Kelly Baumbach, CFP®, CEPA & Zachary Jaro, CFP®
When you think about financial planning, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If your answer is, “to learn when I can retire” you’d be like most people. While it can help us answer that question, financial planning addresses significantly more than just that.
So, what exactly is financial planning? Financial planning is a process we as advisors engage in with our clients to assess their financial position. It starts with conversations regarding the goals or objectives that are unique to each client. These could be considerations like funding your child’s education, caring for aging parents, purchasing a second home or retirement. To understand if those goals can be met, we begin the planning engagement by discovering if clients are on the right path to achieve their goals. If they are, what flexibility can they consider in planning? Maybe they could retire sooner or increase retirement spending? Possibly, it’s gifting more to their kids or to charity? On the other hand, what if they aren’t on track? As planners, we suggest changes that could increase the likelihood of success.
Creating the initial plan is the first big step. Once the plan is established, we can assist in answering critical questions surrounding many facets of one’s finances. Questions like: “Should I be saving in my Roth or traditional IRA?” “How much life insurance do I need?” “Are my investments suitable to help achieve my goals?” and “Should I pay off my mortgage or invest the money instead?” When the financial planning process is performed with precision, these questions can be answered accurately and with confidence.
Once the initial plan is built and the road map is created, some may believe that’s the end of the engagement. It’s actually the opposite; it’s only the beginning. Ongoing planning is paramount because we know for certain that life will change. When those changes impact the life of our clients today or in the future, we adjust their plan to their new reality and provide an update to their financial picture. The peace of mind that planning provides our clients cannot be quantified, and planning alone can be what makes the advisor/client relationship fruitful for both parties.
Our questions to you would include: Have you engaged in detailed, accurate financial planning with a professional in the past? If you’re working with an advisor currently, are they proactively discussing your plan, talking through life changes with you and providing you with updates based upon those changes? Maybe you’re in the other camp; let’s say you have an advisor who is managing a portfolio of assets for you, but they’ve never brought up financial planning. Why not? How can your advisor confidently provide answers to some of the most important financial questions you have in life without understanding how the puzzle pieces fit?
At Baker Tilly Wealth Management, we believe as your life changes, your plan and the advice you receive should have the flexibility to change too.
For more information on Baker Tilly Wealth Management, visit www.bakertilly.com/specialties/wealth-management.
About the Authors
Kelly Baumbach, CFP®, CEPA
Executive Managing Director
(608) 240-2439
kelly.baumbach@bakertilly.com
Zachary Jaro, CFP®
Senior Wealth Advisor
(414) 777-5556
zach.jaro@bakertilly.com
Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC (BTWM) is a registered investment adviser. BTWM is controlled by Baker Tilly US, LLP (Baker Tilly) an accounting, tax and advisory firm. Baker Tilly is an independently owned and managed member of Baker Tilly International. © 2022 Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Insight Publications, LLC.
