Here’s a question you should be asking yourself regularly, “Do you know where you want to go financially?”
Think of your financial future as a road trip. If you don’t know where you want to go and why, do you think you are going to be a success? If you do know where you want to go but have no map, no GPS and no directions, do you think you are going to reach that far-off destination? Probably not.
According to Richard Cayne, this is a far more common issue than you might think. He often has new clients walk into Meyer International and say, “I want to make money. Just make me make money!” He most often replies, “Sure. I can do that but I need to know your targets or goals. If you know where you want to go, I can help you get there but if you don’t know, that’s where we need to start.”
People might reply to that initial question with an answer that sounds more like a guess. “Umm, I think I want a target of two million dollars in the bank,” is something that Richard Cayne has heard more than once. When he questions them about why they’ve chosen that goal, they most often say, “I don’t know. It sounds good.”
Those clients don’t actually know what they want. What Richard Cayne will usually do is help them understand where they are and where their goals should be based on a number or criteria such as how much they will need and when to accomplish their financial goals. Once the goals are defined he can help them to establish what they really need and take a good look at where they are, financially and how to get on that road towards their goals.
Answering these questions is the homework often assigned to new clients:
- Where are you financially and what resources do you have?
- Where do you want to end up and what do you want along the way?
- This is where a financial planning consultant comes in to help establish the best and fastest road to get to your goals. Those are the financial products that a planner can recommend.
In the end, instead of a vague notion such as “two million dollars,” the consultant and client might come up with a real goal of, say, “I want to retire at 50 living a certain sort of lifestyle and be able to put my three kids through private university without loans or feeling a financial strain and have two million dollars because that will be enough for me to live on forever and leave the bulk of it over to the kids when I pass away.”
From a statement such as that, a financial planning consultant can put together a plan to get you there. You might be asking yourself “How do they do that?” Well, simple. Financial planning consultants are familiar with all of the products on the market, from the products of each individual financial institution to the opportunities in each of the best offshore jurisdictions. They can put together an investment plan that employs the right amount of risk and diversity for your unique financial situation and review your portfolio regularly to suggest tweaks and changes.
Are you ready to talk about your financial road trip with Richard Cayne and the team at Meyer International? Get in touch today!
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