Tragedy and triumph in clients’ lives can be monumental and life-altering. This article alerts you to three dangerous planning mistakes—and issues that are too-often ignored or treated simplistically—resulting in disaster:
- Failing to plan ahead at all or no formal analysis of the six financial planning areas:
- Current position including cash, budget, and goals
- Risk management including loss exposures and consequences
- Accumulation planning including investment posture tailored to each goal
- Tax strategies and hedging against tax changes
- Retirement planning including income, risk, tax & investment strategies for this goal
- Estate planning including legal arrangements for incompetency during life
- When clients take a “do it yourself” (DIY) approach
- Using financial professionals whose focus is primarily on areas 3-6