The value in money is truly what you can do with it, and Financial Life Planning helps put true value to your money.
LifeCycle Planning
LifeCycle Planning is a marriage between the art and the science of the client's future. It is an holistic approach of understanding your vision, injecting goals, wants and needs into the mix and creating a usable plan that on balance is tax efficient, visceral and easy to understand.
The adage: "life got in the way" should not be the excuse. It should be part of the solution, and it can be part of it with a good plan. Anticipate the unanticipated and drive forward to fulfilling the dream and vision. One can only do that with a comprehensive plan in hand, or by sheer luck. We prefer creating a solid LifeCycle Plan to ensure a client's destiny. After all, a lot is at stake.
What is your dream? How does your vision of your life in the future fit with your life today? Life is not one dimensional. There are dozens of events and circumstances that force, direct or guide your life. LifeCycle Planning ‘connects the dots’ of your life events from today, to tomorrow, to beyond. Each part must be considered on its own merits and within the working framework. LifeCycle Planning is that framework.
Traditionally, there have been three stages of planning: Asset growth or accumulation, asset de-accumulation or spending and succession or estate planning; these are the broad stages. LifeCycle Planning goes well beyond these broad stages by expanding each to facilitate the planning characteristics of how life actually plays out. No longer are there delineating borders for each stage; LifeCycle Planning bridges the gaps, overlaying effective strategies and pathways from one stage to another and back again. It is fully integrated throughout the lives of each client and their family. It takes two dimensional thinking to third and fourth dimension results.
Comprehensive planning is particularly important and beneficial for Professionals and Business Owners. The planning opportunities are wide and expansive. LifeCycle Planning connects the professional/business owner's success with their retirement security. It is one thing to be successful in one's life's work; it is yet another thing to translate that success to family wealth. And that is exactly what the 'raison d'etre' is for Family Wealth Advisory Group (Canada).
Financial Life Planning
Financial Life Planning is the marriage of art and science. It is comprised of many different parts, with the main part being the client's life vision. But it can be said that there are two sides to Financial Life Planning. One side is that of the hard data, or the financial numbers; the other side is that of the soft numbers or the vision, dreams or wants of the client. Integrating the two sides brings genuine meaning to the client's life and to their money. Financial Life Planning is holistic wealth management (from the hard data, financial numbers side), whereby all of the financial aspects of the client's objectives are considered as one; it is also holistic life planning (from the soft numbers, client vision), bringing into the fold the very things that help fulfill the client's dreams.
Financial Life Planning is an ongoing process, one which involves discussion and understanding. In order to apply each client's life vision, we use Life Planning software that is comprehensive and sophisticated, yet adaptable to each client moving and evolving through their lives. To many of our clients, it brings peace of mind.
The process of Financial Life Planning is very visual, interactive and can have a powerful and positive impact on the financial well-being of each client. Although Financial Life Planning puts genuine meaning to the client’s money, the process is not always suitable for every client. In that case, traditional financial planning is perhaps more appropriate.
Financial Planning
Traditional Financial Planning in its simplest form is the calculation and presentation of the future value of a present sum. In other words, based on set assumptions, it can indicate the dollar value needed or achieved to accomplish a set goal. For example, “when can I retire?”, or “how much do I need to save to put my children through university?” It is the pure hard numbers behind the client’s objectives or goals.
The development and application of your financial plan may be very simple and straightforward, or extremely detailed and complex. Your financial plan is a written document, developed to suit your personal situation. It addresses your concerns and puts the hard numbers of your financial situation into perspective.
The main limitation in traditional financial planning is its static and one dimensional nature. Once the assumptions and goals are set, the Plan is created based on those assumptions. If any of the assumptions or goals change, then the Plan needs to be recreated. For example, planning for retirement is one set of goals and living your dream in retirement is yet another. The continuity of the plan is somewhat disjointed ( aka: one dimensional). It is an excellent tool for planning the assumptions of the ‘here-and-now’ of your goals. And it is very suitable for many people. But life is constantly changing, and clients’ assumptions and goals change over time.
To achieve a more visceral and robust planning process, perhaps Financial Life Planning is more appropriate. Traditional Financial Planning and Financial Life Planning are each excellent tools in their own domain, setting out to achieve separate and distinct objectives.
Whichever process suits your needs best, Financial Life Planning or traditional Financial Planning, having a Plan in place gives structure and direction to all parts of your life and your family’s life. It is one of those very important things in life that brings tremendous value and guidance. To many of our clients, it brings peace of mind.