When an individual makes the decision to hire a financial advisor to receive financial planning, the financial advisor will create a financial plan for the individual. It will be important for the client to be honest with the financial advisor regarding their current financial status, their financial history and their financial goals for the future. Being honest and building trust are two very important characteristics when it comes to the client and financial advisor. It will be important for the client to research information about the financial advisor regarding their history of financial planning and how they create financial plans. Financial planning involves the creation of financial goals created for the client, creating a budget that will allow for the client to save more money and pay off loans and bills that they may have and create a long term savings account.
Financial planning will consist of looking at a clients current financial status and how much money they have coming in and going out. The financial advisor will discuss many different products that are available regarding financial planning. There are many different resources available for an individual who is interested in financial planning. Whether they choose to do this on their own or hire an individual who has experience in financial planning it will be important to research everything. Many different types of financial statements will be used when creating a financial plan; they include but are not limited to: management discussion and analysis, notes, income statements, statement of retained earnings, cash flow statement and balance sheet.
Financial planning also goes hand in hand with accounting. An individual who is good at accounting will be good at financial planning. Most businesses and organizations have accountants who work for them or they will hire them when they are needed. Many individual who are not part of a business or organization will hire accountants to do financial planning for them. When it comes to financial planning, financial advisors will use key concepts which include but are not limited to the following: double entry system, cost of goods sold, special journals, chart of accounts, bookkeeping, accounting period, cash and accrual basis and debits and credits.
A financial plan may be created to determine the amount of cash that a person may need and a list of goals created to obtain that amount of money. Again, it is crucial that the client always be open and upfront with the financial advisor regarding their financial status and their credit history. Many times a financial advisor will need to do a credit check on their client to determine their actual amount of debt before moving onto creating a financial plan. It will be very important that once the financial plan has been created that it is followed and that the goals are met.
Kent Smith is an expert when it comes to financial planning. He is able to help individuals break down their financial status and determine financial steps that need to be taken for the future.
