirement account balances that your retirement income will be taken from?

Financial planning can help by:

    Offering detailed strategies for diversifying, streamlining, changing and growing your investments in keeping with your tolerance for risk and your goals.
Financial planning can help by:
• Providing a strategy for maximizing your retirement income or ensuring you are taking the appropriate steps to achieve your retirement goal.
• Protection planning
• Is your life insurance coverage sufficient to replace your income?
• Are you protected from the potentially large financial impact of long-term care expenses?
• Are your earnings the most important source of your family’s income?
• Do you have multiple life insurance policies with different agents?
Estate planning
• Will your estate plan distribute your assets in the manner you want?
• Do you face estate taxes now or in the future?
• Does your estate include a large, illiquid asset such as a farm or a business?
• Are you a trustee or the beneficiary of a trust?

Financial planning can help by:

    Pinpointing gaps in your financial safety net, and showing how to close them.
    Helping you evaluate the impact of life events on your finances, and giving you strategies for dealing with them.
    Creating an estate plan that addresses your wishes for a legacy, taxation and charitable giving.
Most important, a financial plan coordinates all these aspects of your financial life. You no longer have to take stopgap measure to address individual financial issues. Instead, a financial plan gets it all working together.
    Separate from the financial plan and an advisors’ role as financial planner, an advisor may recommend the purchase of specific investment or insurance products or accounts. These product recommendations are not part of the financial plan and clients are under no obligation to follow them.
    Financial Advisors do not provide specific tax/legal advice. This information should not be considered as specific tax/legal advice. You should consult your tax/legal advisor regarding your own specific tax/legal situation.
 

Securian Financial Services, Inc.
www.securian.com
Securities Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC.
Registered Investment Advisor
400 Robert Street North, St. Paul, MN 55101-2098 • 1-800-820-4205
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