Financial Planning - Beware of Insurance Agents
Please remember that, Insurance/Mutual Fund Agents are not your Financial Planners.
Financial Planning is the process of setting objectives, assessing assets and resources, estimating future financial needs and meeting your financial goals of your life through the proper management of your financial resources. It covers all matters related to your estate and your current financial situation and includes such elements as day-to-day cash flow management, choosing and managing your investments, asset allocation, risk management, retirement and estate planning, your insurance needs and tax planning. The financial planning process is a comprehensive exercise, a logical step-by-step approach undertaken with your professional advisor to deliver a tailored, overall strategy designed to satisfy your immediate concerns as well as your long-term financial security.
Financial planning plays an important role in helping individuals get the most out of their money. Careful planning can help individuals and their family to set priorities and work steadily towards long-term goals. It may also provide protection to a great extent against the unexpected, by helping individuals prepare for things such as unexpected illness or loss of income, emergencies cash requirements etc. Financial planning may mean different things to different people. For one person, it may mean planning investments to provide a stream of income after their retirement. For another, it may mean planning savings and investments to provide money for the marriage of their daughters or money required for the higher education of their children or constructing a house at a future date etc.
Many individuals choose to use the services of financial planners to help them reach their goals. A financial planner a professional who provides advice and guidance for a wide range of financial planning issues. Financial planners may or may not be certified and offer varied levels of experience. In India the services of Financial Planners are not popular, but that culture is developing gradually, however the entire concept of product selling is slowly chaining to a concept of product advisory. All our Insurance and Financial product selling agents are pretend they are financial planners, but the reality is different. Most of these people, their intention is get maximum commission on the product they are marketing; they are not bothered about the financial well-being of their clients. A real financial planner is not supposed to be a product selling agent representing any mutual fund/insurance company or any other financial institution. They normally provide their services purely based on some prefixed fees. A professional financial planner is also responsible for monitoring/ periodical review of the investments recommended by him and advice his client on timely reallocation of assets he recommended according to the changes in the financial status of the client or changes in the financial performance of the scheme he invested for. Because your plan has quantifiable, measurable goals your advisor can review the plan from time to time and assess its effectiveness. Are your investments current and performing as expected? Has your tax liability changed significantly? Has there been a change in your personal situation that might affect your estate plans - a marriage?; the birth of a child or grandchild or become unemployed ? The regular review of your plan is an important and often neglected step in the overall planning process.
Please think yourself, how many of you people have been getting these types of service from your insurance/mutual fund agents. So beware of your insurance agent (please note that, I am not against this community but against their attitude towards their clients, remember that, all agents are not like that). This is applicable for both individual and corporate agents (corporate agents means the marketing managers, sales executives, representatives of banks, brokers, non-individual agents etc.)
Please don't leave your financial destiny with these communities.
Though a financial planner may make developing a financial plan easier, hiring one is not at all a necessity. There are many books, softwares, and other sources available to help individuals with financial planning. Furthermore, there is a wealth of related information available on the Internet. The decision to hire a financial planner may depend on many things, including the financial worth of the individual, his or her goals for the future, and the amount of research the individual is willing to perform.
All too often, people delay planning for the future. They may feel such planning should take a back seat to staying financially afloat in the present. However, even those living from paycheck to paycheck can benefit from financial planning by creating a budget. A budget can be used to determine what is actually spent each month and find ways to trim or even eliminate unnecessary or out-of-control expenditures.
The right time to create a financial plan is right now. No matter what your income level or what your hopes for the future, you need a solid plan to achieve your goals. Travelling through life without carefully set goals and well-researched methods of achieving them may lead to disaster. To enable your money to offer you more of what you want out of life, start creating a financial plan today. In case you are not knowledgeable enough try to hire the service of an expert Financial Planner.
Your opinion, suggestions, criticism etc may mail to Prakash@yourownadviser.com
Best Regards
Prakash Nair
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